Game Picks - Friday: May 20, 2011

Yesterday did not go well from a picking perspective. And it was the second bad day in a row after doing so well earlier in the week. One would think that correctly picking a Dillon Gee win and a Blue Jays win over the Bay Rays would lead to a good day. But the picks leaned too heavily on favorites to win and underdogs took the day. The Pirates beat the Reds again behind McDonald. The Diamondbacks with Joe Saunders, of all people, beat the Braves. Yeah, a little crow eating there. The White Sox showed the Indians that this won't be easy and the Royals hung in there and ruined a shutout in the ninth inning and beat the Rangers in ten innings. It was a good win for them, but not a good outcome for that pick. Bullpens are always part of the picking nightmare. Neftali Feliz is in a slump of sorts and you have to wonder if he's feeling okay.

Tonight starts interleague play, as if things aren't difficult enough. Now we get match ups we haven't seen before. There's no great love for interleague play. You have two sets of rules depending on which park the series takes place. You have guys like David Ortiz that have to sit in NL parks. The games feel like exhibition games. But the games are here to stay it seems. So here we go:

• The Reds over the Indians: The games start with a puzzler. The Reds get an extra bat in the line up. Both teams have lost two in a row. Both teams start young pitchers in Travis Wood versus Alex White. Going with Wood who has more experience.
• The Tigers over the Pirates: It's not pretty when you depend on Brad Penny with a pick. But he's been mostly good and the Tigers should score on Jeff Karstens.
• The Yankees over the Mets: The Mets get an extra hitter in the line up. But who? Not a great nod to Freddie Garcia and the Yankees have to find a way to hit the knuckleballs of R. A. Dickey.
• The Phillies over the Rangers: Neither team is hitting much lately. With Roy Halladay and C. J. Wilson, that won't change. But Halladay should prevail.
• The Orioles over the Nationals: Two pitchers with 5-1 records in Jake Arrieta and Jason Marquis. Marquis does not have a good record in interleague play and thus the nod to the Orioles.
• The Blue Jays over the Astros: Let's see, Jo-Jo Reyes is winless in 26 straight starts. The Astros start Aneury Rodriguez, who hasn't been effective. Something has to give.
• The Marlins over the Bay Rays: Can't pick the Bay Rays in any game that Andy Sonnanstine pitches. Going instead to Anibal Sanchez and the Marlins.
• The Brewers over the Rockies: The man-handling of the NL by Zack Greinke has begun. The Rockies are on the road and start Jason Hammel, who struggled his last time out.
• The White Sox over the Dodgers: The White Sox are coming alive and the Dodgers have gone to sleep. Phillip Humber over Ted Lilly.
• The Cardinals over the Royals: Both Chris Carpenter and Jeff Francis have struggled. Francis will continue to struggle. Carpenter with the win.
• The Diamondbacks over the Twins: Have to go with Ian Kennedy, who is on a roll. The Twins will struggle to score and the D-backs get some runs off of Brian Duensing.
• The Braves over the Angels: The Angels are sliding some. Tim Hudson will continue that trend. The puzzling Ervin Santana goes for the Angels.
• The Padres over the Mariners: Matt Latos can work around Justin Smoak and have a big game. Should be low scoring as neither team is offensively great. Erik Bedard pitches for the Mariners.
• The Giants over the Athletics: Hideki Matsui has to sit this one out. No DH. The Giants haven't lost a game that Ryan Vogelsong has pitched. Trevor Cahill, a great pitcher, is the wild card.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Red Sox over the Cubs: Mismatch of Jon Lester versus Doug Davis. This could be ugly.

Yesterday: 6-9

Week: 37-30

Month: 132-120

Season: 345-298

Games of the Day: 27-23