Monday, May 16, 2011

Game Picks - Monday: May 16, 2011

Sunday rocked the house! Nine correct picks out of twelve and the Game of the Day feature is over .500 finally. The only three blemishes on the scorecard were recorded by teams beating two aces. The Braves beat Halladay and the White Sox beat Trevor Cahill. The other bad pick was not expecting the Cardinals to get swept. The Cardinals may be the only team in baseball that had a worse weekend than the Yankees. But other than those three, everything went according to plan. Heck, as Alan pointed out in the comments yesterday, this picker even guessed the correct amount of runs the Diamondback scored. Giddiness ensues.

All thirty teams are playing on a Monday. How rare is that? Usually the schedule is light on Monday. Well, the Fan says all thirty teams are playing but with the weather like it's been, who knows how many will actually play. When is summer going to arrive in the major leagues? It seems every game that is played is in the gloom and windy and cold. Three games were rained out yesterday. Holy cow, that's a lot of rain outs. Regardless, fifteen games are on the schedule and IF they all play, here's what should happen:

  • The Bay Rays over the Yankees: After a lost weekend and a late night loss to the Red Sox, the Yankees had to travel overnight down to St. Pete to get ready to face David Price. Yeah. Good luck with that. A. J. Burnett with the hard luck loss.
  • The Phillies over the Cardinals: Just like the Yankees, the Cardinals come off a horrible weekend only to have to face Cliff Lee. Good luck with that as well. Jake Westbrook will get lit up.
  • The Nationals over the Pirates: The Pirates haven't had much fun since they reached the .500 level last week. Paul Maholm is much better at home than on the road. John Lannon will get the rare win.
  • The Tigers over the Blue Jays: These two teams are on a roll, but only one of them can win. Going with Max Scherzer over Kyle Drabek.
  • The Red Sox over the Orioles: The Red Sox saved Dice-K for seven days, but have to pitch him some time. It doesn't matter though because he faces Chris Tillman. Tillman was very good his last time out. But the Red Sox are certainly not the Mariners.
  • The Reds over the Cubs: Homer Bailey has come of the DL smoking. He won't have to be so good this time as the Reds will score a few off of Carlos Zambrano. This pick could go wrong if Zambrano can avoid his first inning problems.
  • The Marlins over the Mets: The Marlins have their line up intact again and they can do some damage. The Mets have been playing well, but face Josh Johnson today. Mike Pelfrey won't have a chance.
  • The Braves over the Astros: Tommy Hanson needs to go deeper in games, but he's pitching well. He should have no trouble beating Brett Myers and the Astros.
  • The Indians over the Royals: You would think that the Royals would skip Kyle Davies with all the rainouts, but no such luck for Royals fans. Josh Tomlin with the win.
  • The Rangers over the White Sox: Colby Lewis was impressive his last time out as was Edwin Jackson for the White Sox. The difference here will probably be the Rangers' offense.
  • The Giants over the Rockies: You need power to win in Colorado so a lot will depend on how good Tim Lincecum's fastball is. Clayton Mortensen is the wild card in this game. He's looked good so far including a good start (but no decision) against the Giants last time he faced them.
  • The Padres over the Diamondbacks: Here's something new: The Padres have been scoring runs in bunches. What? And they get Armando Galarraga to feast on today. Clayton Richard's BABIP has killed him. Some of those ground balls need to find infielders! Monday might be the first time in history that two Claytons start games in the majors on the same day.
  • The Athletics over the Angels: Very good pitching match up in this one with Joel Pineiro versus Brett Anderson. Anderson only seems to walk Texas Rangers and nobody else. He'll have to be very good today because Pineiro has been outstanding.
  • The Mariners over the Twins: If the Twins can't beat the Mariners, then they are truly as bad as we think they are. They face Michael Pineda on Monday. Not a good thing. Scott Baker might be the most unpredictable pitcher in baseball. He can be great and he can be terrible.

And the Game of the Day!

  • The Brewers over the Dodgers: Jon Garland has a sparkling record against the Dodgers in his career, but a lot of that was pitching in good pitching parks. Milwaukee doesn't boast one of those. Plus, he'll be out-pitched by Shaun Marcum.

Yesterday: 9-3
Week:  9-3
Month: 103-93
Season: 315-271
Games of the Day: 24-22

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