Game Picks - Monday: May 9, 2011

Sunday was a good day. It started as a great day. The picks were 9-0 at the start. But then Johnny Cueto was brilliant in his return and out-dueled a resurgent Ryan Dempster. And then the West Coast was its usual mess. The rest of the picks ended up going 1-5. But still, 10-5 is something to build on and even the Game of the Day came in with a win. Bonus.

There are nine games on Monday's schedule. Many look like puzzlers. Here's how they look:

• The Dodgers over the Pirates: The Pirates are at .500! Isn't that cool? This Fan thinks it is. Except, they won't be after today. Chad Billingsley should beat Jeff Karstens.
• The Blue Jays over the Tigers: What a pitching match up! Brandon Morrow versus Max Scherzer! Morrow will be making his first start since returning from the DL. He won his last time out and looks to be getting stronger. He needs to throw more strikes than last time so he can remain in the game longer. Scherzer has been dominant but is bound to lose some time.
• The Phillies over the Marlins: This one is a stinker. Joe Blanton is coming off the DL and wasn't effective before he went there. Javier Vazquez doesn't have much left besides guile. The Phillies should wrap his guile around the foul pole a few times.
• The Reds over the Astros: Aneury Rodriguez pitched five shutout innings in his first start. The trouble is that the Astros' bullpen is trouble if Rodriguez can't go deep in the game. Travis Wood was better his last time out against this same Astros.
• The Athletics over the Rangers: The Fan probably worked harder on this game than any in recent memory. Two aces battle it out in Trevor Cahill and C. J. Wilson. Cahill has been brilliant in his career against Texas with a 7-2 lifetime mark with a 2.27 ERA. Wilson pitched against the A's twice last year. Was great once and only so-so the other time. Going with Cahill since the Rangers are scuffling.
• The Brewers over the Padres: Two winless pitchers: Matt Latos versus Zack Greinke. One of them has to win. Thinking it will be Greinke.
• The Rockies over the Mets: Jhoulys Chacin is more Coors proof than Chris Capuano. Capuano's velocity is slightly down from last year and relies on good movement to fool hitters. His ball shouldn't move as much at Coors.
• The Angels over the White Sox: Two enigma pitchers in Edwin Jackson and Ervin Santana. And it's probably because they both have nerdy first names. That's just a theory. The Angels are currently the better team, so going with that.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Red Sox over the Twins: Josh Beckett should get Twins hitters out and the Red Sox line up should feast on Neal Blackburn.

Yesterday: 10-5
Week:  10-5
Month: 59-52
Season: 271-235
Games of the Day: 18-21