Game Picks - Sunday: May 29, 2011

Saturday continued the weirdness that is the 2011 baseball season. There were four more extra inning games. Three of them went against the picks. There was another rained out game. Jaime Garcia had been one of the best pitchers in the game...until last night. The Indians made another pick look silly. Hiroki Kuroda must have something wrong with him because he had another bad game sending that pick down in flames. The Nationals continue to provide no run support for Jordan Zimmermann, who deserves a better fate. And picking against the Diamondbacks was probably not a good idea, even with Zach Duke pitching. Oh, and Zach Duke decided to rub salt in the wound for picking against him by hitting a three-run homer. Yes, the Fan deserved that.

The Red Sox and the Tigers will play two games today to make up for yesterday's wash out. That means sixteen big games on the schedule today. Here's the rundown on Sunday:

• The Red Sox sweep the Tigers: Clay Buchholz will beat Andrew Oliver as predicted yesterday. And then Josh Beckett, who loves Comerica, will beat Justin Verlander in the nightcap.
• The Blue Jays over the White Sox: Ricky Romero shuts down the White Sox again and the Blue Jays hammer John Danks to send him to 0-8.
• The Phillies over the Mets: Vance Worley has done a nice job for the Phillies replacing Joe Blanton. Jonathan Niese can be a good pitcher, but the Phillies just have too much to handle.
• The Nationals over the Padres: These teams are so evenly matched, and that's not meant in a good way. Cuban, Yunesky Maya, was called up from the minors to pitch this game for the Nationals. He's 29 years old and has made five major league starts without a win. He faces Dustin Moseley, who never gets any run support.
• The Indians over the Bay Rays: Great match up here with Justin Masterson versus Jeremy Hellickson. Both pitchers have been terrific. The thinking here is that the Indians have a better chance to score on Hellickson than the other way around.
• The Diamondbacks over the Astros: Josh Collmenter adds to his legend and the D-backs chase J. A. Happ early.
• The Twins over the Angels: Carl Pavano gets his 100th career win over Dan Haren, who has struggled of late.
• The Brewers over the Giants: The Brewers have the best home record in the National League. Yovani Gallardo has been super in his last four starts. That all adds up to a loss for Matt Cain and the Giants.
• The Cubs over the Pirates: Ryan Dempster has won his last two starts at home, where the Cubs are today. Jeff Karstens has done a nice job, but will take the loss.
• The Rangers over the Royals: Alexi Ogando has been amazing. And he threw a shutout in his last outing. Danny Duffy simply walks too many batters to be effective.
• The Cardinals over the Rockies: The Cards got smoked yesterday, which probably didn't sit well with TLR. The Cardinals get to Jhoulys Chacin and win a slugfest. Kyle Lohse will have to get more outs than Jaime Garcia did.
• The Orioles over the Athletics: This Fan simply likes the Orioles' chances whenever Zach Britton is on the mound. Guillermo Moscoso was really terrific in his first start of the season though.
• The Marlins over the Dodgers: Ricky Nolasco is from California and is pitching in front of his family. That inspiration gives him the win over Clayton Kershaw.
• The Braves over the Reds: The Braves don't lose when Jair Jurrjens pitches. He's been quite the story this season. Johnny Cueto has been good too but it won't be enough today.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Yankees over the Mariners: C. C. Sabathia needs to go deep and be effective. Jason Vargas had been pitching great until his last outing when it all got away from him. This game is why the Yankees paid so much for Sabathia. They need him today.

Yesterday: 7-7

Last Week: 56-36

Month: 201-172

Season: 416-349

Games of the Day: 33-26