Game Picks - Tuesday: May 17, 2011

What a roll! The picks are 21-6 this week. It took two colossal collapses by the Orioles and the Yankees to seal the night. The only blemishes yesterday were losses by the Phillies, the Tigers (with Scherzer!) and the Giants (with Lincecum!). The Cardinals win over the Phillies was particularly ironic after picking them to win three times in a row over the weekend only to see them lose. This picker finally picked against them and they won. That irony cannot contain the rest of the sparkling week so far.

Tuesday is a new chapter though. Let's see if the week falls back to the mean or if this picker can be like the Indians:

• The Braves over the Astros: Wandy Rodriguez is 0-2 with an ERA over seven lifetime at Turner Field. Derek Lowe with the win.
• The Nationals over the Pirates: If Jordan Zimmermann can strike out eleven Braves, how many will he get against the Pirates? Charlie Morton has pitched well this year and has won on the road. But he gets the hard luck loss here.
• The Rockies over the Giants: Still holding out for Ubaldo Jiminez. Call the Fan crazy. But he has to bust out sooner or later. Jonathan Sanchez will be gone by the end of the fifth.
• The Rays over the Yankees: Ivan Nova as stopper? Uh...no. James Shields with the win.
• The Blue Jays over the Tigers. Jesse Litsch is a favorite of the FanDome. Got to go with him over Rick Porcello.
• The Orioles over the Red Sox: How can you not take Zach Britton over Tim Wakefield? But these so-called easy picks are always the ones that make the Fan look stupid.
• The Cubs over the Reds: The Cubs haven't won many games lately, but tonight might be the night with Matt Garza facing Edinson Volquez. The question will be if the Cubs can score any runs.
• The Marlins over the Mets: Ricky Nolasco looks terrific this year and has always been good on the road (like tonight). Jonathan Niese was good his last time out, but you can't count on the guy. Plus, Ike is out and Wright is out.
• The Royals over the Indians: The Indians will be plum tuckered out after running all those bases yesterday. Sean O'Sullivan is better than Carlos Carrasco, but that's not saying much.
• The Rangers over the White Sox: Matt Harrison has to pitch well but the Rangers can throw a lot of right-handed bats at John Danks, who has yet to win this year.
• The Cardinals over the Phillies: Jaime Garcia is one of the elite pitchers in the National League. Roy Oswalt has had back issues and hasn't pitched much in a few weeks now.
• The Diamondbacks over the Padres: Don't know what to make of this game. The Padres have scored 45 runs in their last five games. THAT has the Fan all confused. The match up of Tim Stauffer and Daniel Hudson is equally baffling.
• The Athletics over the Angels: If Gio Gonzalez and Tyler Chatwood equal themselves out and the game goes to the bullpen, the A's have the advantage.
• The Dodgers over the Brewers: Hiroki Kuroda is one of the most underrated starters in the league. The guy is just flat out good. The Brewers counter with Randy Wolf, who so far has turned out to be the second coming of Jeff Suppan.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Mariners over the Twins: Felix Hernandez! Francisco Liriano? The Twins just can't win lately.

Yesterday: 12-3
Week:  21-6
Month: 115-96
Season: 328-274
Games of the Day: 25-22