Game Picks - Tuesday: May 24, 2011

The losses by the Yankees, Bay Rays and Dodgers were the only blemishes on an otherwise successful day of picking yesterday. The Indians had yet another remarkable comeback win. Amazing. Just about every win on the schedule yesterday besides the Blue Jays, Phillies and Tigers were decided in the bullpen. The Cardinals roughed up Heath Bell. The Indians got to Daniel Bard. The Angels won their game off of Fuentes and Wuertz. The Astros' rally beat Jansen in the bottom of the ninth. And Capps blew another save for the Twins as the Mariners won in extras. It must have been an exciting night of baseball. Unfortunately, this picker slept through most of it.

Tuesday brings us back to a full slate of games to consider. There's even a day/night double-header to give us sixteen games! Here's how they will go down:

• The Rockies over the Diamondbacks: Hard to pick against a team the Fan just wrote about, but de la Rosa versus Joe Saunders seems like a mismatch.
• The Pirates over the Braves: The Braves are banged up and Charlie Morton is the ground ball king. He wins the battle of the 5-1 pitchers over Jair Jurrjens.
• The Indians over the Red Sox: Again, how can you pick against Cleveland at home at this point? Even if Beckett versus Carmona seems like a no-brainer? Got to go with the hot hand, right?
• The Phillies over the Reds: The Reds are sinking and have lost several in a row. How bad is it when they send Edinson Volquez to the minors? Shocking. Vince Worley has been a great spot starter for the Phillies. Johnny Cueto was good his first two starts but got rocked in his last outing.
• The Orioles over the Royals: Zach Britton wins the battle of the young pitchers as Danny Duffy goes for the Royals.
• The Tigers over the Bay Rays: Justin Verlander is just a great pitcher. Wade Davis is throwing a straight fastball and has been fortunate thus far. Bound to catch up with him with the likes of Cabrera and Martinez.
• The Yankees over the Blue Jays: C. C. Sabathia comes up big at home and the Yankees get to Ricky Romero.
• The Rangers over the White Sox: Jake Peavy was great in his first start back, but the Rangers have all their horses back but need another good outing from Derek Holland.
• The Dodgers over the Astros: Can the Dodgers be this bad? Maybe. This game is picked on virtue of the match up between Clay Billingsley and J. A. Happ.
• The Mets over the Cubs: Jonathan Niese was great in his last outing and should hold the Cubs to fewer runs than what Ryan Dempster gives up for the Cubs.
• The Mariners over the Twins: If the Twins can't win with a two-homer night from Jim Thome, there is no hope for them. The Mariners, meanwhile, are on a nice roll. Doug Fister over Nick Blackburn.
• The Brewers over the Nationals: Chris Narveson comes up big with his arm and his bat as the Brewers roll over Livan Hernandez.
• The Rockies over the Diamondbacks: The Rockies ruin Josh Collmenter's perfect record at home behind Jhoulys Chacin.
• The Cardinals over the Padres: Albert Pujols is swinging better and he'll need to as Aaron Harang is good at home. The Cardinals need yet another big outing from Kyle McClellan who is pitching as good as Wainwright would have.
• The Marlins over the Giants: Ricky Nolasco always pitches really well in San Francisco and has never lost there. The Marlins get just enough runs off of Matt Cain to win.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Angels over the Athletics: It's unfair to use the Angels twice in a row for the Game of the Day. But, Dan Haren simply shouldn't lose against Guillermo Morosco making his first major league start.

Yesterday: 7-3
Week: 17-8
Month: 162-143
Season: 377-321
Games of the Day: 30-24   This feature is 13-3 in the last 16 days!