Game Picks - Friday: June 24, 2011

There isn't much room for error when you only have five games to pick. So to break just barely over .500 for the day is good enough in a short schedule. The two bad picks were the Mariners, who wasted a wonderful performance from Michael Pineda. The Mariners pathetically mounted only four hits (only one of them a non-single) and one of those hits was by Pineda. The other bad pick was the Mets beating the Athletics. In the piece yesterday, this picker fought against the heart since Chris Capuano is a comeback story. It turns out that the heart was right all along.

But the other three picks were right. Chris Carpenter indeed was due to win and did for the Cardinals. Roy Oswalt again proved himself as the crack in the fearsome foursome. Daniel Hudson won his ninth game for the Diamondbacks. What a great pitcher he's turned out to be. And Tim Lincecum was as great as expected as he dispatched the Twins in a squeaky 2-1 win for the champion Giants.

Friday is a return to a full schedule. And yes, interleague play continues. Geez. Here are the picks:

• The Tigers over the Diamondbacks: What a clunker to start off with. First you have Zach Duke pitching for the Diamondbacks. Seriously? Then there is Phil Coke pitching for the Tigers. Ugh. Going with the home team: Tigers.
• The Red Sox over the Pirates: The Pirates sure don't have easy interleague rivals, do they? Jon Lester wins his tenth and Paul Maholm gets some serious shellacking.
• The Orioles over the Reds: A pick for Chris Jakubauskas? Really? Well, he hasn't been too bad lately and Edinson Vazquez still looks lost.
• The Yankees over the Rockies: The Fan just noticed that all the picks are AL teams thus far. Hmm... A. J. Burnett versus Ubaldo Jiminez. Interesting. Yankees at home.
• The Phillies over the Athletics: The two starting pitchers, Vince Worley and Guillermo Moscoso may not last long in this one. That's a better thing for the A's than the Phillies. But the Phillies will win somehow. 
• The Rangers over the Mets: Matt Harrison doesn't inspire a great amount of confidence, but the Rangers at home should connect on Mike Pelfrey often enough to get a win.
• The Astros over the Bay Rays: Whoa! Truly? Ah. Yes. Wandy Rodriguez over James Shields in a tight one.
• The Royals over the Cubs: The Royals have been in a serious funk. This game features an awakening in their offense off of Ryan Dempster and a win by Bruce Chen, back from the disabled list.
• The Brewers over the Twins: Scott Baker has been terrific of late, but going here with the even hotter Randy Wolf and with the Brewers at home.
• The Nationals over the White Sox: This picker hasn't gone wrong by picking Jordan Zimmermann lately. The Nats win with or without Riggleman. The White Sox start Edwin Jackson.
• The Blue Jays over the Cardinals: The combination of Brandon Morrow throwing first pitch strikes and a soft target in Jake Westbrook should improve the Blue Jays chances to break their losing streak.
• The Braves over the Padres: This picker is torn on this one. Tim Stauffer and Derek Lowe isn't a match up of legends. Going with the Braves because they are hitting better lately.
• The Angels over the Dodgers: The Angels will wait out Rubby de la Rosa and Dan Haren will hold the Dodgers down enough for the Angels to win.
• The Marlins over the Mariners: Two teams struggling on offense. Something has to give. Felix Hernandez hasn't been super of late. Ricky Nolasco could finally have a good game against the Mariners. How about we call this a win for the Jack McKeon factor?

And the Game of the Day!

• The Indians over the Giants: There hasn't been a hotter pitcher in baseball than Carlos Carrasco and Jonathan Sanchez is always an up and down pitcher. The Indians win a squeaker.

Yesterday: 3-2
Week: 29-31
Month: 169-145
Season: 604-509
Games of the Day: 54-31