And it went downhill from there. The Astros' Hunter Pence and Brett Wallace beat up on Derek Lowe and the Braves. The Fan picked against Wandy Rodriguez, one of the Fan's favorite players. The Bay Rays can't hit and lost to the Tigers in extras. The Mets' Mike Pelfrey was good, but gave up a big hit to Neil Walker and the Mets couldn't figure out Paul Maholm. Ricky Nolasco totally blew chunks in Arizona. Zach Duke was bad too, but not as bad as Nolasco. Fan favorite, Micah Owings, saved the D-Backs with two innings of scoreless relief to get his third vulture win. Jason Vargas was left in the game one inning too long for the Mariners and gave up the lead in the seventh. Kameron Loe was allowed to lose his sixth game in relief as he coughed up an eighth inning run after seven scoreless innings by both starters. The Cubs won. And finally, Don Mattingley took a page out of Joe Torre's book and went one time too many to the Matt Guerrier well and came up dry.
It was a brutal day. Just brutal. But the show must go on. Here are Tuesday's picks:
- The Tigers over the Indians: After this game, the two teams won't be tied for first anymore. Justin Masterson is a very good pitcher. But Justin Verlander is lights out right now.
- The Cardinals over the Nationals: These are the kinds of series that the Cardinals have to dominate to keep up with the Brewers. They have their guy on the mound in Jaime Garcia. Yunesky Maya still hasn't won a major league game in forever. But he was better his last time out.
- The Yankees over the Rangers: C. C. Sabathia has to come up big for the Yankees to put a loss in Alexi Ogando's win-loss record. This will be like a playoff game.
- The Blue Jays over the Orioles: The Blue Jays have the perfect opportunity to wash the bad taste of their last series out of their mouths. They always play the Orioles well. Carlos Villanueva over Chris Jakubauskas in what has to be the battle of the longest pitcher names.
- The Red Sox over the Bay Rays: Yeah, Tim Wakefield is pitching. So? The Red Sox can pound any pitcher whether it be James Shields are anyone else.
- The Mets over the Braves: Every time this picker has picked against Jonathan Niese, the pick was wrong. Picking him to beat Jair Jurrjens.
- The Brewers over the Cubs: Yovani Gallardo gives this picker heartburn too. Oh well, rolling the dice and picking him over Randy Wells and the Cubs.
- The Astros over the Pirates: Hate, hate, hate picking games like this. Bud Norris is on a roll. Jeff Karstens has pitched well. Hunter Pence is on fire. The Pirates have a better team on paper. Ugh.
- The Twins over the White Sox: Another game filled with angst. Gavin Floyd versus Carl Pavano? Coin flip time.
- The Padres over the Rockies: Anthony Rizzo comes up big against Juan Nicasio and Wade LeBlanc comes up from the minors to get the win.
- The Diamondbacks over the Giants: Josh Collmenter must go deeper in this game than he has been. If he does, the D-backs beat Matt Cain.
- The Athletics over the Royals: Trevor Cahill has not been good lately. But he should be better than Danny Duffy.
- The Angels over the Mariners: Jared Weaver should be better than Doug Fister. Vernon Wells had two homers yesterday. Vernon Wells?
- The Dodgers over the Reds: Clayton Kershaw has to be on his best for the Dodgers to beat Johnny Cueto and the Reds.
And the Game of the Day!
- The Phillies over the Marlins: Cole Hamels is fantastic and he's the fourth pitcher in the Phillies' rotation. Yikes! The Marlins counter with Chris Volstad, which really isn't a counter at all.
Yesterday: 1-8
Week: 9-15
Month: 94-81
Season: 537-448
Games of the Day: 45-30
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