Game Picks - Monday: July 25, 2011

Yesterday's tally on the picks was like a prize fight or a professional wrestling match. The picks would go down by 2-5 and then rally back to 5-5 and then take a hit and then land a couple more punches before ultimately losing the fight. The real problem to the picks yesterday were way too many underdog picks. One is probably plenty for any night. But when you pick three, and all three come in wrong, then there is nobody to blame but this old picker.

Oh! And one more lesson learned yesterday: It's okay to pick for your favorites. Dontrelle Willis and Micah Owings have been two of this Fan's favorite pitchers for a long, long time. But both of their starts yesterday seemed like long shots. So the Fan picked against them. Owings got the win and Willis would have gotten the win if Dusty Baker hadn't pitched him one inning too many. But the Reds won the game that Willis started.

It's not a bad schedule for a Monday with eleven games for the day. Here are the picks:

• The Phillies over the Padres: The Fan picked against Roy Halladay and got bit. Perhaps it would be a bad idea to pick against Cliff Lee. Aaron Harang pitches for San Diego.
• The Angels over the Indians: Dan Haren is better than Fausto Carmona, right?
• The Yankees over the Mariners: Sooner or later, the Mariners have to win a game. This one could be it. But it should be another loss as the Yankees are at home. Freddie Garcia against Jason Vargas.
• The Red Sox over the Royals: Are the Red Sox on the plushiest schedule right now or what? They go from the Mariners to the Royals and the first pitcher they will see is Kyle Davies. Hide the children. Jon Lester with the win.
• The Reds over the Mets: Big win for the Reds last night and they haven't won two games in a row in over a month. That's silly. Mike Leake over R.A. Dickey.
• The Pirates over the Braves: It's so weird thinking of the Pirates as contenders. But they are and they are a good team. The only worry is that offense. They need a hitter. James McDonald is a stud though and faces Tim Hudson. Should be a good battle.
• The Twins over the Rangers: There are two problems for Derek Holland going into this game. First, he doesn't pitch as well at home. Second, he doesn't pitched well against the Twins. Have to pick against him then. Nick Blackburn goes for the Twins.
• The Tigers over the White Sox: The Fan doesn't know what to make of the teams in the AL Central. How confusing are the White Sox, for example? The Tigers are in first and this Fan predicted before the season that they would end up there, so this pick supports that. Below versus Buehrle.
• The Rays over the Athletics: Both teams had to travel the length of the country after yesterday's game to get to Oakland. Hellickson over Moscoso.
• The Dodgers over the Rockies: How weird is it when a pitch for the Rockies is lights out at Coors Field but gets crushed on the road? Yeah, that's weird. But that's Juan Nicasio's season and he is on the road in this one. Rubby de La Rosa goes for the Dodgers.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Cardinals over the Astros: The Cardinals have to win games like this and Kyle McClelland has to be good in them. J.A. Happ goes for the Astros.

Yesterday: 7-8

Week: 7-8

Month: 163-139

Season: 827-690

Games of the Day: 71-42