Game Picks - Saturday: July 16, 2011

Can we say this all together--The Pirates are tied for first. The Pirates are tied for first place! How cool is that? The Pirates win backed with an improbable shutout by the improbable Jeff Karstens propelled the improbable Pittsburgh Pirates to a tie for first in the NL Central. It also propelled this picker into another good day. The correct picks included the Blue Jays over the Yankees behind Brandon Morrow, the Bay Rays over the Red Sox behind David Price, wins by Kershaw for the Dodgers, Vance Worley of the Phillies, Tim Hudson of the Braves, Colby Lewis of the Rangers and Tim Lincecum of the Giants.

The Reds blew a lead against the Cardinals but then a walk-off homer by Brandon Phillips won them a game and this picker a pick. On the down side, Justin Verlander got shelled by the White Sox and Ryan Dempster shut down the Marlins. Didn't see those coming. Matt Capps blew yet another save for the Twins as Eric Hosmer was the hero. And the Oakland A's beat Dan Haren and the Angels.

But it was a good day and it's been a good week. Today finishes it and hopefully, it will be on a positive note:

• The Cubs over the Marlins: Carlos Zambrano takes the third game of this series over Javier Vazquez.
• The Yankees over the Blue Jays: Verlander getting popped yesterday makes picking C. C. Sabathia today. But the big guy is on a serious roll and the Yankees should score a couple off of Ricky Romero.
• The Athletics over the Angels: See how much one game sways this emotional picker? The gut feeling here is that Trevor Cahill comes up with a gem against Jared Weaver and the Angels.
• The Angels over the Athletics: The teams play two today and the Angels should beat Rich Harden behind a rekindled Ervin Santana.
• The Bay Rays over the Red Sox: James Shields should be better than John Lackey right? That's the theory behind this one.
• The Tigers over the White Sox: Max Scherzer comes back to beat the White Sox. Edwin Jackson has been a hard luck loser for several games in a row though and is due for some luck. Hmm..
• The Mets over the Phillies: Jonathan Niese beat the Phillies in a repeat of today's match up against Cole Hamels. This is the upset pick of the day.
• The Indians over the Orioles: The Fan hates games like this. The Orioles are starting Alfredo Simon. How can you know how that will go? Carlos Carrasco was really good and for the last two games has been really bad.
• The Astros over the Pirates: The Fan just has this thing about Bud Norris. Every time Norris is predicted to lose, he wins and vice versa. Paul Maholm has been really good. But Norris beat the Pirates last time.
• The Royals over the Twins: Crap. Another of those games that is an awful choice. Carl Pavano has been much better of late, but Jeff Francis was very good his last time out. Crap.
• The Cardinals over the Reds: David Freese makes a difference in this line up and in the field. The Cards should rally against Bronson Arroyo and give Chris Carpenter enough runs to win.
• The Diamondbacks over the Dodgers: Both Hiroke Kuroda and Ian Kennedy are really good. Going with the Diamondbacks at home.
• The Brewers over the Rockies: Okay, which Zack Greinke will we get today? Which Jhoulys Chacin will we get? Ugh.
• The Padres over the Giants: Barry Zito has teased us with several good outings. It has to end. It simply has to. Cory Luebke with the win.
• The Rangers over the Mariners: The Rangers might go 152-10 if they faced the Mariners every day. C. J. Wilson out duels Felix Hernandez.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Braves over the Nationals: Tommy Hanson is really good. John Lannon is making his first start since breaking his nose off a lined shot up the middle.

Yesterday: 10-5

Week: 23-14

Month: 92-75

Season: 746-636

Games of the Day: 67-37