Game Picks - Friday: August 19, 2011

Thursday was a good day at the office for the game picks. Eight correct out of ten is a nice little day. The only two stinker picks were the Diamondbacks, a completely emotional pick for Ian Kennedy, and the Giants. The Giants wasted a brilliant effort from Tim Lincecum and couldn't find a way to plate a runner if they had two dozen innings to attempt the feat. Bruce Bochy's refusal to play Brandon Belt just seems inexcusable at this point.

There weren't enough games to list out the good/bad/lucky/unlucky picks. If broken down, the Angels pick was probably lucky, the D-backs pick was stupid and the Giants pick unlucky. The rest would have been smart picks and they were. And the Nationals over the Reds was a brilliant pick. Heh.

On we go to Friday and back to a full schedule. It's incredible how fast this season seems to be going. And once again, after typing that, this writer is reminded that only old people say those kinds of things. The picks:

• The Cardinals over the Cubs: Not an easy pick for the start. Jaime Garcia has been a mystery and has been in a funk. The Cardinals have been sleepy. Randy Wells is a capable pitcher with a weakness for the long ball.
• The Reds over the Pirates: The Reds get an early lead on Kevin Correia and then Homer Bailey coasts.
• The Indians over the Tigers: Josh Tomlin is back and bamboozling batters again. Max Scherzer has not been consistent in his last dozen outings.
• The Phillies over the Nationals: The Nationals are a sneaky team and Livan Hernandez is still capable of shutting a team down. But the Phillies prevail behind Roy Oswalt.
• The Mariners over the Bay Rays: King Felix Hernandez pitches much better than his last Trop appearance and the Mariners eke out a few runs off of Wade Davis.
• The Diamondbacks over the Braves: Derek Lowe seems out of gas at this point in his career. Well, at least if he is out of gas, he can't drive. That's probably a good thing. Meanwhile, Daniel Hudson shuts down Chipper and crew.
• The Giants over the Astros: This game could take eighteen innings to see its first run score. Ryan Vogelsong goes for the Giants against Wandy Rodriguez. Another lefty probably puts Belt on the bench again #facepalm
• The Red Sox over the Royals: Andrew Miller has a WHIP over 1.9 but is still 4-1. The Red Sox are missing Ortiz and Youkilis but they still win. Jeff Francis goes for the Royals.
• The Yankees over the Twins: Kevin Slowey goes for the Twins and while he won't walk anyone and throws strikes, his homers per nine for his career stands at 1.40. That's not a good thing against the Yankees. Phil Hughes makes his case for the rotation.
• The Rangers over the White Sox: Matt Harrison will hold down the White Sox and the Rangers' offense will wear down Jake Peavy quickly.
• The Rockies over the Dodgers: Coors Field is where finesse pitchers go to die and Hiroki Kuroda has an ERA over eight in that place. Jason Hammel isn't much better but at least he's used to the place. High scoring game perhaps.
• The Angels over the Orioles: The Orioles can hit some and Jo-Jo Reyes pitched well in his last outing. The Angels can't hit at all but Dan Haren is pitching.
• The Padres over the Marlins: Mike Stanton is an island and Chris Volstad has been the tidal wave. Wade LeBlanc wins two in a row and Hell freezes over.
• The Blue Jays over the Athletics: Rick Harden can't throw enough strikes and the Blue Jays will get their hits. It's only a matter of how well Brett Cecil pitches.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Brewers over the Mets: Terry Collins pinch hits for Mike Pelfrey in the fifth inning. Pelfrey hits the water cooler with a bat. Collins says after the game that Pelfrey is a battler and that he loves that sort of thing. Meanwhile, Shaun Marcum goes out and gets another win.

Yesterday: 8-2

Week: 41-23

Month: 143-96

Season: 1017-837

Games of the Day: 86-50