Game Picks - Monday: September 19, 2011

This picker has the distinct taste of shoe leather in the mouth after Brandon Morrow pitched about as good a game as you can pitch Sunday against the Yankees. True, the Yankees did not have a third of their regular line up on the field at the time, but still. This picker had picked against Morrow and said the flamethrower hadn't put together a good game all season. Well, there you go.

But it was one of only five bad picks on the day. Ryan Dempster was indeed good at Wrigley as predicted. But Brett Myers was even better. Esmil Rogers was terrible against the Giants who jumped all over him. Matt Cain did give up the three earned runs he was predicted to give up. But he got the win. Both the White Sox and Royals banged out fifteen hits. But the White Sox doubled the Royals' runs at 10-5. Thought it would be the other way around. The Amazin' Mets beat the Braves. How did that happen? This picker will tell you how it happened. The Braves' bullpen is gassed, just like the post here told you they were a week ago.

Other than that, all of the other picks were right. Two of them involved teams scrambling to make a run at the wild card. The Cardinals and the Bay Rays did what they had to do by winning their games. The wild card standings are much closer than anybody ever thought they would be a month a go. Arizona, Milwaukee and Texas wins all pushed those teams closer to clinching their divisions. The Yankees, despite the loss, took another notch off of their magic number with the Red Sox loss.

Monday's picks:

• The Orioles over the Red Sox: As if it isn't bad enough for the Red Sox, they come off a tough series and now have a double-header on Monday. They will probably lose the first game as they must start Kyle Wieland against the rejuvenated Jeremy Guthrie.
• The Yankees over the Twins: Yeah, another pick for the Yankees when A.J. Burnett is pitching. This make up game at home against the Twins should be a win though they face Scott Diamond, who has been holding his own in the majors since his call up.
• The Indians over the Mariners: David (Hassle) Huff has lost three straight, but as a lefty, he should give the lefty-leaning Mariners fits. Plus, Charlie Furbush is worse on the road than he is at home.
• The Phillies over the Cardinals: It was a nice run, Cards, but you face Roy Halladay on Monday. Kyle Lohse will not be able to keep up with the big right-hander.
• The Blue Jays over the Angels: Jerome Williams has been a really nice story. But he has to lose some time. It might as well be to the tough Ricky Romero.
• The Braves over the Marlins: Geesh, the Braves need to win a ballgame here. Mike Minor needs to be pretty good and the Braves need to get to the tough (sometimes) Ricky Nolasco.
• The Red Sox over the Orioles: Yeah, John Lackey starts for the Red Sox but they should get to Brian Matusz. This Fan doesn't get the Twitter delight by Yankee fans of the Red Sox troubles. Wouldn't the Yankees have a better shot at the Red Sox right now than the Bay Rays?
• The Reds over the Astros: The Reds have rolled over and are playing dead baseball. They will start either Dontrelle Willis (who was scratched with an achy back on Sunday) or Travis Wood.
• The Brewers over the Cubs: Casey Coleman goes for the Cubbies against Chris Narveson. The Brewers would like to get this clinching business out of the way.
• The Rockies over the Padres: This game could go either way and it was a struggle to pick it. Kevin Millwood has been better than expected and Cory Luebke will suffer at Coors Field.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Diamondbacks over the Pirates: Ian Kennedy wins his 20th and faces Charlie Morton, who has run out of steam for the last month of the season.

Yesterday: 10-5
Week: 10-5
Month: 151-90
Season: 1283-1000
Games of the Day: 105-62