Game Picks - Monday: October 10, 2011

Today is Columbus Day, about as polarizing a holiday as there is in America. A hero to some and a pariah to others, the feelings about the day seem to echo thoughts about the way the Brewers play. More on that in the next post. But you can anticipate that post with the little poll question to the right of your screen. The bottom line is that the Brewers took Game One of their best of seven NLCS in dramatic and powerful fashion. Like so many other of Jaime Garcia's starts, he looked in control early only to get tattooed in the middle innings. Zack Greinke wasn't exactly lights out in his start but he gave up less runs than the Brewers scored and got the win anyway. He'll take it, right?

Meanwhile, over in the ALCS, in what Buster Olney called the driest rain out in history, rain during the day caused MLB to postpone the start of that series for a day. That will benefit the Tigers as they will get Justin Verlander earlier in the series. But the injury bug has found the Tigers in a big way and they are missing many of the players now that helped beat the Yankees. They will have to rely on their secondary players to get the job done. We'll either see unsung and surprising heroes or the Tigers will simply melt into the night.

With all those thoughts, here are today's picks:

• The Rangers over the Tigers: Same pitching match ups we were supposed to get yesterday: Max Scherzer versus Derek Holland. How the starters fare will be a big part of who wins this game. Holland either throws a nine-inning shutout or blows chunks. Scherzer can be great and he can be not so great. The earlier start time could mess with Josh Hamilton's vision, but the Rangers are so potent and the Tigers so beat up that the Rangers have to be big time favorites in this game.
• The Brewers over the Cardinals: Shaun Marcum has to be better than he has been in his last five starts for this prediction to work out. The Cardinals could get a good start from Edwin Jackson as he is capable of a big stop. But between those home crowds and the way the Brewers feed off of those crowds, the Cardinals will be in big trouble and in an 0-2 hole after this one.

Yesterday: 1-0

Week: 1-0

Month: 13-7

Season: 1376-1072