Game Picks - Tuesday: April 10, 2012

The picks are stuck in a Groundhog Day of mediocrity. Another day, another .500 picking record. This is getting somewhat maddening. If a man screams in a basement and nobody hears, did he really scream? Whoa. Did this picker just write that? Where is that coffee? Okay. Everything...is...okay. Well, sure. It is okay. .500 is nothing to sneeze at in this crazy early season where the Braves still have not won a game and an unknown pitcher in Oakland has done something only 25 other guys have done (pitch more than seven innings of shutout ball without striking out anyone) in recent history. But it is not good enough. At least not personally.

Today will be a better day. Are you listening, Norman Vincent Peale? There are twelve games on Tuesday's schedule, which is a strange number for a Tuesday. Here are the picks:

• The Bay Rays over the Tigers: This is a good match up between Matt Moore, the wunderkind of the Rays' pitching staff, and Rick Porcello, who is in the best shape of his life. Can you believe Porcello is only 23 years old? How is that possible? This is his fourth season. Wow. Anyway, both pitchers will be tough, but Moore will be better.
• The Dodgers over the Pirates: Clayton Kershaw looked just as good as always in his first start, but only lasted three innings because of a flu. He should have no trouble with a still suspect Pirates' offense. Kevin Correia of the Pirates still remains a fungible pitcher.
• The White Sox over the Indians: Phil Humber against Jeanmar Gomez. Gomez had a great spring, but seriously? Humber has at least a track record of respectability in the majors.
• The Yankees over the Orioles: Freddy Garcia will break but not bend for his six innings of work. The Orioles will start Wei-Yin Chen, the Korean who will make his major league debut. Chen is left-handed and Jeter and the Yankees love them some of that lefty stuff.
• The Red Sox over the Blue Jays: Frankly, this game is confusing. How will Daniel Bard do as a starter? Kyle Drabek's big problem is finding the strike zone and faces a team that is notoriously patient. That has to swing the vote.
• The Cardinals over the Reds: This picker loves Mike Leake. But Kyle Lohse looked awfully good his first time out.
• The Nationals over the Mets: The Mets are not going to win 162 games. So the law of averages is against them. Dillon Gee had a great spring, but this is Ross Detwiler's big chance and he is going to run with it.
• The Braves over the Astros: Conversely, the Braves are not going to lose 162 games this season. Tommy Hanson outguns Kyle Weiland.
• The Cubs over the Brewers: Paul Maholm is a sketchy pick, but he does pitch well in Wrigley. The pick is for him because Chris Narveson is just as sketchy or sketchier.
• The Rangers over the Mariners: Blake Beavan? No...cannot go there. But he does face Neftali Feliz, who is an unknown as a starter. How will this little experiment go? Personally, it won't go well. But the Rangers will score too many runs at home for it to matter.
• The Royals over the Athletics: Daniel Duffy needs to step up to the hype that has fallen flat thus far in his career. Death Valley in the Oakland Coliseum should help him do that. He is faced by Graham Godfrey. Who the heck is that!? This picker really needs to sit down and figure out who these Athletic players are.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Diamondbacks over the Padres: Trevor Cahill is a bit over-hyped, but he should win over Edinson Volquez, who seems to be his own worst enemy since the beginning of last season.

Yesterday: 6-6
Week: 13-13
Season: 31-31
Games of the Day: 3-2