Happy Memorial Day! The flag has been put out on the porch and it is time to make some baseball picks accompanied by a hot cup of coffee. It is a nice morning in Maine and yesterday was a decent day of picking. There were some near misses yesterday. The Twins were picked to beat the Tigers yesterday and they did...until Matt Capps blew the save. The Diamondbacks squeaked by the Brewers and sank that pick. The Cubs are well...just in a really bad stretch that has to end sometime. And the White Sox finished their weekend spanking of the Indians as Gavin Floyd was bad, but not quite as bad as Ubaldo Jimenez. But all in all, it was a good day.
There are sixteen games on the schedule today including a double-header between the Astros and Rockies. Shame on the MLB for scheduling four of the games for the nighttime. You can understand the second game of a make-up double-header being played at night, but the four other games just shouldn't happen. A holiday like Memorial Day should be a time to take the kids to the ballpark and with school tomorrow, those night games make that difficult.
Anyway, enough with the complaints, here are your Memorial Day picks:
- The Phillies over the Mets: Great match up between Jon Neise and Cole Hamels. The Mets are at home and are playing well there. But the Phillies rarely lose when Hamels starts. He is their only sure thing these days.
- The Cardinals over the Braves: The Braves just got swept by the Nats and have to be reeling a bit. Chipper Jones is still out and the Cardinals' lineup can get to Tommy Hanson. Lance Lynn wins his eighth.
- The Marlins over the Nationals: The Marlins need this one and it is up to Carlos Zambrano. Uh oh. But they are home and have been hitting fairly well. They get to face Jordan Zimmermann, a pitcher who never gets run support.
- The Pirates over the Reds: With Pittsburgh hosting and with that stadium being more hitter neutral, perhaps that will slow the Reds offense down, especially facing James McDonald. Bronson Arroyo has been pretty good lately.
- The Red Sox over the Tigers: Doug Fister has been terrific but has been given like eight runs in five starts. He must think he is back in Seattle. Felix Doubront is the kind of pitcher that can mess the Tigers up a little. Losing Austin Jackson was a big blow for the Tigers.
- The Twins over the Athletics. The A's are starting Travis Blackley, a pitcher they claimed on waivers from the Giants two weeks ago. Does that fill you with confidence? No, not here either. Scott Diamond with the win.
- The Cubs over the Padres: Okay. Today is the day the losing streak ends. The Padres are the only team in the NL that are as bad as the Cubs and the Padres can't hit. The Cubs get Jeff Suppan. The stars are a lined up. Now Travis Wood has to pitch well. That's all.
- The White Sox over the Bay Rays: Chris Sale has been awfully good and Matt Moore has been a bit of a disappointment. And Moore has to face a red hot offense.
- The Astros over the Rockies: Wandy Rodriguez is the Astros best pitcher. Juan Nicasio had a tired arm his last time out. The wild card is Coors Field.
- The Royals over the Indians: Going for the upset pick here. The Indians just got spanked by the White Sox. They could be a little down in the mouth. The Royals had a good weekend against the Orioles. Nate Adcock over Josh Tomlin.
- The Diamondbacks over the Giants: Picking against Barry Zito seems to be the correct play here. But Trevor Cahill hasn't exactly been great either.
- The Blue Jays over the Orioles: The Blue Jays sure had a bad series against the Rangers. But they get Tommy Hunter, the weak link in the Orioles' rotation. Drew Hutchison has to have a good game though.
- The Rangers over the Mariners: The Rangers at home are just too good to pick against. Matt Harrison hasn't been as good as predicted this season. Kevin Millwood has strung several good starts in a row for the Mariners. That will end today.
- The Rockies over the Astros: Jordan Lyles is 2-9 in his big league career with a 1.43 WHIP. And he has to pitch in Coors. That has disaster written all over it. Now all the Rockies need is for Alex White to pitch fairly well. Uh..oh boy.
- The Brewers over the Dodgers: Why do batters of Matt Kemp's caliber have to have rehab starts in the minors? The Dodgers could win today if they had him. But he won't be back until tomorrow. In light of that, Shaun Marcum will get the win and the Brewers will hit Aaron Harang.
And the Game of the Day!
- The Angels over the Yankees: Jered Weaver always holds the Yankees down and the Angels should score enough off of Phil Hughes to get Weaver the win.
Yesterday: 9-6
Week: 9-6
Month: 190-173
Season: 379-321
Games of the Day: 30-21
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