Game Picks - Saturday: May 19, 2012

You can't predict baseball. After a terrible week that featured four days of sub-.500 picks, interleague starts and suddenly the picks pull off a 13-2 day. In one fell swoop, all of the losses of the week were made up to bring the week back to .500. Nearly everything went right and that's as close as you can get to the ultimate picking nirvana of 15-0 (which has never happened here in three years of doing this). The only two incorrect picks were the Cubs, who did indeed get a well-pitched game from Jeff Samardzija, and the Royals. 

In a development that is totally unexpected, a positive day today would end the week in the black. Wouldn't that be something? Here are Saturday's picks:

• The Yankees over the Reds: A little reserved about this pick because a lot will depend on if Ivan Nova can throw a good game after getting his ankle dinged up. But the Yankees should help Homer Bailey earn his name.
• The Blue Jays over the Mets: The Blue Jays are on a roll right now. And Saturday features Brandon Morrow, who should bounce back after a bad outing. Miguel Bautista gets the start for the Mets and was great his last time out. He is also returning to a city where he has a lot of memories.
• The Marlins over the Indians: Anibal Sanchez continues to be one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. Going with him over Jeanmar Gomez. Was the Indians signing Johnny Damon a mistake?
• The Athletics over the Giants: The Giants don't like to give Ryan Vogelsong any runs to play with, so despite all quality starts, he is 1-2. Tyler Ross is pitching much better and keeps Vogelsong's bad luck going.
• The Tigers over the Pirates: A.J. Burnett back pitching in the American League is worth a shudder. The Emoticon, Drew Smyly goes for the Tigers.   :)  <--- a smyly
• The Bay Rays over the Braves: Tough game to pick with Randall Delgado being so unpredictable and the Rays going with Alex Cobb. Cobb pitched pretty well in the bigs last year. Going with that.
• The Brewers over the Twins: And the Twins winning streak will end at three. Carl Pavano has injury concerns, so can't be trusted (but then again, can't be when healthy either). Yovani Gallardo needs to have a good game though.
• The Rockies over the Mariners: Love this Christian Friedrich kid. Love the fact that he is causing prospect analysts to scratch their heads. They never saw this coming. Jason Vargas goes for the Mariners.
• The Diamondbacks over the Royals: Ian Kennedy is still the man-crush here. But he hasn't been nearly as good as last year so far. Perhaps he puts it together today. He will face Bruce Chen, the bamboozler.
• The Nationals over the Orioles: Worried about Jason Hammel's knee. Also worried a bit about Ross Detwiler after his last outing. So it's a toss up.
• The Red Sox over the Phillies: That was some drama last night with Papelbon going against his former team. But he won't factor in this one. The Phillies won't hit Jon Lester, so all the Red Sox need to do is score a few off of Joe Blanton.
• The Cubs over the White Sox: Ryan Dempster finally gets a win he has earned all season with great pitching. Poor lug should be like 6-1 instead of 0-1. Whatever happened to the career of John Danks?
• The Rangers over the Astros: Derek Holland needs to be solid here. He wins if he is as the Rangers should score off of young Lucas Harrell.
• The Angels over the Padres: Why would the White Sox let Eric Stults slip away? San Diego will take him. But the Angels still win behind Dan Haren, who should have few problems against the Padres' lineup.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Dodgers over the Cardinals: First, Clayton Kershaw is the bomb. Second, a lefty turns Berkman to his weaker side. Third, the Cardinals are banged up.

Yesterday: 13-2

Week: 45-45

Month: 135-117

Season: 324-266

Games of the Day: 25-18