Game Picks - Thursday: May 17, 2012

What in the name of Jimmy the Greek is going on here!? This is the worst stretch of picking days in this history of this feature. And that goes back a long time. The last four days have gone 24-36. And if something could be thrown at Jon Rauch and at the Tigers, there would be. And what kind of effort was that, Yankees? This has got to turn around somehow. Otherwise, this picker is going to crawl into a fetal ball and talk gibberish for a while.

So come on, Thursday. Turn this thing around, won't you please?

• The Indians over the Mariners: Did we not see this Indians' script last year? They were good early last year. Will they fade this season? Can the Tigers get it together? Zach McAllister over Hector Noesi.
• The Tigers over the Royals Oops Twins: Doug Fister is really, really good. He better go all the way though as this bullpen is sucking big time. P.J. Walters sounds too much like a pajama to be taken seriously.
• The Mets over the Reds: Please. Someone feed Jon Rauch a bad hotdog or something to get him out of there for a few days. How can someone so big and so mean looking throw such soft garbage? Mat Latos is hard to predict. R.A. Dickey is pitching really well as he sells a lot of books.
• The Rangers over the Athletics: But this is no ringing endorsement. Brandon McCarthy is good enough to shut the Rangers down and Matt Harrison hasn't looked good since early in the season.
• The Orioles over the Royals: Brian Matusz and Luke Hochevar. Gosh. Two enigmas if there ever were. All the Orioles do these days is win.
• The Rockies over the Diamondbacks: The D-backs have been really disappointing this season. Such a shame too. Trevor Cahill is okay, but Coors Field won't be fun for him. Juan Nicasio was mighty good his last time out.
• The Cardinals over the Giants: Adam Wainwright is starting to look like a good pitcher again. Matt Cain never gets any run support.
• The Pirates over the Nationals: Two great young pitchers in this one. James McDonald beats Jordan Zimmermann something like 1-0 or 2-1.
• The Yankees over the Blue Jays: The sky is falling in New York if you listen to their fans and writers. So they have hit a rough patch. They haven't had a hot streak yet. And they will. Phil Hughes over Drew Hutchinson.
• The Red Sox over the Bay Rays: Felix Doubront is really good. Matt Moore has not pitched as advertised. That seems to be the story line for this one.
• The Braves over the Marlins: Brandon Beachy is quietly having himself one heck of a season. For this picker, Ricky Nolasco simply is a trust issue.
• The Brewers over the Astros: If the season were to end today, Brad Mills should get Manager of the Year. However, he still has J.A. Happ in his rotation and that sounds like five runs for the Brewers, which should be enough with Shaun Marcum on the mound.
• The Phillies over the Cubs: Roy Halladay can't lose three in a row, can he? Chris Volstad can't avoid a bad and big inning, can he?
• The Dodgers over the Padres: Aaron Harang and Edinson Volquez? Who the heck knows. Your guess is as good as this one.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Angels over the White Sox: The Angels are waking up a bit. Which of course, will prompt more teams to uselessly fire hitting coaches when that is such a stupid thing to blame. C.J. Wilson gets the win and Chris Sale seems to be an injury waiting to happen.

Yesterday: 5-10

Week: 24-36

Month; 114-108

Season: 303-257

Games of the Day: 24-17