Beware of short schedule days. Only one correct pick out of four yesterday. It turns out that the Red Sox are more of a struggling team than the Marlins. And the California game between the Dodgers and the Angels went into extra innings and ended up with the Angels winning. Had it the other way. Mike Trout's name was all over that box score. Phenomenal. The other loss was the most painful...for Brandon Morrow. The pick was based on him winning. But he threw just nine pitches before a side strain shelved him and probably sinks the Blue Jays in the process. How can one predict that?
But the good news is that the number of picks limited the damage on the week. Tuesday is back to a full schedule and perhaps the week can get back to its highly successful self. Tuesday's picks:
- The Orioles over the Pirates: The battle of two surprisingly good teams. The Orioles get a bit of the benefit of doubt here as Wei-Yin Chen can pitch effectively longer than Brad Lincoln, who is not stretched out to start.
- The Nationals over the Blue Jays: The Nationals are clearly the class in the NL East right now and Bryce Harper is just sensational. Mike Morse is also back. Chien-Ming Wang makes it Korean national day as he and Chen get wins. Henderson Alvarez gets a hard-luck loss.
- The Red Sox over the Marlins: The Red Sox know Mark Buehrle unlike their unfamiliarity with Johnson yesterday. They should score four or more runs in this game, which will be more than Clay Buchholz will need as he seems to be back to 2010 form.
- The Reds over the Indians: Johnny Cueto should be the difference-maker in this one as he is clearly better than Jeanmar Gomez. The Battle of Ohio.
- The Bay Rays over the Mets: The Rays just don't lose these days. Alex Cobb will continue this struggling streak of the Mets and Chris Young won't be around long enough to prevent the Bay Rays from getting to the Mets' bullpen.
- The Diamondbacks over the Rangers: The Rangers have been scuffling and this picker cannot pick against man-crush, Ian Kennedy. Plus, Colby Lewis is not always great. He should serve up at least two long balls.
- The Tigers over the Cubs: This picker's first thought on seeing this game was, "How can the Tigers screw this up?" They shouldn't. Max Scherzer has been all over the place though. Paul Maholm has not won a start in his last half-dozen attempts.
- The Brewers over the Royals: This will be Zack Greinke's first return back to Kansas City since he was traded. Royals fans will be all over him and he should be stoked to beat them. Luis Mendoza will just be incidental to this show.
- The Twins over the Phillies: Cannot make sense of this game. There is no faith in Kyle Kendrick just like there is no faith in Nick Blackburn. The Twins are the hotter hitting team and are at home. So let's go that way.
- The Cardinals over the White Sox: Adam Wainwright is still getting hit around pretty good. But he is at home and the White Sox will lose the DH. Jose Quintana has looked okay but should get hit by this Cardinal lineup whose righty bats should neutralize his left arm.
- The Rockies over the Athletics: Have to go with the home team Rockies in this one. Neither Jeremy Guthrie or Bartolo Colon will be able to contain the scoring, but the Rockies will score more.
- The Angels over the Dodgers: The Angels are simply the hotter team right now. The Dodgers are missing pieces and trying to hold on. Jerome Williams had a bad start last time, but he's been solid all season. The Angels should hit Aaron Harang.
- The Mariners over the Padres: Seriously tough pick to make. Felix Hernandez is back for this one, but we haven't seen the old King Felix this season as his velocity is down. Has his back been the problem the whole time? Or is it something else? Clayton Richard is a good pitcher in San Diego and just meh anywhere else.
- The Giants over the Astros: If this was the Bud Norris of earlier in the season, then this would be a tougher pick. But he hasn't been right for a few starts now and Madison Bumgarner is the best Giants pitcher.
And the Game of the Day!
- The Yankees over the Braves: Uh oh. Saw this match-up of C.C. Sabathia versus Mike Minor and immediately thought, "Mismatch." Every single time that thought has occurred this season, the pick has turned out wrong. Perhaps this one will break the mold.
Yesterday: 1-3
Week: 12-7
Month: 82-62
Season: 484-403
Games of the Day: 38-28
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