Game Picks - Sunday: July 15, 2012

Just a brutal day on Saturday. There were only four correct picks. Frankly, if you were a betting person and picked all underdogs yesterday, you would have cleaned up. Bullpens imploded. Last place teams beat first place teams. All Star pitchers lost. It was just a joke and this picker no longer wants to talk about it.

So with an edge in the mood and dark thoughts looming, let's go right to Sunday's picks:

• The Angels over the Yankees: The Yankees have been as sure a pick as there is lately. But they face Jered Weaver today and he has been dealing. Ivan Nova has a habit of winning, but the pick here has to be Weaver.
• The Blue Jays over the Indians: See? This picker can't guess the outcome of a Blue Jays game if his life depended on it. The team totally confuses all the time. Let's go with Carlos Villanueva over Derek Lowe for no other reason than the instinct is to pick the Indians and instincts don't work with the Blue Jays.
• The Nationals over the Marlins: Stephen Strasburg should be a lock on every start, but he is not. The Marlins beat Gio Gonzalez yesterday (grumble) and could make it two aces in two days. But this is the Marlins after all. Ricky Nolasco goes for the Fish.
• The Tigers over the Orioles: Miguel Gonzalez won his first start in convincing fashion. What the heck, eh? If he beats Justin Verlander today, this picker should just find another way to spend time in the mornings.
• The Mets over the Braves: Really crappy game to pick. First, Ben Sheets is starting a game for the first time since 2010. How do you predict that? Second, Johan Santana is either terrific or terrible with no in between..
• The Bay Rays over the Red Sox: Another difficult game to pick. Will Josh Beckett be on or off? Will James Shields be on or off? Will the Bay Rays hit? Will the Red Sox bullpen implode again? What a mess. Gosh, this picker is in a foul mood this morning.
• The White Sox over the Royals: Okay, this one looks easy to pick. Why is that unsettling? Because it is never that easy. Chris Sale has been dominant. Luis Mendoza is a BABIP pitcher that depends on batted balls finding gloves. It gets ugly when they don't. The mood isn't improving.
• The Athletics over the Twins: What an unpredictable and frustrating series. This one has been wrong all weekend. Going with Jarrod Parker over Brian Duensing. Have no good reasons why.
• The Pirates over the Brewers: It's a tough picking day when A.J. Burnett seems like your ace in the hole. Lord help the gentle picker. Yovani Gallardo is good at home though, so this pick is no lock by any means.
• The Cubs over the Diamondbacks: The D-backs should be better. What happened? Why is Justin Upton a problem? What went wrong? Matt Garza hasn't been pitching well for the Cubs. Is he trying to thwart a trade? He pitches well at home usually. Trevor Cahill is hit or miss in his starts.
• The Phillies over the Rockies: Cole Hamels feels like a better pick than Drew Pomeranz. But then again, in Coors Field, anything can happen and usually does.Only one pick today seemed easy. GAaaah!!
• The Dodgers over the Padres:  How did the Padres steal that win yesterday? Today is another match up of misfit pitchers. Chad Billingsley is a total mystery. You look at his numbers over the years and he appears to be under-appreciated. But then you look at this year and go, "Whuh?" Jason Marquis is capable of a good game. Whether that will happen or not is the question.
• The Rangers over the Mariners: Matt Harrison should be able to win a game against the Mariners that is started by Hisashi Iwakuma. But strange things are in the air. Very strange indeed.
• The Reds over the Cardinals: Okay, Cardinals, you win. You stink, okay? Been building you up all season just to be let down over and over. Last year was last year. This year is different. Maybe Tony was that good a manager after all. Who knows. Homer Bailey over Jake Westbrook.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Giants over the Astros: Okay, this one seems fairly straight forward. Matt Cain is that starting pitcher of the All Star Game. If you can't pick him, who can you pick? Bud Norris never seems to be as good as he should be. But the stuff is there.

Yesterday: 4-11

Last week: 21-26

Month: 77-71

Season: 709-587

Games of the Day: 54-41