Game Picks - Thursday: July 19, 2012

For a second straight day, the picks just barely climbed over the .500 level. And it took a couple of walk offs to do it. Matt Kemp has a flair for the dramatic and he saved that pick. But walk offs give and they take as well. The walk off in Oakland on the first major league homer by Brandon Hicks sunk that pick and Billy Butler's blast for the Royals sunk that pick. And how about this: This picker finally gave up on man-crush, Ian Kennedy, and he throws a gem. Ugh. The Game of the Day was also wrong. That is never good.

There are eleven games on the schedule today. Some series continue like the Nats/Mets series and others are new ones that start after a travel day. Looks like some interesting games in there. Here are Thursday's picks:

• The Bay Rays over the Indians: David Price is on a Cy Young course if he keeps up his present pace. He looks unstoppable at this point. Ubaldo Jimenez is capable of a big game, but geez, you never know with him.
• The Braves over the Giants: Madison Bumgarner is much better at home than on the road, and he is on the road. Granted, he is near the area he grew up, so that might make a difference. Tim Hudson had a bad outing his last time out, but should bounce back to shut down the Giants.
• The Reds over the Diamondbacks: No Joey Votto makes all these Reds picks scary. But Mike Leake has been very good and the rest of the Reds should get to Joe Saunders.
• The Nationals over the Mets: R.A. Dickey has fallen back to earth of late. That may not be a good analogy for a mountain climber. Anyway, he faces the tough Gio Gonzalez who is a strong Cy Young Award candidate in the National League. If this becomes a battle of the bullpens again, the Nats have the big edge.
• The Tigers over the Angels: Max Scherzer seems like a good pick in this one. He did have a bad start last time, but had been really good the four starts before that. Meanwhile, the Tigers should score four or five off of Jerome Williams, who has not won his last four starts.
• The Orioles over the Twins: The O's could win two in a row for the first time in like forever. Wei-Yin Chen has been their best starter all season (when Hammel has been hurt). And the O's can hit Cole De Vries to the tune of five runs at least.
• The Marlins over the Cubs: Mark Buehrle is back home in Chicago and his old haunt will inspire him. Not that he needs it as he is on a nice little roll in his past few outings. Paul Maholm is always capable of a good game. It's just hard to predict which game it will be. The perils of BABIP.
• The Red Sox over the White Sox: The human rain delay, Clay Buchholz will try to  stupefy the White Sox to sleep with his wait times between pitches. Once again, the umpires will stand by with their hands in their pockets. Jose Quintana is a fluke folks. Objects in the side view mirror look bigger than they are.
• The Astros over the Padres: Lucas Harrell has already shut the Astros out once this season. Edinson Volquez gives us yet another game of confusion and head scratching.
• The Athletics over the Yankees: Okay, here's the thing. The A's are hot right now and just beat the Rangers two out of three. The Yankees flew all night to get to Oakland so they could be flat and tired. Plus, Freddy Garcia is due to get his stuff beaten up. 

And the Game of the Day!

• The Mariners over the Royals: Felix Hernandez is the difference maker in this game. He has been really, really good after a rough start to the season. Will Smith is just acting like a big league pitcher.

Yesterday: 8-7

Week:  35-22

Month: 112-93

Season: 744-609

Games of the Day: 57-42