Game Picks - Thursday: August 23, 2012

The Game Picks were awesome on Wednesday. With sixteen big games on the schedule, thirteen of those picks came in correct. Woot! Among the three that were wrong, only the Red Sox pick was stupid. The Mets were a good pick until the Mets took Matt Harvey out. Then it all went haywire as the bullpen imploded. The Pirates pick was done in by really a freak first inning where a big miscommunication at first base led to a three run rally that probably wouldn't have happened otherwise. This picker does have to eat some words about Andrew Werner, who pitched well. But still! 13-3!

Thursday features a light schedule as only eight games will be played. Three of them are day games which is a bonus. Here are Thursday's picks:

• The Tigers over the Blue Jays: J.A. Happ is pitching very well for the Blue Jays. Unfortunately for him, Justin Verlander will bring his Bayer Aspirin to the mound and should dominate a depleted Blue Jays' lineup. This will probably be a low scoring game though.
• The Mets over the Rockies. This picker doesn't know what to do with this one. Collin McHugh will be called up from the minors to pitch for the Mets in place of the disabled Johan Santana. McHugh has nice numbers in his minor league season. Will that translate to the majors? Who knows. Tyler Chatwood was beat up in his last outing. Will he bounce back against the struggling Mets? Who knows.
• The Reds over the Phillies: A battle of aces as Johnny Cueto matches up with Cole Hamels. Both pitchers are equal in this picker's mind. The difference for the pick then comes down to which offense is better and the answer is duh. With aces, the game could really go either way.
• The Angels over the Red Sox: Franklin Morales is a gamer and not that bad of a pitcher. He is deceptive enough to keep batters off guard. But the thing is, Morales is a lefty and the Angels' entire line up with the exception of Kendrys Morales, is right-handed. C.J. Wilson has not been good though. He has to pitch decently for the Angels to win.
• The Bay Rays over the Athletics: Everything is breaking right for the Rays. The A's are chock full of great pitchers. But who do the Rays get to start this series? Tyson Ross. The only chance the A's have in this one is if Alex Cobb has a bad start. Good luck with that.
• The Rangers over the Twins: Scott Diamond is the Twins' best pitcher. Roy Oswalt is the Rangers' worst decision this season. But somehow, it will all go against the Twins and the Rangers will win.
• The Braves over the Giants: The dispatched the Dodgers in three sets and set themselves up nicely. Unfortunately, Barry Zito still collects his checks and gets the start against the tough Braves. Tommy Hanson will be better and should win.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Cardinals over the Astros: Jake Westbrook got himself an extension and is guaranteed the chance to scare Cards fans for another season or two. There should be no scare in this one as the Astros are so, so bad and haven't won since Brad Mills got unfairly fired. Dallas Keuchel just isn't really good enough to pitch in the majors and that sums up the Astros right now.

Yesterday: 13-3

Week: 38-20

Month: 183-126

Season: 1025-806

Games of the Day: 76-58