Game Picks - Tuesday: August 14, 2012

Yesterday was a train wreck of a day for the picks. All of the gains made on Sunday for the week were erased by the results on Monday. Nothing went right. Well, the Game of the Day was right. But pretty much everything else was a disaster.

This picker is not going to dwell on it or over-analyse what went wrong. Instead, the Fan will dust himself off and try again on Tuesday. Here are the picks:

• The Red Sox over the Orioles: It might be stupid to pick the struggling Red Sox, but they are good enough to dust off any team at any time, even the Orioles. A lot will depend on if Josh Beckett can do anything on the mound and if a very good offense can do something with Wei-Yin Chen.
• The Dodgers over the Pirates: Chad Billingsley has pitched four good games in a row, so perhaps his strange season is turning around at just the right moment for the Dodgers: Kevin Correia is a battler, but the Dodgers will get to him for enough runs to win.
• The Yankees over the Rangers: Hiroki Kuroda has been terrific for like nine games now. He has trouble getting run support and if Matt Harrison is on, that could again be a problem. But it has been a while since Matt Harrison has been on. He has been as bad as Kuroda has been good. But, that's why they play the game.
• The White Sox over the Blue Jays: If the Rays can score six runs against Henderson Alvarez, what can the White Sox do? But Jose Quintana is pitching and that means the White Sox do not score at all. Perhaps that will change tonight. Paul Konerko out of the lineup hurts the White Sox.
• The Reds over the Mets: Mat Latos should shut the Mets down and the Red should score some on Chris Young. Again, should is the operative word.
• The Marlins over the Phillies: First, depending on Josh Johnson has never seemed to work out for this picker. Picking the Marlins has been a problem all season. But, gosh, Johnson should be better than Kyle Kendrick in this one, shouldn't he be?
• The Braves over the Padres: The Padres are playing good baseball and have beaten some good teams of late including the Braves last night. But Tim Hudson is the ace and he should shut down the Padres. Clayton Richard is not nearly as good on the road as he is at home.
• The Astros over the Cubs: Chris Volstad is 0-8. If he loses his ninth decision to go 0-9 and have it be by the Astros, will that be the nadir of his career? Probably so. But that's what this picker thinks will happen. Lucas Harrell will out-pitch him.
• The Royals over the Athletics: There is just a feeling here that Jeremy Guthrie will have a very good night against the A's and that the Royals will score a few off of Jarrod Parker. Call the Fan stupid, but this is what the gut says.
• The Diamondbacks over the Cardinals: Why is Joe Kelly still starting for the Cardinals? As predicted last time, all his base runners will catch up to him and it did big time. You can't put up a WHIP of over 1.6 like he has in his last four starts and survive. But the Cardinals are throwing him up there again. The Cards better hope they brought their bats and that Ian Kennedy doesn't have a good night.
• The Rockies over the Brewers: Randy Wolf in Coors Field doesn't sound like a winning proposition. And then that Brewers' bullpen in Coors Field sounds worse. The Rockies win if Tyler Chatwood has a decent outing.
• The Angels over the Indians: The Angels are really struggling and a lot this game will depend on which Ubaldo Jimenez comes out to play. But if Zack Greinke does what he is supposed to do (and what he is capable of doing, the Indians will not score more than a run.
• The Bay Rays over the Mariners: The M's don't stand a chance in this one. Matt Moore is on a roll. Kevin Millwood is melba toast. And some day, the Rays will play a good team.
• The Giants over the Nationals: The Nats already destroyed one good pitcher in Ryan Vogelsong. But Vogelsong is a BABIP guy who needs to be fine. Madison Bumgarner can win in a variety of ways, including power. Jordan Zimmermann is no easy task for the Giants either. Going with the home team.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Tigers over the Twins: The Twins stuck it to the Tigers last night. But the Tigers should rebound with a start by Doug Fister. Brian Duensing goes for the Twins and he is having a terrible season.

Yesterday: 3-8

Week: 13-13

Month: 98-81

Season: 940-767

Games of the Day: 71-54