Game Picks - Friday: October 19, 2012

The playoff picks were 2-0 yesterday and three for three in the last three picks. That is much better for the psyche of the picker, but it doesn't bring much mirth since one of the games eliminated a certain team from the post season. Ah well. But that elimination does mean that there will never be more than one game played on any given day until the World Series is over. That will make for much less typing, but not necessarily much less fun in the enterprise. More is always the merrier for this baseball FANatic.

It is really a shame that the end of the ALCS is focusing more attention on the "failure" of the losing team than on the success of the winning team. The Detroit Tigers played a phenomenal series and their pitching was unreal from beginning to end. And once Jose Valverde was taken out of the picture, there were no cracks in the Tigers' pitching armor. They had a good game plan, they executed it perfectly and they won and deserve to be in the World Series.

The series also threw this picker for a bit of a loop on the whole way we value players. One superstar, Miguel Cabrera, never seemed to be off balance, always seemed to hit the ball hard and never seemed to be over-matched. The other superstar, Robinson Cano, scored higher on the valuation scale this season, but he paled in comparison. And bad luck and BABIP had nothing to do with it. Cano's holes were exploited and his contact (when he made contact) was tepid. Hmm...

The Cardinals are in the driver's seat in the NLCS after taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the series with yesterday's win. Will the Cards close it out today in front of the home fans? Or will they have to take the series back to San Francisco? And the pick is:

• The Cardinals over the Giants: Both teams are pitching their weakest starter. Barry Zito had a surprisingly good season. Lance Lynn had a good season overall, but his second half was dicey to say the least. And he got swished his last start in the post season. So, from a picking standpoint, both pitchers are a wash. With that being the case, the home field gives the Cards a huge advantage and they have a much better offense than the Giants. The Cards go on to their second straight World Series as the wild card team. Ugh.

Yesterday: 2-0

Post season: 12-18

Season: 1345-1085