Yesterday was brutal. A few good picks like the D-backs over the Cardinals, the Cubs over the Angels and the Royals over the Twins were overshadowed and overwhelmed by a whole lot of bad results. The Astros hit six homers against the Orioles, or one-eleventh of their season total. I could not get wins from Clayton Kershaw or Hisashi Iwakuma. The Mets sucker-punched Dan Haren. The Rays and Blue Jays shut out the Tigers and Giants respectively. I did not find out until after the picks that Johnny Cueto would not be able to pitch. It just went all wrong.
There are eleven games on the schedule today. Some of them are very interesting. Here are the picks:
- The Tigers over the Rays: The pick seems obvious, but that is what scares me. Obvious picks bite hard. But you would think that the Tigers behind the filthy stuff of Max Scherzer should beat the Rays who start Ramon Hernandez. Especially at home.
- The Orioles over the Astros: What has gotten into these Astros? They have won eight of their last ten. There were probably six bad picks in there somewhere. So why pick against them today? The Orioles are usually too good to beat twice in a row. Miguel Gonzalez is not that great a pitcher, however. So we will see. Bud Norris goes for the Astros.
- The Nationals over the Mets: It has not yet occurred to this picker that the Nationals are not a very good team this year. I keep picking them like it is 2012 when these 2013 Nats are quite mediocre. But I like Gio Gonzalez to be able to shut down Lucas Duda and the Mets with his left arm and though Shaun Marcum had a very good outing last time, I do not expect him to repeat it.
- The Red Sox over the Rangers: I expect Jon Lester to pitch well and I expect the Red Sox to score four runs or so against Derek Holland.
- The Cardinals over the Diamondbacks: Two of my favorite pitchers go in this one. Shelby Miller takes his impressive arm out to the hill and faces Ian Kennedy who has made a career of beating aces. I would not put Miller in the ace category yet, so I think I am safe. The Cards' bullpen still needs to get deeper.
- The Royals over the Twins: The Royals have not tasted a victory like yesterday's in a while and I have a theory that winning is contagious. I think that carries over today and that Wade Davis will out-pitch Mike Pelfrey.
- The White Sox over the Athletics: See above. The White Sox finally broke their losing streak and have one of their better pitchers on the mound in Carlos Quintana. If he can be decent, the White Sox have a chance to win against Dan Straily.
- The Brewers over the Phillies: I cannot seem to get a handle on Wily Peralta. He is this black hole for me where I do not know if he is decent or not decent. But the pick is based on that Tyler Cloyd has been rather ordinary for the Phillies with a base runner and a half allowed every nine innings. The Brewers' bullpen could screw this up though.
- The Rockies over the Padres: Everybody seems to be jumping on the Rockies bandwagon and maybe there is something to it. There is not a gigantic split in their home and away hitting like most years and of their eighty team homers, only 40 of them have been hit at home. Therefore, they seem more balanced and their pitching is holding up. Jhoulys Chacin over Andrew Cashner.
- The Braves over the Dodgers: There is a lot to like from both pitchers in this game. Both Zack Greinke and Tim Hudson can pitch big-time games and both are good hitting pitchers too. I just like the Braves' lineup better than the Dodgers' at this point.
And the Game of the Day!
- The Yankees over the Mariners: Each team has an advantage in this one. The Yankees had to fly all the way across the country without a day off. But that advantage is overcome by pitching Aaron Harang and having a burnt up bullpen for the Mariners after a sixteen inning game. Phil Hughes should be better in a big ballpark.
Yesterday: 6-9 oof
Week: 29-27
Month: 39-31
Season: 501-381
Games of the Day: 40-24
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