MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: July 3, 2013

There are two ways to look at yesterday. The first is that it was a bit of a letdown after doing so well on Monday. The second is that the day started at 0-4 and then was at 2-6 before pulling it out in the end to have a slightly positive day. I will have to sip more of my coffee before I decide if the glass is half empty or half full.

It sure was a poor start. The Pirates certainly did not start Jeff Locke. Instead, they started Brandon Cumpton. And yeah, I would have thought twice about that pick. Then, Stephen Strasburg threw seven scoreless innings, but so did Wily Peralta and the Brewers eventually won. Chien-Ming Wang was more of an emotional pick and not only did he not pitch well, but he was DFA'd after the game. Ouch. Jeremy Hefner was terrific again and Patrick Corbin lost his first game. The White Sox beat the Orioles. Seriously? And the Mariners blew up the Rangers. Weird.

But all hail Homer Bailey on his second career no-hitter. That pick started the comeback and it was great fun to watch. Thank you, MLB.tv!

Wednesday's picks:

• The Nationals over the Brewers: Since Strasburg is not pitching, and Ross Detwiler is, the Nats will score a bunch of runs. Look for Harper to do some damage to Kyle Lohse. Let's put it this way: If the Nats lose again, then they may not have a magical run in them that I expect.
• The Pirates over the Phillies: Okay, today Jeff Locke is pitching. Do we have that straight now? I have had good success picking Locke all season. The Phillies go with John Lannon (Imagine there's no strikeouts, it isn't hard to do).
• The Tigers over the Blue Jays: It is getting to critical mass now with Max Scherzer. How long can the streak last. That is the question with every pick each time he starts. He has a tough opponent in Josh Johnson and a tough lineup in the Blue Jays. You have to pick him until he loses, right?
• The Mets over the Diamondbacks: The D-backs sure don't feel like a first place club, do they? I cannot imagine a first place team running Randall Delgado out there again and again. Matt Harvey goes for the Mets and this game is featured on ESPN. Harvey is my first half Cy Young Award winner in the NL.
• The Orioles over the White Sox: We will find out how well Scott Feldman does with the Orioles. They are not wasting any time starting him. Hector Santiago goes for the White Sox and is a fly ball pitcher. A fly ball pitcher does not seem like a good recipe against the powerful Orioles.
• The Braves over the Marlins: I am afraid to pick the Marlins and Ricky Nolasco because he might be traded before the game even starts. Besides, Mike Minor should beat them anyway.
• The Reds over the Giants: Man, the Giants are struggling. And being no-hit is like the ultimate ouchie. Having Barry Zito pitch does not seem to be good timing after that either. Plus, they face Tony Cingrani, who has struck out 57 batters in 47+ innings. The one silver-lining for the Giants is that their lineup, such as it is, is set up well for lefties.
• The Rangers over the Mariners: It would make baseball sense for the Mariners to win with Saunders on the mound and lose with Felix Hernandez pitching, right? Besides, Derek Holland has pitched five times at Safeco Field and has never lost there and has a 0.68 ERA. I think he likes it there.
• The Indians over the Royals: Everything the Indians have done makes little sense, so losing with Scott Kazmir just goes with the flow. Carlos Santana walked three times yesterday and then did a guitar solo.  How can you lose with Santana and Led Zeppelin? Jeremy Guthrie gets a hard luck loss for the Royals.
• The Dodgers over the Rockies: The Dodgers are rolling now. If I was the NL West, I would be pretty nervous. Zack Greinke will give them a decent six innings. Puig will continue to make the highlight reel and the entire cast of characters over there wail on Tyler Chatwood.
• The Yankees over the Twins: The Twins have offered the woeful Yankees very little resistance in this series. P.J. Walters will not help the cause. The only question is how good CC Sabathia will be.
• The Bay Rays over the Astros: The opponent must be really bad when I pick Roberto Hernandez to win. Yup, it is the Astros. Bud Norris will look good but lose. Life will be normal. Great. I have just picked five straight home teams to lose. Criminy.
• The Athletics over the Cubs: Again, I do not want to get sucked in here. I could pick Matt Garza as he is pitching really well. But he might be traded any time now. So I pick him and some minor league pitcher pitches like yesterday. Going with Shrek Bartolo Colon seems safer.
• The Angels over the Cardinals: The Cards are going through a flat period. Their timely hitting with runners in scoring position is regressing to the mean a bit and their starting pitchers all seem to have one bad inning that deflates them. Plus, the Angels are playing well and Jerome Williams has been terrific. Shelby Miller, the victim.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Red Sox over the Padres: This is such a weird series, is it not? The Padres are way cross country from their home and get to play one of the best teams in the AL. Not fun for them. Jon Lester should win and it might not be pretty for Edinson Volquez pitching at Fenway. Speaking of Fenway, do the Red Sox ever play a road game?

Yesterday: 8-7

Week: 23-14

Month: 15-7

Season: 693-553

Games of the Day: 54-37