When I went to bed, the picks stood at 3-1 with the one loss the pie-in-the-sky pick being the Yankees. When I awoke, I found that I had gone zero for the West Coast as all three games out there were wrong. I hate when that happens, especially when one of those picks was the Game of the Day. Oakland lost to the Astros!?
Do you know what I cannot wrap my head around? The Giants are in last place. I am pretty sure I have been picking them all season like they were the World Series Champions. Wait. They are. Whatever. Anyway, the picks are again in the red for the week and the month.
I am hoping I can fix that today. Friday's picks:
- The Brewers over the Cubs: It is difficult to pick who is going to win a game for two teams just playing out the string. Which is going to play more September call ups? Which has packed it in emotionally and which keeps fighting? This pick is based solely on the starting pitchers. Kyle Lohse over Chris Rusin.
- The Braves over the Phillies: Cliff Lee has not won a game in forever. He has been decent, but he has not won. Mike Minor seems like the better pick. The Braves have such a big lead that you wonder how their motivation will be.
- The Red Sox over the Yankees: Nova starting seemed to be the Yankees best chance to win. He was terrible. Andy Pettitte is not someone, at this stage of his career, that can slow down the Red Sox. Felix Doubront always seems to pitch the Yankees well. The Yankees had their chance yesterday and could not get it done.
- The Indians over the Mets: The Indians have a tough challenge against Zack Wheeler, but they should win the game, especially at home. Scott Kazmir should pitch a good game against a team with lefty batters.
- The Reds over the Dodgers: I can see Mike Leake having a better chance of stopping the Dodgers' offense than Chris Capuano stopping the Reds' offense. A lot will depend on if Puig plays. An Aroldis Chapman versus Puig confrontation would have been exciting.
- The Marlins over the Nationals: Jose Fernandez at home in Miami? That is a lock. It has been all season. The only chance for the Nats is for Dan Haren to match him and then win late. I do not see Haren matching him.
- The Royals over the Tigers: They call him "Big Game" James Shields for a reason. He will either rise to that like he has in the past or give up three homers and lose. Those are the two possible outcomes. Anibal Sanchez has this thing about becoming invisible in the second half of a season. He has done it his whole career. Can he break out of it?
- The Blue Jays over the Twins: This is as pick-em a game as there is. Two bad teams. Two so-so to mediocre pitchers. I will give the nod to R.A. Dickey to fool enough Twins to win. Mike Pelfrey should run into a couple of bats.
- The Cardinals over the Pirates: You cannot say that the NL Central has been boring. The three main teams have been battling it out for two weeks now. I see this as a Cardinal win IF Joe Kelly pitches a good game. If he does, the Cardinals should be able to score a few off of A.J. Burnett, who has not been good.
- The Athletics over the Astros: Isn't it just like baseball for the A's to whip the Rangers and then lose the following day to the Astros? Yeah, you cannot predict ball. That said, A.J. Griffin should beat Dallas Keuchel. We are back on track with both A.J.'s pitching on the same day.
- The Rangers over the Angels: I am sure that Mike Scioscia would love nothing better than to knock the Rangers for a loop. And his pitcher, C.J. Wilson (lots of initials today), has been pitching well. But I am still going to go with Matt Garza.
- The Padres over the Rockies: Burch Smith has pitched 12.2 innings of MLB ball. In that time a lot has happened. He has given up 21 hits and five homers to go with seven walks. That is all bad. But he has struck out fifteen. That is good. There is no way he should be picked to win today. But this is a setup and I have been setup all season by such no-brain letdowns. Juan Nicasio goes for the Rockies.
- The Rays over the Mariners: I want so bad to pick Hisashi Iwakuma to win at home. That seems like such a good combination that has served me well. But this is the Rays and this is September and doggonit if they always find a way. Alex Cobb goes for the Rays.
- The Giants over the Diamondbacks: See? I keep picking the Giants like they were the World Series Champions. Yusmeiro Petit has been dominant in his last couple of starts and Patrick Corbin looks like he has hit a wall. Goldschmidt seemed to wake up yesterday though, so that could be trouble.
And the Game of the Day:
- The Orioles over the White Sox: I can sort of see the Orioles having a tough time with John Danks. But I cannot put that together with a loss for the Orioles, not against the roll-over-and-die White Sox. Scott Feldman goes for the Orioles.
Yesterday: 3-4
Week: 33-34
Month: 33-34
Season: 1175-929
Game of the Day picks: 88-64 -3
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