MLB Game Picks - Saturday: March 17, 2014

I laughed out loud this morning when I looked at yesterday's results. I have been stuck on the 8-7 mark for full schedule days for a week now and after tallying up yesterday, I finished at 8-6. The only reason I did not finish 8-7 was because of a rain out in New York. The same thing happened on Wednesday when I finished 8-5 because of two rained out games. Call this the Groundhog Day of picking.

Drew Hutchison really has thrown me for a loop this season. When he is good, he is good enough to beat Yu Darvish. When he is not, he is out of the game by the fifth inning. How do you predict which will happen when? And the other close loss was Max Scherzer out-dueling Jon Lester. A match-up of aces that could have gone either way. And it should have been a draw if Will Middlebrooks hadn't been Will Middlebrooks in the first inning in the field.

Saturday's picks:

• The Cardinals over the Braves: Shelby Miller believes he knows what his problem has been in his mechanics this season. I believe him and he will have a good day. Aaron Harang is starting to meet himself at his statistical mean.
• The Brewers over the Cubs: To be honest, I have no clue in this one. I suspect that the Cubs will be gunning for Matt Garza for what he said to Samardzija. I also suspect that Edwin Jackson will get all of Samardzija's run support. But I still think the Brewers win. I know. Weird.
• The Nationals over the Mets: The Mets have lost three in a row and Bartolo Colon has been hit hard of late. I like Gio Gonzalez in this one.
• The Yankees over the Pirates: This is the same pitching line that was supposed to happen yesterday. That said, I am surprised the Yankees did not skip David Phelps here. But I still think the Yankees will hit a few of Edinson Volquez's offerenings over the wall.
• The White Sox over the Astros: I have been surprised at how the White Sox have turned around Hector Noesi. They have a really good pitching coach there. I don't think Noesi will ever be great, but he will win today over Jarred Cosart.
• The Reds over the Phillies: That whooshing sound you are hearing is that Phillies sinking to the depths of the NL East. Cole Hamels can't get a break to save himself and Homer Bailey is starting to own his stuff.
• The Athletics over the Indians: Scott Kazmir is a secret elder of a gentle race and is 5-1. I like his chances over Josh Tomlin today. Tomlin has been very good too though. The A's are amazing.
• The Royals over the Orioles: Danny Duffy has walked too many batters in his two starts, but has otherwise been tough to hit. I like him today against the Orioles since he is left-handed. I've never been a big Bud Norris fan, though the pitcher did have a good outing last time out.
• The Red Sox over the Tigers: My instinct was telling me that the Tigers would hit John Lackey. But Lackey likes pitching in Boston and as well as Rick Porcello has been pitching, the Red Sox should find him a treat after Scherzer yesterday.
• The Mariners over the Twins: How could the M's go get Robinson Cano and then stop there? The man needs help. I do like the way Roenis Elias pitches though and I think he will be better than Sam Deduno.
• The Blue Jays over the Rangers: It is hard to argue with the roll Mark Buehrle has been on. Buehrle has always been more steady than great. So what is different this year? I don't know, but I'm sticking with him until he goes back to his old self. Robbie Ross goes for the Rangers.
• The Dodgers over the Diamondbacks: Clayton Kershaw has a 3.00 ERA at Chase Field with 10.6 strikeouts per nine. But he is 3-5 there in eight decisions. I think he still wins today over young Chase Anderson.
• The Giants over the Marlins: I do think that Tim Lincecum will give up a bomb to Giancarlo Stanton. But I still think he wins a low scoring game against Tom Koehler and the Marlins.
• The Angels over the Bay Rays: I was wrong with this pick yesterday as Chris Archer had a really good day. But Cesar Ramos is not Chris Archer and C.J. Wilson should be good at home.

And the Game of the Day

• The Rockies over the Padres: Yeah, Jordan Lyle's 5-0 record is hard to fathom and reality doesn't seem to fit here. But I do think the Rockies will out hit the Padres who start Robbie Erlin. Robbie Days aren't the same without Robbie Ray.

Yesterday: 8-6, May: 111-94, Games of the Day: 20-22, Season: 352-272