There are two strange sensations going on as I sit here this morning. First, the sun is shining. That is pleasantly different. Second, Monday was a good picking day, which is also pleasantly different. I only had three picks wrong. The Yankees had the lead twice and couldn't hold off the Mets. The Cubs annihilated the Cards and the Giants beat the Braves. While it would have been nice to see those coming, I will certainly take the 7-3 day and a rare Game of the Day pick success.
Tuesday's picks:
- The Tigers over the Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez has not pitched well against the Tigers in his career. He is 5-9 with an ERA well over 5. But I'm not real high on The Emoticon, Drew Smyly either.
- The Mets over the Yankees: The Yankees can barely field a team at this point with all the players hurt. And the team does not match up well with power pitchers like Zack Wheeler. Vidal Nuno is not trustworthy. All in all, the Yankees are in trouble.
- The Indians over the Blue Jays: I think the Indians will hit R.A. Dickey. It is just a question of which Justin Masterson will show up tonight. He can be brilliant or the opposite and you never know.
- The Padres over the Reds: The Padres have most of their big bats back now and Andrew Cashner is tough. Mike Leake has his moments, but he is not as good as Cashner.
- The Twins over the Red Sox: Both of the times Ricky Nolasco pitched at home, he was very good. And Felix Doubront is hard to figure out. This is not the most comfortable pick I am making today.
- The Royals over the Rockies: I like James Shields at home and I don't much like Franklin Morales anywhere.
- The Pirates over the Brewers: Marco Estrada has actually pitched better for the Brewers on the road than at home. And Gerrit Cole just has too much big time talent for me to pick against him here.
- The Rangers over the Astros: I'm looking over my picks so far and I am uncomfortable with how many road teams I have picked. But I have to go with the road team here too. Matt Harrison is scary to depend on, but he is less scary than Dallas Keuchel.
- The Cardinals over the Cubs: Oh, why the heck not. So I will keep picking them as the best team in the NL only to watch them continually lose to the Cubs and every other Tom, Dick and Harry team. Adam Wainwright over Jake Arrieta gentille Arrieta.
- The Nationals over the Diamondbacks: I worry about Stephen Strasburg pitching in Arizona. But I worry even worse about Bronson Arroyo pitching there. The Nats will either be bamboozled or hit five homers.
- The Athletics over the White Sox: Alas, the bloom is off the Scott Carroll rose. I was rooting for you, buddy. Not that Drew Pomeranz instills great confidence in me, but he is making noises of finally figuring this thing out.
- The Dodgers over the Marlins: The Marlins got the worst news in the world yesterday and are not playing well on the road anyway. Jacob Turner should yield to Josh Beckett today.
- The Mariners over the Rays: David Price is hard to pick against. But if I was going to do so, it would be with him pitching against Hisashi Iwakuma. The latter just flat out knows how to pitch.
- The Giants over the Braves: Ryan Vogelsong has bounced back nicely after a rugged start to the season. He has now pitched three good games in a row. Mike Minor has not come back from the DL pitching very well.
And the Game of the Day:
- The Phillies over the Angels: It is hard to gauge how good Matt Shoemaker is by his minor league numbers. He pitched in the PCL which is notoriously hard on pitchers. If he was a lefty making his first start against the Phillies, I'd go for him. But he throws with his right hand. Thus, Cliff Lee gets the pick.
Yesterday: 7-3, May: 90-75, Games of the Day: 18-21, Season: 323-249
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