My success of Saturday was short lived and Sunday thumped me with another sub-par day. Pitchers I should have counted on and did not: R.A. Dickey, Franklin Morales, Yordano Ventura, Brad Hand and Derek Holland. Pitchers I counted on and should not have: Cole Hamels, Tyson Ross, Ryan Cook and Tim Hudson.
That above pretty much sums up what went wrong yesterday. One thing that has gone well for quite a while now is the Game of the Day feature. Each day I pick a game I feel the most strongly about that is as much of a sure thing as you get in baseball. When I went on vacation at the end of June, that feature was unbelievably six games under .500. Here it is two months and change later and that feature is thirty games over.
Oh, and Nelson Cruz had a pretty good day yesterday, eh?
Monday's picks:
- The Indians over the Angels: I think I have mentioned it to the point of being sick of myself that the Indians are very good at home. And Danny Salazar has started to become brilliant again after a long absence of such. That combination should be enough to defeat Jered Weaver and the Angels.
- The Tigers over the Royals: Miguel Cabrera has gotten hot even if he can't even trot. Ha! The Tigers always seem to find a way to get back on top. I would personally love to see the Royals change things up and win the division. But I will believe it when I see it. Justin Verlander over Jeremy Guthrie.
- The Nationals over the Braves: Who scares you right now in the Braves' lineup? Nobody, right? They got zipped by Brad Hand. What will Doug Fister be able to do? Mike Minor is not the same bad pitcher he was in the first half of the season.
- The Pirates over the Phillies: The Pirates have climbed back in the race for the wild card and are peaking at a good time. Jeff Locke is the only question mark here. Kyle Kendrick has confounded me all season though.
- The Blue Jays over the Cubs: Jacob Turner was really good his last time out, but that was against a really struggling Brewers. The Blue Jays are a different offense for him to deal with. Marcus Stroman has been great and my only regret is that I did not hold on to him in my Fantasy league.
- The Orioles over the Red Sox: I like Joe Kelly a lot. I think he was well worth the Lackey deal straight up. However, today he faces the machine called the Orioles and you cannot resist the machine. Miguel Gonzalez goes for the O's.
- The Mets over the Rockies: Jon Niese has quietly put together another nice season as a Mets' starter. The pun in that sentence was accidental. He has a good chance of winning today because I cannot remember the last time Jordan Lyles won a game despite his nice, 6-2 record.
- The Cardinals over the Reds: The Cardinals are like that snowball you tried to build into the boulder and it got so big that you could barely roll it to the top of the hill. Once the hill was crested, that thing is pounding down the hill taking everything in its path. Shelby Miller over Dylan Axelrod.
- The Brewers over the Marlins: The Brewers are decimated and depressed. They are this dead heap of stuff that is still mathematically alive in the wild card race. They get a reprieve tonight as Yovani Gallardo should be better than Brad Penny.
- The Athletics over the White Sox: You can almost guarantee a homer by Adam Dunn against his old team, can't you? I am worried about the A's bullpen which really melted down last night against the Astros. I'm still a Sonny Gray guy and think he'll be better than the surprisingly good Hector Noesi.
- The Mariners over the Astros: The Astros continue to be better than their payroll and had a good series against the A's. But I cannot see Felix Hernandez losing to them at home and Brad Peacock will be the hard luck loser.
And the Game of the Day:
- The Dodgers over the Padres: How can today's game of the day not be anyone but Clayton Kershaw against the Padres? He has decimated them all season. Being a lefty, he also puts two of the Padres' most potent hitters on the bench. Sorry, Odrisamer Despaigne. I can now spell that name without looking it up.
Yesterday: 7-8, September: 52-44, Games of the Day: 90-60 (+5), Season: 1182-978
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