Saturday, May 23, 2015

MLB Game Picks - Saturday: May 23, 2015

It is the first day of Memorial Day Weekend and I woke up early to play golf...and it is snowing. What!? Snowing!? Sheesh.
Anyway, my picks are snowballing too as I went 12-3 yesterday after going 9-3 the day before. I'll take a 21-6 run. The only three incorrect picks were two emotions driven ones. I had the Yankees and they couldn't pitch or field. I had the Cubs and they couldn't hold a lead and I had the Rockies who were beat by the voodoo-driven Giants.
Saturday's picks:
  • The Yankees over the Rangers: I know. The Yankees are terrible lately. I know. But amidst that terrible is CC Sabathia who has been pitching really well. I'm going with him over Nick Martinez. Martinez has been very consistent and decent for the Rangers.
  • The Mariners over the Blue JaysRobinson Cano hits a homer off of Mark Buehrle and James Paxton continues his good pitching of late.
  • The Mets over the PiratesA.J. Burnett has been pitching really well for the Pirates but in this case, I have to go with Matt Harvey. Harvey has simply been outstanding.
  • The Nationals over the Phillies: This pick makes me a bit nervous because picking Stephen Strasburg never works out for me. But he does do better at home and the Nationals are being carried on Bryce Harper's shoulders. Cole Hamels goes for the Phillies.
  • The Tigers over the Astros: The Tigers don't have the offense they had a year ago, but they score enough to win if they get good pitching. Kyle Lobstein has been inconsistent, but I like him in this one over Lance McCullers.
  • The Indians over the Reds: Well, welcome back Mr. Corey Kluber. Where have you been? Judging from Kluber's last performance, picking against him would be stupid. Anthony DeSclafani is going in the wrong direction for the Reds.
  • The Braves over the Brewers: Probably the only thing that could stop the Brewers right now is a very good Shelby MillerMike Fiers would have to match him. I don't know, this is a tough one.
  • The White Sox over the Twins: You didn't expect the Twins to be that good, right? Chris Sale over Trevor May.
  • The Giants over the Rockies: Charlton Chris Heston has been a nice story for the Giants. How will he do at Coors? He faces Jordan Lyles who hasn't been as good as last year. Giants...
  • The Giants over the Rockies: Yeah. I'm going with a sweep. Yusmeiro Petit is a nice swing man for the Giants to have. Meanwhile, the Rockies have to dip and give David Hale a start. Not pretty.
  • The Marlins over the OriolesDan Haren is 2-0 at home in Miami with a 1.80 ERA there. That seems like a good pick even though Mike Wright was outstanding for the Orioles in his debut start.
  • The Angels over the Red Sox: I'm not buying Steven Wright as a starter for the Red Sox. And the Red Sox cannot hit lefties. Though Rusney Castillo might help there. I'm going with the Angels behind C.J. Wilson.
  • The Cardinals over the Royals: It's hard to pick against the Royals these days. And John Lackey versus Edinson Volquez is a tough pick. I'm going to pick the Cardinals. And much to Bob's surprise, I have been fairly accurate with my Cards picks this season.
  • The Diamondbacks over the Cubs: The Diamondbacks are playing well right now and Rubby De La Rosa has been very good. Jake Arrieta gentille Arrieta hasn't been as fine as last year to this point.
  • The Dodgers over the PadresMike Bolsinger has been terrific for the Dodgers. Ian Kennedy is your average fourth starter. He'll keep the Padres in the game. No more, no less.
And the Pick of the Day:
  • The Rays over the Athletics: Shield your eyes. The A's are gruesome right now. And Kendall Graveman has a good name to be pitching for them. Nate Karns or Nathan Karns, whichever B-R wants for it's linker, has been very consistent for the Rays.
Yesterday: 12-3, May: 152-122, Season: 316-287, Picks of the Day: 25-20

Friday, May 22, 2015

MLB Game Picks - Friday: May 22, 2015

Finally! It took my son's birthday to get me on track! I only got three wrong for the day yesterday for a much needed boost to my picking morale. Now, if I can keep this going, I would be most thankful!
Friday's picks:
  • The Pirates over the Mets: Noah Syndegaard has been everything the Mets had hoped he'd be. But Gerrit Cole is everything the Pirates hoped he'd be too. As the starters cancel each other out, I'll go with the home team.
  • The Yankees over the Rangers: The Yankees get some much needed home cooking after a brutal road trip and have their best pitcher on the mound. The Rangers go with Colby Lewis, who I will no longer bad-mouth.
  • The Mariners over the Blue Jays: Let's see...would you go with Felix Hernandez or Marco Estrada? No brainer right? Those are always the ones that trip me up though.
  • The Tigers over the Astros: I love me some Collin McHugh. But here's the thing: The Astros ONLY hit homers. They have like a .200 batting average. The Tigers' home park is massive. So not many homers are hit there. I'm going with Alfredo Simon and the Tigers.
  • The Orioles over the Marlins: The Marlins have gone from bad to worse under their new manager. What a dumb organization that is. Anyway, I like Ubaldo Jimenez's chances in Miami better than Henderson Alvarez as he is currently pitching.
  • The Indians over the Reds: The Reds have hit hard times of late and Mike Leake is leading the way with quite a drop off in production since his early starts. Carlos Carrasco is a quality starter.
  • The Angels over the Red Sox: The Red Sox are reeling and can't seem to hit lately. They keep tinkering with things and they should just get something they believe in and leave it alone for a while. But anyway, I like Garrett Richards over Mike Porcello here.
  • The Rays over the Athletics: Disaster has struck the A's as they have sunk to the depths of the AL. Boom goes the division championship dreams! Scott Kazmir hasn't been at fault. But I think Chris Archer is the difference here.
  • The Brewers over the Braves: The Brewers are a hot team right now, so I'm sticking with them while they are sizzling. Shame on Fredi Gonzalez for the pine tar incident. That was a cheap shot.  Wily Peralta and Alex Wood are the starters.
  • The White Sox over the TwinsPhil Hughes and Jeff Samardzija have been encouraging to their respective teams with their last starts. I simply like the threat of the long ball against Hughes by the White Sox hitters.
  • The Rockies over the Giants: The Giants just made the Dodgers look like silly putty. So why pick against them? Because baseball is funny. I don't like either starter here in either Ryan Vogelsong or Kyle Kendrick. But one of them has to win.
  • The Royals over the Cardinals: You have to admit that everything is going right for the Royals when they sign Chris Young and he starts out going 3-0. They are charmed right now. They are also the perfect offense against Lance Lynn as they don't strike out and sit on fastballs.
  • The Cubs over the Diamondbacks: The D-backs have been playing some good baseball of late. Jon Lester, however, has been coming on strong for the Cubs. Josh Collmenter was good his last time out but isn't as good as Lester.
  • The Dodgers over the Padres: The Padres are going to pay for what happened to the Dodgers in San Francisco. Again, that's baseball. Speaking of baseball, Andrew Cashner has had quality starts in six of his last seven outings and is 1-7. Ouch. Zack Greinke goes for the Dodgers.
And the Pick of the Day
  • The Nationals over the PhilliesSean O'Sullivan shut me up his last outing and pitched really well. But he runs up against Max Scherzer. And the Nats are hot and Bryce Harper got thrown out of his last game. Look out.
Yesterday: 9-3, May: 140-119, Season: 304-284, Picks of the Day: 24-20

Thursday, May 21, 2015

MLB Game Picks - Thursday: May 21, 2015

Doggonit! Another sub-.500 day! And the Pick of the Day was wrong again. Geez, Louise! I should have picked the Giants as the pick of the day since they ALWAYS beat the Dodgers.  At least I got that pick right. And look at Houston go! How fun!
Happy birthday to my son, Bill. I can't believe you are 36!
Thursday's picks:
  • The Diamondbacks over the Marlins: First of all, that was a dumb managerial choice by the Marlins. Secondly, will Mat Latos really pitch since his shin is so bruised up? Thirdly, I like Archie Bradley.
  • The Orioles over the Mariners: This pick didn't work out yesterday, but I'm nothing if not stubborn. J.A. Happ never thrills me. But Chris Tillman isn't pitching that well either. The Orioles really miss that big slugger playing in the other dugout.
  • The Tigers over the AstrosDavid Price is just too good not to pick and even though the Astros are winning every day, they have to lose some time. Scott Feldman goes for the Astros.
  • The Cardinals over the MetsJaime Garcia is pitching? How novel. They might get a few decent starts from him and I like lefties against the Mets. Jacob deGrom has been inconsistent.
  • The Rockies over the Phillies: The Rockies have been terrible. Just terrible. And the Phillies are playing well. But I'm still going with Jorge De La Rosa against Jerome Williams.
  • The Giants over the Dodgers: And so Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw go at it again. Why do teams match their aces like that? You know the Giants are going to win. You just know it.
  • The Angels over the Blue Jays: I've been saying it for a long, long time. The Blue Jays hired the wrong manager. They need to fix that. Matt Shoemaker over R.A. Dickey.
  • The Athletics over the Rays: The fall of the Athletics has been stunning. They are really bad this year. The Rays aren't playing much better this week. I'm not big on Jesse Chavez or Alex Colome. It's a toss up.
  • The Rangers over the Red Sox: The Red Sox are not hitting left-handed pitchers. And though Wandy Rodriguez is left-handed, it's not like he's great or anything. Clay Buchholz was very good his last time out. We'll see what that means.
  • The Indians over the White Sox: The Indians are a really strange team and it is hard to figure them out. I like Danny Salazar though and I'm going with him over John Danks who, after all, is John Danks.
  • The Cubs over the Padres: Odrisamer Despaigne has been really creamed in his last three appearances. I mean, he has been hammered! Watch him pitch great today. Heh. But I'm going with another bad appearance and a win by the Cubs behind Kyle Hendricks.
And the Pick of the Day:
  • The Braves over the Brewers: The Brewers have been playing well, but so have the Braves. So it will be an interesting series. I'm liking Julio Teheran over Matt Garza in this one.
Yesterday: 7-8, May: 131-116, Season: 295-281, Picks of the Day: 23-20

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: May 20, 2015

Tuesday was one of my worst picking days EVER! I only picked three games out of fifteen correctly. I can use the excuse that I was short on time and was basically throwing darts. But nah, I just stunk up the joint.
Wednesday's picks:
  • The Astros over the Athletics: Gee, how can you pick against the Astros these days...or for the A's? The world is upside down and the Astros are leaving the park at an alarming rate. Dallas Keuchel vs. Jesse Hahn.
  • The Pirates over the Twins: This pick was, of course, wrong yesterday. But I'll go with it again today. I like lefties against the Twins more than the other way around and Jeff Locke has been decent most of the time. I'm not sure how Mike Pelfrey is doing what he's doing so far. There has to be a painting in his attic.
  • The Nationals over the YankeesDellin Betances won't be available for he Yankees after two innings yesterday. Adam Warren usually needs relief help, so that's not good. I think the Nats win big with Jordan Zimmermann on the mound.
  • The Orioles over the Mariners: I like this match-up for the O's. I wouldn't be surprised if they swept the series. Wei-Yin Chen should be better than Roenis Elias.
  • The Blue Jays over the Angels: This game completely depends on which Drew Hutchison shows up. If it is the good one, no problem. If not, then the Blue Jays must score a lot against Jered Weaver to not blow up this pick.
  • The Brewers over the Tigers: The Brewer bats have woken up in a big way and I think they will get to Shane Greene. Then it will depend on how much dipsy doo Kyle Lohse has tonight.
  • The Marlins over the Diamondbacks: Another former Yankee pitcher, David Phelps, goes in Miami. I like him in a big ballpark. Chase Anderson is still chasing his first win of the season.
  • The Cardinals over the MetsBartolo Colon is either brilliant or terrible. He is more often brilliant, but it is knowing when the clunkers are going to come. He had one last time out and I think he has another one tonight. Carlos Martinez could learn from him though.
  • The Bay Rays over the Braves: Raise your hand if you've ever heard of Williams Perez. Yeah, my hand is definitely not up. The Venezuelan is making his first MLB start. Let's hope it goes better than his relief work. I'll go with Jake Odorizzi.
  • The Red Sox over the Rangers: I have no faith in Joe Kelly at this point. But at least he is a known quantity. Phil Klein, on the other hand, has 18 MLB appearances, all in relief. He is the Rangers' starter. That doesn't look like a good option to me.
  • The Royals over the RedsJason Marquis and Jeremy Guthrie will see who can out-crafty the other. There won't be many strikeouts here.
  • The White Sox over the Indians: This pick didn't work out yesterday. But I like Carlos Rodon here and I think Ken Harrelson will be saying, "Put it on the board....Yes!" a lot tonight with Shaun Marcum on the mound.
  • The Phillies over the Rockies: I don't know how Severino Gonazalez will do at Coors. Then again, I don't know how Eddie Butler will do there either. Somebody has to win the game.
  • The Giants over the Dodgers: The Giants have some deal with some evil power. I know they do. The Dodgers cannot beat them in San Francisco. It is impossible. Tim Lincecum is making a strong push toward Comeback Player of the Year thus far. Brett Anderson has pitched well.
And the Pick of the Day:
  • The Padres over the Cubs: I really like Tyson Ross at home. I don't like him much on the road. But at home, he's usually very tough. For the Cubs, Tsuyoshi Wada comes off the DL to make this start. I never like those situations.
Yesterday: 3-12 (ouch), May: 124-108, Season: 288-273, Picks of the Day: 23-19

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

MLB Game Picks - Tuesday: May 19, 2015

I was supposed to get up early for an early meeting and somehow, I did not. So I have only a few minutes to list out my picks without comments. I apologize.
And the Pick of the Day:
Yesterday: 4-3, May: 121-96, Season: 285-261, Picks of the Day: 23-18