MLB Game Picks - Thursday: June 18, 2015

Another 10-5 day with another Pick of the Day incorrect! Doggone it! Talk about going 29-15 the last three days and not being able to enjoy it! How could Clayton Kershaw lose on me! Oh well. Those are the breaks.

Friday's Picks:

• The Orioles over the Phillies: The Phillies have a chance in this one as Bud Norris has not been pitching well. But even if this is a high scoring game, I expect the Orioles to win it. Sean O'Sullivan goes for the Phils.
• The Cardinals over the Twins: The Twins finally won last night but have been in a tailspin. They face Jaime Garcia who has been pitching great. Mike Pelfrey will probably not fare well here.
• The Rockies over the Astros: The last few times I've picked Collin McHugh, he has let me down. I will probably turn him around by picking against him. Heh. David Hale goes for the Rockies.
• The Athletics over the Padres: Unless the A's blew their wad last night in scoring all those runs, they should win this one. Kendall Graveman has been pitching well and is opposed by Ian Kennedy.
• The Diamondbacks over the Angels: I had a feeling that Allen Webster would thrive outside of Boston. And I could be right. I am picking him tonight over C.J. Wilson.
• The Yankees over the Marlins: I am probably a fool for picking the Yanks in a game that CC Sabathia starts. But Dan Jennings did not inspire me with his managerial moves last night. How can you not pinch hit for that catcher last night!? Mat Latos goes for the Fish.
• The Rays over the Nationals: The Nats are one big confusing team to me this year. Doug Fister is back from the DL. But I don't trust that. Besides Chris Archer is going for the Rays and expecting them to lose is futile these days.
• The Braves over the Red Sox: So yeah, the Red Sox were supposed to be pretty good and the Braves were supposed to be really bad this year. How has that worked out so far? Shelby Miller over Clay Buchholz.
• The Indians over the Cubs: You know...I am really over the position player pitching thing. Teams have never carried more pitchers than they do these days. There should never be a reason to put position players on the mound. It's ridiculous. Anyway, Danny Salazar over Jason Hammel.
• The Tigers over the Reds: Justin Verlander looked good in his first start. He had is velocity back too. He should go deeper into this game making it easier for me to take him over Mike Leake.
• The Royals over the Brewers: The Royals are simply the better team here and that makes me pick them even though Jeremy Guthrie is pitching for them. Jimmy Nelson goes for the Brewers.
• The Pirates over the White Sox: The White Sox are losing regularly these days and Jeff Samardzija is not getting much help. He won't tonight either with Gerrit Cole going for the Pirates.
• The Mariners over the Giants: The Mariners aren't getting much for offense. But if they pitch, they have a chance. I like Mike Montgomery a lot. So he is the pick over Ryan Vogelsong.
• The Dodgers over the Rangers: I'm still smarting from last night with this pick. The only thing having me pick against the very hot Rangers is that they are starting Anthony Ranaudo. Zack Greinke goes for the Dodgers.

And the Pick of the Day (come on now!)

• The Blue Jays over the Mets: I have a sick feeling that the Blue Jays offense is going to whack Bartolo Colon into submission. R.A. Dickey is usually just fine at home in the dome.

Yesterday: 10-5, June: 126-110, Season: 504-459, Picks of the Day: 37-34

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 Astros: David 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 Mets: Jaime 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

MLB Game Picks - Friday: June 20, 2014

I did not have a good day of game picking yesterday, but it was a fun night of baseball. Two rookies made their MLB pitching debuts, old friend, Nick Swisher, hit a walk-off grand slam (even if it killed that pick) and the mysterious reclamation of Scott Kazmir continued.

The only sad thing of the day was what happened to Gavin Floyd. What a horrible accident for his career, which might now be over. At least his last game was brilliant and something to put an exclamation mark on his career.

I am heading to Portland, Maine today so I can fly out to Florida tomorrow. So the next couple of days of picks could be fluff free and to the point! Friday's picks:

• The Pirates over the Cubs: How many times already this season have I had to pick between Charlie Morton and Edwin Jackson? It's a horrible choice and baseball, I don't appreciate it.
• The Nationals over the Braves: The Nats have the same problem with the Braves that the Blue Jays have in Yankee Stadium. Sooner or later, you have to be able to beat your rival at least once in a while. With Stephen Strasburg on the mound, there is no excuse. Of course, Mike Minor will try to keep the Nats scuffling against his team.
• The Yankees over the Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Which one will the Yankees get tonight? Hiroki Kuroda must keep the Orioles in the park, sometimes hard to do with those O's bangers.
• The Indians over the Tigers: Wasn't that weird yesterday when they interviewed Joe Nathan after yesterday's game and it was projected all over the stadium? That was weird and it was just one win. One win won't fix the Tigers' problems. Corey Kluber over Rick Porcello.
• The Rays over the Astros: David Price has given up a lot of home runs. The Astros are a home run or nothing ball club. So which will happen? I have to go with Price to dominate and for the Rays to scratch a few off of Jarred Cosart.
• The Marlins over the Mets: This game is a toss up. The Marlins' offense has dried up recently and the Mets never had one. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been pitching well, but is that a mirage? Henderson Alvarez has done great at home, but not last time. Questions abound...
• The White Sox over the Twins: Hector Noesi has surprised. It's not that he has been great. What is surprising is that he has not been awful. He could pitch decently enough to win over the Twins and the White Sox' power could derail Ricky Nolasco.
• The Royals over the Mariners: I am still hearing reports that Hisashi Iwakuma is having problems with his back. That makes me too nervous to pick him. Instead I'll go with Big Game James Shields with the Royals staying hot.
• The Cardinals over the Phillies: It's hard to argue with Jaime Garcia's two great road starts and I always like lefties against the Phillies. A.J. Burnett can be had, especially early in the game.
• The Rockies over the Brewers: This game could be high scoring. Or Christian Bergman can have a third straight good start and win. Either way, Marco Estrada at Coors does not make me comfortable.
• The Diamondbacks over the Giants: Except for two bad starts against the Dodgers, Josh Collmenter has pitched well. Tim Lincecum has pitched well twice in a row. This is a toss-up for me. So I'm going with the home team.
• The Athletics over the Red Sox: The A's picked up Brad Mills for a dollar. So naturally, they will make hamburger look like filet mignon. It's the A's! They are the smartest cats around. It will help that the A's face Felix Doubront who has been awful this season.
• The Angels over the Rangers: Garrett Richards is a stud. And Joe Saunders is...well...Joe Saunders. I have picked way too many home teams today. Scary.
• The Dodgers over the Padres: See? I had to pick a road win in here somewhere. So let it be Dan Haren handling the Padres while the Dodgers score four runs at least off of Ian Kennedy.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Reds over the Blue Jays: The Blue Jays are slumping and have lost nine of their last twelve. They then send Liam Hendriks out there to face the Reds in their park. Ugh. The Blue Jays lose a bat in the NL park and Mat Latos was great in his first start back from the DL.

Yesterday: 5-7, June: 142-118, Games of the Day: 39-37, Season: 595-499

MLB Game Picks - Thursday: May 29, 2014

I feel like the Pirates this morning. I cannot get on any kind of roll. I have a bad night, then a good night, then another bad night. Clayton Kershaw is a pretty good lock for the Game of the Day, right? Apparently not. That feature is drowning being incorrect for five straight games.

Even if I was blindly picking the games at random, I think I would be more successful than this. Supposedly, I know what I'm doing. Supposedly, I've been watching fifty years of baseball and having some idea how what's what. I pour over the stats every day. And the picks make me look like a complete dope. Of all shticks to pick, why did I pick this one?

Thursday is a short schedule day. Here are the picks for the ten games to be played:

• The Rangers over the Twins: Nick Martinez has made two starts now and did quite  well in both of them. My only concern is the lack of strikeouts. The BABIP bug has to snap up and bite him once in a while. But I think the Ranger will hit Sam Deduno.
• The Athletics over the Tigers: The A's are a really good team and their comeback win yesterday really isn't that much of a surprise. The Tigers never seem to do it right when it comes to getting a closer. Joe Nathan's shelf life might be one year beyond fresh. Anyway, I think Jesse Chavez will be better than Rick Porcello.
• The Phillies over the Mets: The Phillies are on a bit of a roll and they too had a dramatic finish to their game last night. David Buchanan throws strikes and you have to like that. Again, he is not a big strikeout guy though. Zack Wheeler seems to be lost in a sea of stuff.
• The Blue Jays over the Royals: How can you pick against the Blue Jays these days? I did yesterday and got burned. The Royals, on the other hand, are in desperate need of new leadership. R.A. Dickey over James Shields.
• The Red Sox over the Braves: Have the Braves looked terrible in this series or have the Red Sox looked good? Take your pick I suppose. The Red Sox complete the sweep with Jake Peavy over Mike Minor.
• The Orioles over the Astros: Ubaldo Jimenez is 4-0 lifetime against the Astros with some of his best stats against any team. But these aren't the same Astros. This version has won ten of fifteen and has George Springer. I'd go with the Astros if Brad Peacock wasn't their starter tonight. The guy can't buy a win.
• The Cardinals over the Giants: Ryan Vogelsong has been pitching well but is always vulnerable in my book. Jaime Garcia has looked good and is always tough at home. That is how I'm going then.
• The Diamondbacks over the Reds: This is a tough one. Josh Collmenter has won his last two starts, but is not quite as good at home as on the road. The D-backs hit lefties better because all of their good hitters bat from the right side. Tony Cingrani is a lefty. I'm going Diamondbacks.
• The Angels over the Mariners: Matt Shoemaker is 2-0 as a starter in three starts for the Angels. His stats look real too. Brandon Maurer will suffer in comparison to King Felix and his pitches will look like beach balls to the Angels after last night.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Dodgers over the Pirates: Okay, this is my new tactic. If a team is the Game of the Day pick and loses instead, the odds are they will win the next night. Has it really come to this insanity? I pick against the Pirates because I am blindly angry that they have left Gregory Polanco rotting in the minors simply because of money when their offense ahs struggled all year. It's the worst thing in the world to me. YOU PUT THE BEST TEAM ON THE FIELD! Oh! Dan Haren over Gerrit Cole.

Yesterday: 6-9, May (is it over yet?): 203-183, Games of the Day: 25-29, Season: 436-355

MLB Game Picks - Tuesday: April 30, 2013

There were too many upsets last night. That is often a fun thing for baseball and proves the old point about any given night. But it is not good for a game picker. I did get one upset pick correct with the Mariners over the Orioles. But the Astros creamed the Yankees. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a good game, which is an upset in itself. The Mets blew a save and then lost in extra innings to the Marlins, ruining another good Matt Harvey outing. The Braves came back on Stephen Strasburg and won the game despite Julio Teheran giving up eleven base runners in five and a third innings. It did not help the Nationals' cause to have two runners picked off in the game.

So it was not a good night. The week is still largely in the plus side thanks to Sunday and at least the Game of the Day came in correctly. But it was definitely a night to bounce back from. Here are Tuesday's picks:

• The Yankees over the Astros: Okay, so last night was a blip, right? The Yankees should be the better team here, especially at home, right? So let's try this again. Hiroki Kuroda over the 0-5 Philip Humber. Now watch Humber throw a perfect game or something.
• The Phillies over the Indians: Zach McAllister confuses me. I always thought he was better than this. But perhaps he is not. Roy Halladay confuses me too. Is he still a stud? Or is he over the hill? These are the burning questions as the pick unfolds. The Phillies are in Cleveland in unfamiliar territory, but they do get an extra bat in their lineup. Lord knows, they need all the bats they can get.
• The Red Sox over the Blue Jays: Jon Lester had an 0.79 walks per nine going into his last start and promptly walked seven batters. Baseball is so easy to predict. Sheesh. Brandon Morrow looked so flat against the Yankees last week that it sure seems stupid to pick him in this one.
• The Tigers over the Twins: Joe Mauer has gone zero for his last five games. How weird is that? The Tigers just keep rolling with good offense and good pitching. Justin Verlander should not lose this game. And Vance Worley should not stop this Tigers' attack. Should nots are scary things.
• The Marlins over the Mets: Don't look now, but the Marlins have won two straight. Can they make it three? I think they can because Jeremy Hefner is not very good for the Mets. The only problem making this pick is that Kevin Slowey has shown nothing thus far on the mound.
• The Braves over the Nationals: Tough game to pick here. Gio Gonzalez seemed to find himself in his last outing to regain his fine form. But his lefty-ness plays right into the Braves' lineup stacked with all those good hitting right-handed bats. Tim Hudson is still one of the best pitchers of his generation.
• The Cubs over the Padres: This pick could have gone either way and I am still not sure I have it right. Edinson Volquez actually pitched well last time without a ton of walks. Hmm.. But the Cubbies are at home and another erstwhile pitcher in Edwin Jackson is due for a win.
• The Brewers over the Pirates: I have gotten in trouble picking against Marco Estrada on several occasions. I do not feel like getting burned again. The only problem is that if James McDonald is on, he is tough.
• The Royals over the Bay Rays: James Shields gets to pitch against his old team and show young, Mr. Alex Cobb how it is done. Shields has to come up big here and he should have all the incentive in the world.
• The Cardinals over the Reds: This fun-filled series resumes with Jaime Garcia versus Bronson Arroyo. The Cardinal offense has been inconsistent. Sometimes they look overpowering and just as many times, they roll over. I am not confident in either pitcher. And usually when that happens, I go with the home team.
• The Giants over the Diamondbacks: Now that the Giants have overcome their Ian Kennedy disease, they have to feel good about themselves. Trevor Cahill does not impress me in the least. Madison Bumgarner impresses the heck out of me.
• The Angels over the Athletics: How long do the A's stick with the struggling Jarrod Parker? Parker was much better at home last year, but this year, it does not seem to matter. Garrett Richards was banged around last time and is better than that.
• The Mariners over the Orioles: Why the heck not. Brandon Maurer has been very good his last two starts despite me ragging on him. If he has another good start, even the Mariners should get to Jason Hammel, who has a bit of a homecoming here.
• The Dodgers over the Rockies: This same pick last night made me look stupid. And I remain unconvinced about Hyun-Jin Ryu. I am also concerned about this pick because Jorge de la Rosa has been good this season. But the pick is still the Dodgers.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Rangers over the White Sox: Yu Darvish has looked wicked good so far this season (to use a Maine expression). Jose Quintana has looked good too. I still think Darvish will be too much for the White Sox and Quintana will cough up a couple of runs at least in Texas.

Yesterday: 5-7

Week: 17-11

Month: 220-159

Games of the Day: 21-8

Cardinals' rotation is killing it

A couple of years ago, when Jaime Garcia was considered the first or second best starting pitcher on the St. Louis Cardinals, I thought they had a problem. And with the career demise of Chris Carpenter and the rebuilt elbow of Adam Wainwright, the team's rotation was a concern heading into the 2013 season. But now, Jaime Garcia is the fourth or fifth best starter on this team and (albeit) early this season, the Cardinals' rotation looks like a beast.

The St. Louis Cardinals' rotation leads baseball with a 75% rate of quality starts. And while not an overly popular statistic, that combined with another not entirely popular stat, the Game Score Average, the Cardinals lead that category in baseball too with a score of 59. 51 is average. They are also tied for the Major League lead in innings pitched per start.

The easy question to ask here is if this early season performance can last. Have the starters been lucky thus far? That does not appear to be the case. The rotation's ERA is 2.38, the best in baseball. But their collective FIP is only 2.74, also the best in baseball. Let us look at each starter and try to answer that question:

Adam Wainwright: Wainwright has been downright nasty. How he has even lost a game is beyond imaginable. He is 4-1 with an ERA of 1.93. But his FIP is an amazing 1.11! He is doing this well despite an unlucky BABIP of .340. And I just love this set of stats: In his starts thus far, he has struck out 8.95 batters per nine innings while walking only 0.24. Wainwright has walked one batter in 37.1 innings pitched. One! His ground ball rate is fantastic at 56.7 percent. He just has it going on right now.

If Wainwright stays healthy, this kind of pitching is not a stretch. Wainwright is fantastic.

Shelby Miller: Miller has made three starts and is 3-1. His ERA is 2.16 and his FIP is only 2.42. Miller is striking out 9.36 batters per nine while only walking 2.52. His home run rate is low. The only concern with Miller is that he is young and if he will run into a wall at some point. So far, Miller's BABIP against is insanely low at .226 and his strand rate is high at over 78%. I think he regresses just a bit. But he has a great arm and a great future.

Lance Lynn: I was surprised again to look and see that Lynn won 18 games last season. He is 3-0 this season with a very similar start to his season of a year ago. Looking back at Lynn's month to month stats in 2012, I think the Cardinals pulled the plug too quickly after a really tough month of June. If you look closely at that month, he actually had his best strikeout rate of any month except the last one when half of his time was split coming out of the bullpen.

My one problem with Lynn is the walks. His strikeout rate is great at 10.3 strikeouts per nine, but the walks increased in the second half of last year and are sitting at 4.1 per nine this year. This leads to too much stress with runners on base (1.273 WHIP). When he throws strikes, he is really tough to hit and batters are batting only .217 against him.

Even so, his FIP is 39 points below his ERA and his ERA is league average or just a little better. Lynn should be left in the rotation this year and do not be surprised if he wins another eighteen games.

Then you get to Jaime Garcia and Jake Westbrook. Westbrook's impressive numbers are a mirage as his FIP is a good three runs higher than his ERA. But he will keep the Cardinals in games he pitches, get his share of ground balls (64.8%!) and double-plays and that is all you want from a fifth starter.

Garcia is always a bit of a stress factor. He will have his good games and his bad games. He is not as reliable as Westbrook, but again. for a fifth starter, you will take whatever Garcia offers. Put it this way, Jaime Garcia and Jake Westbrook should be .500 pitchers. If that is what they are and what they do, the Cardinals are in great shape.

Rotations starters one to three can rival any top three in baseball right now. Whether it stays that way or not is the big question as to how far the Cardinals go this season. If they keep up this current pace and Westbrook at Garcia finish at the .500 mark, this could be a very fun year for Cardinal fans.

MLB Game Picks - Sunday: April 14, 2013

Yesterday's MLB Game Picks came out in the positive. But for some reason, it sure does not feel that way. The first three games of the day featured six aces in an incredible array of starting pitching. Two of those games were picked incorrectly as Tim Hudson beat Stephen Strasburg and Madison Bumgarner beat Jeff Samardzija. Then the Yankees lost and Phil Hughes got beat up pretty good and the picks were suddenly, 1-4. Fortunately, only two other games were incorrect the rest of the day. But one of those was the Game of the Day, so that feature is on a two game losing streak.

The amount of key injuries around baseball are sad. They are depriving us of some great players. Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Reyes, Zack Greinke, Johnny Cueto, Yoenis Cespedes and more. It seems every day brings bad news. Not only do these injuries effect picking games, but it deprives the fans of genuine and entertaining talent.

But to use the ultimate cliche, the show must go on. Here are Sunday's picks:

• The Phillies over the Marlins: Sure, there is all kinds of concerns about Roy Halladay, who starts today. And there should be. But this is the Marlins they are playing. And while the Marlins were correctly picked to win yesterday, those wins will become few and far in between. Kevin Slowey will make even the Phillies lineup look good.
• The Nationals over the Braves: These two teams are like Ali and Frazier fights. They are both such good teams. It is too bad for them that they are in the same division. The Braves have taken the first two and both those picks were wrong. Do I learn? Nah. Gio Gonzalez over Paul Maholm.
• The Reds over the Pirates:  Here is how I see this game. Obscure prospect, Phil Irwin, gets his Major League debut for the Pirates. He has good control and a decent strikeout rate in the minors. He pitches five innings of really nice baseball and matches Mat Latos, who finally has a good game. Then the bullpen blows the game for the Pirates. How is that for a literal pick?
• The Rays over the Red Sox: Can you tell that I really like Alex Cobb? I must to pick him over a very stingy Clay Buchholz so far this season. The combination of Buchholz and Lester could take the Red Sox all the way to the division title the way they are pitching. But Cobb wins today.
• The Twins over the Mets: Remember again that bad teams do win once in a while. The Twins will win sixty times, so the picks have to choose them wisely. Dillon Gee gives the Twins lineup a chance and Kevin Correia throws enough "at-em" balls to keep the Twins in the game. Bullpens will decide it.
• The Blue Jays over the Royals: I have no idea what to do with the Blue Jays' rotation anymore. Before the season, I thought they were perhaps the best in baseball. They have been terrible. Dickey gave some hope yesterday. Will Brandon Morrow pick up the torch? We will see. Ervin Santana will go for the Royals and the only real drama there will be how many homers he allows.
• The Cardinals over the Brewers: Can you say sweep, boys and girls? Jaime Garcia always has a good chance to win at home and Marco Estrada will surprise you once in a while. But it will not be today.
• The Giants over the Cubs: No, I am never picking Edwin Jackson again. Ever. Never. Ever. So, of course, he will win today. Picking Tim Lincecum for the Giants is no picnic either.
• The Angels over the Astros: In the battle for last place (Angel fans never expected to hear that), the Angels should get the better of a C.J. Wilson / Phil Humber match up. Neither starter is a solid pick though. Good luck with this one, William.
• The Tigers over the Athletics: Losing Cespedes is a big blow for this A's team. They still have some decent hitters though. But then again, Anibal Sanchez has started well for the Tigers this season. Jarrod Parker is always tough at home though. Ugh!
• The Padres over the Rockies: I hate to make this pick, but I do not trust Jorge De La Rosa and Clayton Richard only has a chance to win at home. So there you go.
• The Diamondbacks over the Dodgers: This is another game where I have no idea what to do. Josh Beckett and Trevor Cahill have both started the season with problems. Beckett is over the hill? Still capable of a good game? Trevor Cahill was jettisoned by the A's because they had better pitchers? And do? Gosh.
• The Rangers over the Mariners: I picked against Nick Tepesch in his debut and he did great. I picked twice against Brandon Maurer and will continue to do so as he is not ready for prime time for the Mariners. Rangers.
• The Yankees over the Orioles: Hiroki Kuroda and Wei-Yin Chen have done this dance before and will do it again. Either team could win depending on how the ball bounces. Two very equal teams right now. Picking the Yankees at home.

And the Game of the Day!

• The White Sox over Indians: The Indians' lineup has picked up over the last few games, but again, the rotation is the problem. Today you have another start by Brett Myers and those kinds of starts are going to kill this team. Jake Peavy should get the win in this one.

Yesterday: 9-6

Last week: 57-32

Month: 104-62

Games of the Day: 9-4