MLB Game Picks - Tuesday: October 28, 2014

These posts are where I try to objectively pick which teams are most likely to win their games on any given day. For the first time in doing this, I feel like I have painted myself into a corner (cliche alert). I predicted before the Series a six game victory for the Giants. If I pick the Giants, it is a nod to my earlier prediction. If I pick the Royals, I am calling myself stupid. In the words of Oliver Hardy, "Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into."

Some what am I going to do?

The pick:

• The Giants over the Royals: No, it's not about calling myself stupid. I am usually self-deprecating enough. I can take it. No, this is about a team that has been here twice before. The Giants are going to complete their every-other-year miracle even if Jake Peavy is the starter and they could not hit Yordano Ventura the last time they faced him. It doesn't matter if you do not want history to repeat itself. It's like one of those old films where the character is in a room and the walls are squeezing him in no matter how much he tries to hold them back. Hunter Pence will do something special. Or Pablo Sandoval will do something, or Buster Posey. Pick a name. Somebody who has been here before is going to make sure it happens again.

Sunday: 1-0, Post Season: 14-16, Season: 1379- 1106

MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: October 22, 2014

Game One of the World Series went as I expected it to go and my overall post season record is inching closer to the .500 mark.  I figured the Royals would have trouble against Madison Bumgarner and they certainly did. I also thought that James Shields would get hit around a little bit and that happened as well. And once again, the visiting team won the opening game in a post season series. It has happened over and over again this year.

Hunter Pence sure is fun to watch, isn't he? He is like the Joe Everyman of baseball.

The home field advantage is broken. Like breaking a serve in tennis, the Giants have taken away the one big advantage the Royals had. But the Royals aren't dead yet. They have proven that they cannot beat one of the best pitchers in baseball and a true post season stud. Tonight is a different story and it is a truly perplexing game to pick. Let's look at it closely.

The pick:

• The Royals over the Giants: First, Jake Peavy is a long shot to be effective. He now has an ERA over seven in his post season career. Add that to the fact that Peavy is 1-5 lifetime at Kauffman Stadium with a 6.42 ERA and you have a recipe for good things to happen for the Royals. The question is: What can we expect from Yordano Ventura? He is not exactly predictable. He was great against the Angels in the ALDS but was accosted a bit by the Orioles in the ALCS. And that's the problem. He is inconsistent. He is slightly better at home in his career with better control than on the road. I think he will be okay tonight. Peavy will get a short leash and a lot will depend on how many runs the Royals can score early. If they fail to push across runs against Peavy, they will have trouble winning the game. All things considered, I have to go with the Royals in this one.

Yesterday: 1-0, Post Season: 12-14, Season: 1377-1104

MLB Game Picks - Sunday: October 12, 2014

How about those Kansas City Royals? They have blindsided the Orioles, the prognosticators and whatever it is you call what I do. It really is an amazing story and speaks of what can happen when a team gets hot at the right time. Frankly, I did not see this coming and my picks have been based on that. I did not think any team was going to beat the Orioles, but the Royals have beaten the O's in every facet of the game.

I did, however, pick the NLCS game correctly with a great Madison Bumgarner game against the Cardinals. The big lefty showed why he is one of the best pitchers in the game and completely shut down the suspect Cardinal offense. This might be one interesting series for one that most fans outside of those two cities did not want to see happen.

Only the NLCS is in action today. The ALCS is in a travel day to Kansas City.

The pick:

• The Cardinals over the Giants: Both of these teams have far too much experience in the post season to let one win or one loss rattle them too badly. Now that we have the aces out of the way for each team, the key will be how the rest of the rotations stack up against each other. We have an interesting dynamic going with Lance Lynn today. He has struggled in a small sample size against the Giants in his career and is 0-3 against them. But there is also the fact that Lance Lynn is a much better pitcher at home than he is on the road. In his career, Lynn has almost a .700 winning percentage in St. Louis. So which trend will emerge the stronger today? And then there is Jake Peavy. Peavy's turnaround once he joined the Giants has been a great story. And it has been good to see the old Cy Young Award winner back to having some success. He finished the season strong and then was good against the Nationals in the NLDS. But that "good" was somewhat fortunate as he only struck out three and walked three in 5.2 innings. His overall body of work in the post season is not pretty. I think the Cardinals get to him and we have a 6-4 score or somewhere in that vicinity.

Yesterday: 1-1, Post Season: 7-12, Season: 1372-1102

MLB Game Picks - Friday: October 3, 2014

The two home teams in the ALDS had completely opposite days. The Orioles romped and the Angels lost to a gritty Royals team that knows how to play those close games. The results gave me a 1-1 day picking. At least I finally got my first correct pick of the post season.

Of course it was the extra-inning game that got me yesterday. And the home loss puts the Angels in a bind. Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Josh Hamilton went a combined 0-13 in the game. There is no way the Angels win if that continues.

Today is playoff nirvana with four games. If you were so inclined, you could watch all four games from noon today (Eastern Time) through after midnight. It should be a fun day.

The picks:

• The Orioles over the Tigers: Again, there is something about this Orioles team. They just seem to have it, if you know what I mean. Justin Verlander is no longer the top dog on the Tigers' rotation and the Orioles already beat the top dog. Wei-Yin Chen is the wild card here. How he pitches will depend on how the game goes. I'm going Orioles.
• The Nationals over the Giants: Stephen Strasburg worries me. How will he pitch today? But Jake Peavy scares me more. The odds of the Nationals' lineup getting to Peavy seem greater in this case. Peavy has been here before, however, and Strasburg has not.
• The Dodgers over the Cardinals: What a great match-up this is (on paper). Clayton Kershaw versus Adam Wainwright. Wainwright has been through this a half dozen times and knows what he has to do. Kershaw has had one crack at it and did not do well. But head to head, you've got to believe that Kershaw completely shuts down the Cardinals while Wainwright begrudgingly gives up a two-spot.
• The Angels over the Royals: Nothing like picking only home teams, there, William. How has that worked out for you so far? Not very good. I worry more about Yordano Ventura than I do Matt Shoemaker. But the worry for Shoemaker is his health. He didn't pitch the last couple of weeks and who knows how effective he will be. If this was the Matt Shoemaker that was on the roll for July and August, I would not hesitate. Now there is much hesitation.

Yesterday: 1-1, Post Season: 1-3, Season: 1366-1093

MLB Game Picks - Monday: September 22, 2014

The streak ends at eight. The Game of the Day feature had been correct for eight straight days but fell yesterday by picking the Cardinals to win. The Reds finally broke through on the team from St. Louis and so it goes. Overall, it wasn't a bad day with the final tally coming in at 9-6.

The Royals kept their hopes alive by at least taking the last game of the Tigers series. The Dodgers inched closer to a division win and two of the three teams that have already clinched lost. The Mets destroyed the Braves to finish that team off. Gosh, the Braves are a mess. Is their manager going to survive this?

Let's finish off this season with one last good week:

• The Royals over the Indians: This is a really tough one to call. Danny Duffy and Carlos Carrasco have both had really good seasons. Both teams are fighting for a wild card spot and the Royals aren't dead in the division race either. I'm going with the home town Royals.
• The Yankees over the Orioles: This is the Jeter homestretch too. And he has been swinging much more aggressively with good results. That makes a big difference in the Yankees' lineup. Wei-Yin Chen will just be pitching a tuneup. Michael Pineda is pitching for the Yankees to hold on for another day.
• The Mariners over the Blue Jays: The M's are going in the wrong direction and are now a game and a half out of the wild card race. They are running out of time. Fortunately, they have good starters coming up to try to accomplish the task. James Paxton is great and should be better than J.A. Happ.
• The Pirates over the Braves: Francisco Liriano has come on strong just at the right time for the Pirates. The Braves have collapsed almost totally. Aaron Harang will man the ghost ship.
• The Rangers over the Astros: Derek Holland has been outstanding since returning to the Rangers. I don't believe he has given up more than one run in any of his starts. Nick Tropeano has had one good start and one bad one.
• The Cardinals over the Cubs: The Cardinals never seem to play well in Chicago. But they need to this time. Adam Wainwright can win his 20th tonight if he can be his ace-like self. Travis Wood had a good outing last time.
• The Diamondbacks over the Twins: To me, this game boils down to Josh Collmenter versus Ricky Nolasco. The former has had a good season. The latter's season has been a disaster. The D-backs get an extra bat in the lineup.
• The Athletics over the Angels: The A's are fighting for their lives while the Angels are living the high life. The A's aren't hitting, but did hit better yesterday. C.J. Wilson is just in tune-up mode while Jeff Samardzija is in survival mode.
• The Rockies over the Padres: I have no idea. Eric Stults is trying to avoid his 18th loss of the season. Tyler Matzek might have a nice day in a big ballpark for a change. I don't know.
• The Giants over the Dodgers: This is the Giants' last chance to make or break it. One loss in this series will pretty much finish them. Dan Haren has been far too leaky for me to trust in this one and Jake Peavy has been outstanding for the Giants.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Tigers over the White Sox: A couple of youngsters start this game which makes it hard to call. Kyle Lobstein is a lefty, so I like that. Chris Bassitt got knocked around his last time out.

Yesterday: 9-6, Sept.: 172-119, Games of the Day: 100-64 (-1), Season: 1302-1053

MLB Game Picks - Thursday: September 11, 2014

Never forget.

Several streaks ended for me yesterday. The first was the Game of the Day feature. I picked Oakland and their offense again took a dive and the streak ends at seven. I also had a two-day hot streak with the picks. That ended with a crash of a 6-8 day (one postponement). And lastly, the puppy had gone two good days in a row, but yesterday wasn't a good day. Puppies will be puppies. By the way, his name is Jeter.

Oh! Nick Tropeano beat the odds yesterday. Congrats to him.

Thursday's picks:

• The Indians over the Twins: These two teams play two today after getting rained out yesterday. Kyle Gibson now picks up Corey Kluber. Those are the breaks.
• The Indians over the Twins: I'm feeling a sweep here. As mentioned yesterday, T.J. House is putting things together nicely and I have no trouble picking against Ricky Nolasco.
• The Reds over the Cardinals: Okay. Now the Cardinals have me confused again. They were starting to roll and headed into play one of the most struggling teams in the first half. And they lose. Now they face Johnny Cueto. Lance Lynn can save them though...and defeat me.
• The White Sox over the Athletics: Chris Sale has nine no-decisions this season. Sheesh. If you look at all his numbers, they are just sick. They are like video game numbers. He is so good. Scott Kazmir goes for the A's.
• The Giants over the Diamondbacks: I picked the Diamondbacks yesterday. That was dumb. Jake Peavy has been really good for the Giants. I am a bit worried about picking all home teams thus far and about how well Randall Delgado pitched in his first start last week.
• The Pirates over the Phillies: A.J. Burnett has been on the every-other-merry-go-round in his last four starts. This would be the bad turn. But who knows with Burnett...ever. Francisco Liriano will give the Phillies some problems.
• The Nationals over the Mets: I believe the Nats will jump all over Bartolo Colon. Their offense is just too good. And Tanner Roark is still my guy even if he hasn't won in a while. The Mets and Yankees are home at the same time!?
• The Angels over the Rangers:  I still don't know what the Angels are doing by starting Cory Rasmus for the third time. Even so, in a series and in a setting where even Albert Pujols can hit a triple, I have to go with the Angels against Nick Martinez.
• The Red Sox over the Royals: I shouldn't pick against the Royals and I was quite impressed with their win yesterday over the Tigers. That showed me something. But this pick is based on the Royals starting Liam Hendriks to cover Danny Duffy and because Clay Buchholz has been super impressive lately.
• The Brewers over the Marlins: Mike Fiers, he's my guy. Pick against him? No, not I. Heh. Nathan Eovaldi starts for the other team.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Rays over the Yankees: Alex Cobb just destroys the Yankees. They never can do anything against him. Plus, they never score for Michael Pineda either. But who knows, who would have thought Chris Young would have a three-hit game?

-Yesterday: 6-8, Sept.: 77-60, Games of the Day: 92-61 (-1), Season: 1207-994

Five tool players

I admit it. I brought you here under false pretenses. Here you thought you were going to read about players or prospects that had the proverbial five tools like running, throwing, power, high batting average and character. But that is not what this post is about. I'll leave such tool worship to the scouts and prospect writers who are good at what they do. Instead this post is about players whose names come from tools. There are five of them.

The first is named after a garden instrument. You have all heard of the common garden hoe. They are great for taking care of weeds that always seem to grow better than your vegetables or flowers do. If you have more than one hoe, you have hoes. That's where L.J. Hoes comes in. He was drafted by the Orioles in the third round of the 2008 draft and was part of the deal that sent Bud Norris to the Orioles from Houston in 2013. Hoes has seen limited duty in parts of three seasons and is currently in the minors. His real first name is Jerome.

With the terrible fashion statement today of men having scruffy faces and beards, it's doubtful that many are going to barbers these days to get a shave. But if they did, they would see the barber with a piece of leather hanging near his equipment. That leather thing is called a strop and helps him/her keep the blade sharp.

Pedro Strop currently pitches for the Chicago Cubs. Strop also has ties to the Baltimore Orioles as he pitched there for a few seasons. He was originally signed by the Colorado Rockies in 2002 out of the Dominican Republic and has also pitched for the Rangers. He has had two very fine seasons for the Cubs in 2013 and 2014.

A thatcher is also called a de-thatcher, which makes little sense. Both are correct, but that's kind of like flammable and inflammable. Why do we need two words that mean the same thing? Anyway, the tool is designed to thin out your lawn so that the plants that make up your lawn have more room to breathe and grow freely. I want to buy one for my lawnmower, but you have to get cinder blocks to put on top of it to keep it thatching. Why wouldn't they design a product that could stay down in the first place?

Joe Thatcher is a relief pitcher that you cannot keep down either. He has pitched parts of eight seasons with significant relief appearances since 2010. He was recently acquired by the Angels from the Diamondbacks so Joe must not be one of those rah-rah types. He hasn't pitched well for the Angels so far, but he is a good relief pitcher with a proven track record. He currently makes $3.75 million which means that he could afford a lot of cinder blocks.

The fourth one is my least favorite examples because it is kind of a blah tool. But we all need them to run our cars, lawnmowers and engines of all sorts. They also keep our pants up. I am talking of the belt.

Brandon Belt was drafted by the Giants so he is a home grown guy. He had sort of a break out season a year ago as he took over first base. But things haven't worked out this year and it's been pretty much a lost year for him. He still seems to have a bright future and can keep the Giants' offensive motor running for years to come.

The fifth is my favorite. It is the peavy. A peavy is a logging tool and has a broom like handle with a metal spike on the end and a metal hook. It was invented to help move logs that were stuck in log drives that jammed up in rivers. They are simply useful in maneuvering logs. The reason I like it so much is that it was invented right here in Maine by Joseph Peavy of Upper Stillwater, Maine and the Peavy Manufacturing Company is still making variations today.

Jake Peavy is in the business of trying to separate wood from batters. As a pitcher, he tries to out-maneuver them so they either strikeout or hit the ball weakly for an out. Peavy is a former star who lost favor in Boston and was traded to the Giants. He is doing better for that team and seems to have a big of his swagger back.

I apologize that you did not find any information about five-tool players. But I hope you enjoyed this little bit of nonsense in the midst of a overly-serious baseball world.

MLB Game Picks - Monday: August 25, 2014

Sunday ended up a game below .500 with the game picks. Some picks were really good like the Cubs finishing off the Orioles to sweep the series and the Mets beating the Dodgers. But others such as the Angels pouncing on Scott Kazmir and the Rays squeezing out a game against the Blue Jays threw me. I never expected the White Sox to lose with Chris Sale on the mound. And I was wrong about the Reds as they beat Aaron Harang behind the not-so-dead Alfredo Simon.

And it is official. The Cardinals trading for Justin Masterson was the worst deadline deal in recent memory.

The Game of the Day pick was wrong for the second day in a row. That trend has to stop. And it will be harder today because there are only ten games on the schedule.

Oh, and fantasy baseball is frustrating. This is my first year playing and my team put up unbelievable numbers yesterday both pitching and batting and the result was a zero point day. What!?

Monday's picks:

• The Pirates over the Cardinals: The Cardinals traditionally have trouble with lefties and Francisco Liriano pitches for the Pirates. IF he is on, he can beat anyone. John Lackey against Andrew McCutchen will be interesting to watch.
• The Orioles over the Rays: Baseball is a funny game. The Orioles just got shut down over the weekend by the Cubs, of all teams. But that is all meaningless on a Monday after it's over. Chris Tillman over Jake Odorizzi.
• The Nationals over the Phillies: The Phillies are a proud bunch and can still play spoilers. Look at what they did to the Cardinals yesterday. Tanner Roark is pretty special though and I don't think A.J. Burnett has much left in the tank.
• The Red Sox over the Blue Jays: Which streak will end tonight, the Red Sox' eight-game losing streak or J.A. Happ's three-game losing streak. I'm feeling Boston even if David Ortiz cannot play. Clay Buchholz is a mess right now though.
• The Yankees over the Royals: This is a make-up game from earlier in the season. I like Michael Pineda in this one over James Shields. The weekend for the Yankees with two walk-offs might be a jump starter.
• The Athletics over the Astros: The Astros swing and miss a lot and Jeff Samardzija should benefit from that. Scott Feldman has been decent for the Astros, but only the Lord knows how. I can't figure it out.
• The Angels over the Marlins: I am pretty darned skeptical about the Angels starting Wade LeBlanc. The Angels, however, can mash and Pujols, Trout and Hamilton are firing well right now. Jarred Cosart should not survive the onslaught.
• The Padres over the Brewers: Eric Stults has won his last three decisions and has pitched well in his last four outings. Kyle Lohse has lost his last three decisions and got pummeled in two of those. Of course, baseball being baseball, since I picked it this way, both of those streaks will reverse.
• The Mariners over the Rangers: Hopefully, Robinson Cano is okay and just needed fluids or something. Roenis Elias is the biggest Mariner wild card. But I do believe the Mariners were beat Miles Mikolas and the Rangers handily.

And the Game of the Day

• The Giants over the Rockies: The starting pitchers in this game are a combined 5-21. The difference is that one of them is Jake Peavy and he has won his last two. Tyler Matzek is not Jake Peavy and the Rockies are on the road.

Yesterday: 7-8, August: 185-142, Games of the Day: 79-57 (-2), Season: 1079-891

MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: August 20, 2014

Let's recap the bad picks from last night: The Yankees are terrible and cannot do anything right. The Rays and Tigers went back and forth all night, went into extra innings with the Tigers coming out on top. The one time I actually pick Kyle Gibson, he cannot hold a five-run lead. And Kevin Correia was predictably bad like always, but Ian Kennedy and the Padres' defense were even more bad and the Dodgers won. And...and...that's it.

All eleven of the other games were correct. Not a bad night of picking.

Wednesday's picks:

• The Marlins over the Rangers: The Marlins hung tough last night and came from behind to win after blowing a lead. I think the win tonight will be easier. Nathan Eovaldi faces Nick Martinez.
• The Phillies over the Mariners: The only reason I am picking this for the Phillies is Cole Hamels. The Phillies are going to struggle against James Paxton too, but Hamels at home is too tough for me to pick against.
• The Brewers over the Blue Jays: The Blue Jays, like the Yankees, are sinking and R.A. Dickey will give up three or four runs at least. Jimmy Nelson will hold the Blue Jays to less than that and the Brewers win yet another game at home.
• The Mets over the Athletics: This is a tough one. Zack Wheeler has been outstanding. He has given up two runs or less in eight of his last nine starts and in the other won, just gave up three. The only caveat is whether the Mets can score against Jeff Samardzija. Hmm...this could go wrong for me in a heartbeat.
• The Nationals over the Diamondbacks: Imagine Kirk Gibson right now after Tony La Russa contradicted a report that said that Gibson was safe for next year. Gulp. This series isn't helping as the Nats are red hot and the D-backs are flat. Tanner Roark over Trevor Cahill.
• The Braves over the Pirates: It's nice to see Gerrit Cole back, but it won't help. He will pitch well but not last long enough in his first start back from the DL. Alex Wood has had a good season considering he wasn't supposed to be in the rotation.
• The Yankees over the Astros: Sigh. Yeah. I know. But Michael Pineda is pitching. That might be enough to make a difference. Scott Feldman pitches like Tom Seaver against the Yankees though. But then the Yankees' offense makes every pitcher look like Tom Seaver.
• The Angels over the Red Sox: I never know what to do when a pitcher pitches against a team for the second time in a row over a two week span. The batters know what to expect. With Garrett Richards, can the Red Sox hit what they expect? And what of Clay Buchholz, who has really had a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season?
• The Rays over the Tigers: Let's try this again. Rick Porcello is on a losing streak and hasn't seemed as sharp. Jake Odorizzi has been buried a lot in my column, but gets his share of wins despite my facetiousness.  The Trop is so depressing.
• The Cardinals over the Reds: Normally, I would always pick Johnny Cueto. However, first off, Lance Lynn has been great for the Cardinals and secondly, the Reds are now 10-21 since the All Star Break.
• The Giants over the Cubs: The Giants have to be pretty upset the way the field was handled during that rain delay yesterday. That is the second time that has happened in baseball this season where a ground crew could not get the field covered for a rain storm. Jake Peavy got off the schnide last time out and won a game. So we'll go with that over Edwin Jackson.
• The Indians over the Twins: Ricky Nolasco has a 5.99 ERA for the Twins this season and a 1.60 WHIP. Whoa, that's bad! He has given up five or more runs in each of his last two starts. Those are enough reasons to pick the Indians even if T.J. House starts for the Indians.
• The Rockies over the Royals: I am going to go against the grain here with this pick. Danny Duffy has been good, but Coors Field will flatten out his great off-speed stuff. Jorge De La Rosa is used to Coors and keeps the Rockies in the game enough to win this one.
• The Dodgers over the Padres: Okay, I picked the Padres yesterday and got burnt. I picked Eric Stults the last time he pitched and got burnt. Like a dog, I learn by pain sometimes. Roberto Hernandez goes for the Dodgers.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Orioles over the White Sox: Hector Noesi has been surprisingly serviceable for the White Sox this season. But he is facing the Orioles, who are going to win the AL East. And Wei-Yin Chen is a big reason why.

Yesterday: 11-4, August: 149-109, Games of the Day: 76-55 (+3), Season: 1043-858