MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: June 17, 2015

Yesterday looked so good. Despite being totally wrong about the Yankees / Marlins game (ahem), I finished at 10-5. But that dang Pick of the Day did me in again. I have struggled mightily with that this year, more so than any other year. And the Tigers had the lead too. They simply couldn't hold it.

Wednesday's picks:

• The Orioles over the Phillies: While I have some reservations on Ubaldo Jimenez, I have more about Kevin Correia against the Orioles lineup right now. I hope he knows how to duck.
• The Yankees over the Marlins: The Yankees are different animals at home than on the road. They are nearly a .600 team at home. My one concern is Michael Pineda. I have questions about his health right now and he hasn't looked good. Jose Urena goes for the Marlins.
• The Nationals over the Bay Rays: The series moves to Washington and they clubbed the Rays yesterday. I know. I am picking Jordan Zimmermann again. Woe is me. The Nats win behind him and against Matt Andriese.
• The Blue Jays over the Mets: The Blue Jays get their DH back and that should help. Drew Hutchison should be better than Jon Niese.
• The Braves over the Red Sox: Joe Kelly has been gruesome. He is the Red Sox' Eovaldi. Alex Wood is solid and the Red Sox lose the DH.
• The Indians over the Cubs: This game seems about even, so I ma going with the home team. It will be Shaun Marcum against Tsuyoshi Wada.
• The Reds over the Tigers: David Price has been so good. But he might be out-gunned by Johnny Cueto tonight. Todd Frazier is going bananas at the plate.
• The Brewers over the Royals: I can't see anything good coming out of a Joe Blanton start and Mike Fiers has been much better of late.
• The Pirates over the White Sox: The Pirates don't have to worry about which outfielder to start today because they have the DH. Jeff Locke should be better than John Danks, which isn't hard to do.
• The Cardinals over the Twins: The Twins' slide continues as the St. Louis Hackers...I mean Cardinals prevail with Carlos Martinez on the mound. Tommy Milone goes for the Twins. That's quite the story in St. Louis...and quite embarrassing.
• The Astros over the Rockies:  I don't know what to do with this one. The last time I picked against Brett Oberholtzer, he threw a gem. But he is pitching in Coors. At the same time, Kyle Kendrick has been dreadful at home, just dreadful.
• The Diamondbacks over the Angels: I just have a feeling the D-backs will get to Hector Santiago. Chase Anderson is usually solid.
• The Athletics over the Padres: I am pretty sure that Jesse Chavez, who has come on strong lately, will be better than Odrisamer Despaigne.
• The Mariners over the Giants: Madison Bumgarner usually comes up big against another ace. He's had the best of the duels with Kershaw, for example. But he is in the home of Felix Hernandez. One swing might determine the outcome of this game.

And the Pick of the Day:

• The Dodgers over the Rangers: Clayton Kershaw is back in beast mode and my feeling is that Yasiel Puig will have a big day against Wandy Rodriguez.

Yesterday: 10-5, June: 116-105, Season: 494-454, Picks of the Day: 37-33

MLB Game Picks - Friday: June 12, 2015

I picked terribly yesterday. Picture the old knight in the Indiana Jones movie: "He chose...poorly."  Yes, I did. Looking back, I picked way too many visiting teams to win. No matter how bad a team is, home is always an advantage. According to Baseball-reference.com, home teams win 53.4 percent of the time. That is a pretty significant difference. So if I pick six out of nine visiting teams to win, then I am setting myself up for disaster. And disaster it was.

Let's see if I learned anything. Friday's picks:

• The Cubs over the Reds: Heh. Now I am all messed up because I don't want to pick Johnny Cueto because he is not at home. Jason Hammel is pitching very well for the Cubs though and that's my pick.
• The Yankees over the Orioles: I am now worried about the Yankees' bullpen with their closer on the DL. So although I like Michael Pineda much more than Ubaldo Jimenez, the pick has me big time worried.
• The Pirates over the Phillies: It never ceases to amaze me that Kevin Correia somehow always manages to find a job in baseball. But he's back. I will go with Jeff Locke though. Which is my point.
• The Tigers over the Indians: Two very good pitchers square up here in David Price and Danny Salazar. I give the edge to Price because he will go deeper into the game.
• The Mets over the Braves: If Bartolo Colon was pitching on the road, I would take the Braves here because Alex Wood is very good at preventing runs. But at home, Colon can seem to have some really good moments.
• The Rays over the White Sox: This pick is not so much a support of Matt Andriese, though he did pitch well against the Yankees. Rather, it is my long distrust of John Danks as a Major League pitcher.
• The Marlins over the Rockies: Uh...one of these pitchers has to win. Kyle Kendrick is not somebody I ever like to pick. But, Jose Urena hasn't exactly been lighting it up for the Marlins either. Ick. Christian Yelich appears to be over his slump. That helps.
• The Blue Jays over the Red Sox: The Red Sox starting pitching continues to be a problem and I don't see Joe Kelly being able to stop the steamrolling Blue Jays. The key is Drew Hutchison having a good night though.
• The Rangers over the Twins: Is it just me or doesn't it seem that Wandy Rodriguez pitches every other day for the Rangers? I'm not that big on picking him. But Tommy Milone doesn't seem any more appetizing.
• The Mariners over the Astros: You always have to pick Felix Hernandez. The guy is having a phenomenal season. That seems like a much smarter play than Brett Oberholtzer.
• The Nationals over the Brewers: The Nats offense is still a bit of a sputter outfit. Getting Denard Span back helps. Jordan Zimmermann is hard to count on lately. Mike Fiers can't seem to find last year's magic.
• The Cardinals over the Royals: Jaime Garcia traditionally pitches well at home. Yordano Ventura has a history of hitting Cardinal players so that bad blood will need to be watched. This rivalry has become must-see baseball.
• The Angels over the Athletics: One of the few picks from yesterday that worked out. I'm not a big fan of Hector Santiago. But he is pitching better this year than Jesse Chavez.
• The Dodgers over the Padres: Clayton Kershaw is hitting his stride and I don't think tonight will be different. Odrisamer Despaigne has not been very good.

And the Pick of the Day:

• The Giants over the Diamondbacks: Madison Bumgarner against Chase Anderson at Bumgarner's home park? Yes. Give me some of that please.

Yesterday: 3-6, June: 73-71, Season: 451-424, Picks of the Day: 35-30

MLB Game Picks - Wednesday: May 27, 2015

I did not have a bad day yesterday. The Cubs over the Nats was a brilliant pick. There were three games that went into extras and two went for me, one against. That matched my output for the day. I did not expect the Red Sox to lose again or the Astros to win again. But both did. Overall, not a bad day.

Wednesday's picks:

• The Indians over the Rangers: This pick was wrong yesterday showing that I just don't get the Indians. Today, Carlos Carrasco is pitching and he is very good. Will that matter? What has gotten into Colby Lewis this year? Is he really this good?
• The Reds over the Rockies: Where are the stars for the Rockies? Why are they OPSing in the 600s? So weird. Mike Leake strikes me better than Kyle Kendrick does.
• The Pirates over the Marlins: Brad Hand is starting for the Marlins. He has appeared in relief a dozen and a half times. I never know what to do with such things. My mind is cleared up some by seeing Gerrit Cole starting for the other side.
• The Blue Jays over the White Sox: This one sounds like a wreck in the making. Marco Estrada versus Jeff Samardzija. The latter has the bigger talent, for sure. But the Blue Jays can hit! I don't know.
• The Yankees over the Royals: Big Chris Young goes for the Royals. Will he again bamboozle the Yankees like the last time? Will the Yankees adjust? Can Michael Pineda bounce back from a really ugly start? We'll find out together.
• The Twins over the Red Sox: Phil Hughes used to get battered by the Red Sox when he was a Yankee. But pitching at home in Minnesota should help today. Rick Porcello is up and down and hard to count on. Is David Ortiz big poopied out?
• The Mets over the Phillies: I haven't picked a visiting team yet. Oh my. I have to go with Noah Syndergaard over Sean O'Sullivan though, right?
• The Mariners over the Rays: Felix Hernandez has never won a game at Tropicana Field. I think that changes today even though he has a tough opponent in Chris Archer.
• The Brewers over the Giants: The Brewers have cooled off a bit and the Giants keep winning. I think that will hit a bump tonight as Ryan Vogelsong should be more to the Brewers' liking than Bumgarner was. A lot will depend on how Mike Fiers pitches.
• The Tigers over the Athletics: There is a lot to think about in this game. Kyle Ryan has been called up to start for the Tigers. He hasn't been faring well in the minors thus far this season and he will not strike out guys. He has decent control though and most importantly, he is a lefty. The A's do not hit lefties at all. That makes me go with him over Scott Kazmir. The one caveat is that Ryan will not go deep in the game and the Tigers' bullpen is a frightening place.
• The Astros over the Orioles: Picking against the Astros has seemed like a futile thing to do. Collin McHugh is one of my favorite young pitchers. If Ubaldo Jimenez has a good outing, things could change, but I'll go with the Astros.
• The Nationals over the Cubs: The Cubs slowed down the Nats yesterday and Jon Lester goes today, which is the good news. The bad news is that Max Scherzer goes for the Nationals. Did you see where Bryant's homer went yesterday!? Wow.
• The Cardinals over the Diamondbacks: Lance Lynn should come up big in this one and I think he will. Josh Collmenter gives the Cards a different look, but he will bend a little at least.
• The Angels over the Padres: This pick didn't go well yesterday and neither team hit at all until the Padres broke out for four runs in extras. It might be low scoring today too as Garrett Richards faces Andrew Cashner.

And the Pick of the Day:

• The Dodgers over the Braves: Zack Greinke should do what he does, which is win as a Dodger and Alex Wood should allow a couple of runs at least to give the Dodgers the edge in a close game.

Yesterday: 9-6, May: 179-156, Season: 343-321, Picks of the Day: 28-21

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 Twins: Phil 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 Phillies: Sean 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

MLB Game Picks - Sunday: May 10, 2015

Happy Mothers Day everyone.

I picked both ends of a double-header correctly and was 5-2 with the first seven picks. Then the toilet flushed. I went 1-7 the rest of the way for a really bad day and another Pick of the Day down the tube. I don't know if they will ever play in Denver again as the Rockies were postponed again.

Sunday's picks:

• The Yankees over the Orioles: It seems the only team Bud Norris pitches well against is the Yankees. It's just like Wei-Yin Chen, who turns into Kershaw against the Yankees. But I'm still picking the Yankees because of Michael Pineda.
• The Blue Jays over the Red Sox: I don't know what to make of Clay Buchholz other than how I can't watch him because of that greasy hair. It's disgusting. He has been such a bust so far this year. R.A. Dickey is hard to trust as well. But he has had only one bad start in his last six, so I'll go with the hot Jays over the cold Red Sox.
• The Indians over the Twins: It's hard to pick against the Twins right now. They are playing amazing. But the match-up of Danny Salazar vs. Trevor May seems too much on the Indians' side.  It's still tough picking against the Twins...
• The Rays over the Rangers: The Rays are another team playing pretty well. They are two games back of the Yankees. Jake Odorizzi should have a good day and Wandy Rodriguez will have trouble.
• The Nationals over the Braves: Like I said yesterday, Bryce Harper is out of his mind right now and the Nats are making their move. Jordan Zimmermann needs some run support and to have a good day, but that should happen against Alex Wood.
• The Mets over the Phillies: I really am rooting for Clay Billingsley. I am a sucker for comeback stories. But picking against Bartolo Colon has been unproductive lately for obvious reasons.
• The Pirates over the Cardinals: Jeff Locke has pitched pretty well against the Cards in his career. I am not overly confident that Tyler Lyons is an MLB pitcher and Matt Reynolds is a poor substitute for a highly missed Matt Carpenter.
• The Brewers over the Cubs: The Brewers are suddenly hitting. Or, the Cubs have stopped pitching. Whatever the combination, I have been slow on the uptake. I'll go with Matt Garza (heaven help me) over Kyle Hendricks.
• The Reds over the White Sox: Michael Lorenzen has looked pretty good for the Reds and I think Todd Frazier will have a big day against John Danks.
• The Marlins over the Giants: Mat Latos was better his last time out and might be figuring it out. His five walks bother me though when he beat the Nationals. Ryan Vogelsong is what he is and will probably keep the Giants in the game at least.
• The Dodgers over the Rockies: Maybe they will get the game in today. Who knows. If they do (and I think the East Coast games will be more of a weather problem today), then Clayton Kershaw still beats Jorge De La Rosa.
• The Mariners over the Athletics: Do you want to pick against Felix Hernandez at home? I don't.  Jesse Chavez goes for the A's.
• The Padres over the Diamondbacks: Andrew Cashner is 0-3 in his recent starts against the Diamondbacks. However, today, the D-backs don't have a starting pitcher and from all accounts I've seen, are going with a bullpen day where the bullpen will pitch the entire game. That doesn't sound very appetizing.
• The Tigers over the Royals: Oy. This series has become as unpredictable as they come. Shane Greene had a great start to his season, but has had three bad starts in a row. Chris Young gives up nothing but fly balls but that is a good thing the way the Royals' outfielders can fly around. I have no idea...

And the Pick of the Day:

• The Angels over the Astros: This pick went bad yesterday. But I have to go with what looks right each day and try to forget about yesterday. Garrett Richards has looked strong and his knee is holding up thus far. I think he will be much better than Scott Feldman.

Yesterday: 6-9, May: 67-58, Season: 231-223, Picks of the Day: 18-16