Game Picks - Saturday: April 2, 2011

People who predict baseball games on a regular basis should get their heads examined. So many goofy things happen in any given game on any given night make for a daily adventure. This prognosticator apparently is still in Spring Training as there was even a game missed last night (KC at Angels). And when the day started with this picker being 0-4, the worst was expected. Then the record went to 1-5 as at least the Blue Jays did as expected. But the last four games went in this Fan's favor to even up the day. The Fan will take that result gladly.

Okay. Now that two days of "practice" are out of the way, Saturday brings the first full slate of games this season. This should be fun!

• The Braves over the Nationals: Tommy Hanson is a nice number two starter, is he not? He should get an easy win over Lannon and the Nationals.
• The White Sox over the Indians: How do you pick a game between these two when their first game resulted in a 16-10 score? The pitching line is Jackson versus Carrasco. Are you telling the Fan that Danks isn't even your number two pitcher? The White Sox will win simply because it seems apparent that the Indians can't pitch.
• The Cubs over the Pirates: Carlos Zambrano will lift the Cubs to their first win of the season with the Cubs' offense getting some runs off of Maholm.
• The Blue Jays over the Twins: Kyle Drabek gets his first win of the season. Liriano gets the tough luck loss. Still think Jose Bautista's season was a fluke in 2010? It wasn't.
• The Angels over the Royals: The Royals had a dramatic win last night. But Santana should beat Davies handily.
• The Yankees over the Tigers: The new and improved A. J. Burnett should beat Brad Penny and the Tigers.
• The Dodgers over the Giants: Donny Ballgame's crew goes 3-0 as Lilly outpitches Matt Cain. The Tejada watch is on in San Francisco.
• The Phillies over the Astros: The Fan loves Wandy Rodriguez, but Cliff Lee will get the win. The Astros had their chance the other day and blew it.
• The Bay Rays over the Orioles: Yes, these O's are different under Showalter. But the Fan has no faith in Tillman and more faith in Shields who had a great spring.
• The Brewers over the Reds: The Brew Crew gets enough offense to overcome Wood and Shaun Marcum gets his first win as a member of the Brewers.
• The Mets over the Marlins: Niese should be nice and Nolasco is always a crap shoot. Going with the Mets here.
• The Rangers over the Red Sox: The Rangers seem indefatigable when playing good teams. Colby Lewis beats John Lackey.
• The Rockies over the Diamondbacks: The D-backs struck first in this series. But De La Rosa is going to have a good season. Rockies with the win over Hudson.
• The Mariners over the Athletics: The Fan likes this Vargas kid. Brett Anderson is very good when healthy. But still going with the new-look Mariners.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Cardinals over the Padres: Albert Pujols is not going to go hitless in this one as Richard has been very shaky this spring. Westbrook gets the win.

Yesterday: 5-5

Week: 9-7

Month: 9-7

Season: 9-7

Games of the Day: 2-0