Thursday, July 28, 2011

Game Picks - Thursday: July 28, 2011

This week is quickly becoming a lost cause. Is it the dog days of summer or is this picker just dogging it? Whatever the problem is, there hasn't been a positive day all week. And Wednesday was no exception. Who knew that once the Cardinals traded Colby Rasmus that their line up would turn into something akin to the Padres against the Astros yesterday? Who would have guessed that the Angels' hurler, Ervin Santana would no-hit the Indians in their own ballpark?

Looking back over yesterday's picks, you can see that this picker really didn't want to pick the Bay Rays and yet still did. That team suddenly looks dead in the water. James Shields pitched like he didn't want to get traded. The Nationals were a bad pick. And this picker should have known that the Giants' pitcher, whichever one it was, would out duel a Phillies' pitcher...just like the NLCS. The Fan also got a smack down from Aaron Cook as he threw seven scoreless innings. Take that, you loud mouthed Fan!

At least this picker correctly picked the end of the Mariners misery. You knew that Phil Hughes would be a part of it. He's going the way of Joba, isn't he? The Yankees should have stuck with Nova. And that Atlanta Braves pick was a good one. Jair Jurrjens did his thing, didn't he? And with the Cardinal and Pirate losses (and the Reds if that still counts), Zack Greinke pitched a gem as predicted. And the Red Sox did what they always do and scored over ten runs again. More on them at a later post. But they kept the Game of the Day feature rolling along.

Twelve games are on Thursday's schedule. Not bad for a Thursday. The picks:

  • The Nationals over the Marlins: This series has confounded this picker since the beginning. And none of the games have been correctly picked. The finale is between John Lannon and Brad Hand. Lannon won his last start and hit a homer. Brad won his last start as well but has been in the minors. Don't know.
  • The Reds over the Mets: Beltran is gone, may his Mets uniform rest in peace. This is another series where the picks have been wrong every day. Chris Capuano faces Homer Bailey. Again throwing the hands up in the air.
  • The Tigers over the Angels: Joel Pineiro has been awful since he beat the Tigers earlier in the month. This picker thinks the Tigers would like another shot at him. Brad Penny pitches for the Tigers.
  • The Red Sox over the Royals: Josh Beckett and his cavalcade of batters should win easily against Luke Hochevar and the Royals.
  • The Brewers over the Cubs: Randy Wells will be tough as he is coming on lately. But Shaun Marcum will be tougher and the score could be nearly the same as yesterday.
  • The Diamondbacks over the Padres: Daniel Hudson out duels Matt Latos. Hudson did lose to the Padres earlier in the year but is 6-1 since.
  • The Athletics over the Bay Rays: The Bay Rays look stale and Wade Davis has a horrible career record in Oakland. Rick Harden needs to be good though.
  • The Blue Jays over the Orioles: The Blue Jays celebrated their wild day yesterday with a shutout of the Orioles. More of the same today as Carlos Villanueva beats Brad Bergesen. Bergesen was pretty good his last time out though.
  • The Pirates over the Braves: Very interesting game. Derek Lowe is 10-0 lifetime against the Pirates. Surely, that streak has to end some time. Kevin Correia hasn't be good at all lately but is 9-2 on the road. Going with the Pirates.
  • The Rangers over the Twins: The Twins have had their way with this series. And things don't look better with Matt Harrison having horrible career numbers against the Twins. But we'll call that too small a sample size and give Harrison the win over Baker, who could give up a home run ball or three in this game.
  • The Cardinals over the Astros: The Cardinals will have to bat better than they did yesterday. Wandy Rodriguez is still in the swirl of trade rumors while Jaime Garcia is among the elite of NL starters.

And the Game of the Day!

  • The Giants over the Phillies: Tim Lincecum has been scratched two days in a row with the flu. Will he pitch today as planned? The Giants beat Kyle Kendrick either way with new outfielder, Carlos Beltran.

Yesterday: 6-9
Week: 24-32  yeesh!
Month: 180-163
Season: 844-713
Games of the Day: 73-43

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