Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Game Picks - Wednesday: August 17, 2011

Ten correct and six incorrect yesterday. Let's do something different today and qualify yesterday's picks into four categories: smart picks, dumb picks, lucky picks, unlucky picks. The smart ones and dumb ones are self explanatory. Lucky or unlucky depends on breaks, sudden injuries and blown saves or extra innings. Here we go:

  • Smart picks - Yankees, Rangers, Red Sox split, Tigers, Braves, Brewers and Blue Jays.
  • Dumb picks - Rockies, Orioles (oh yeah), Mets and Reds.
  • Lucky picks - Pirates and Astros.
  • Unlucky picks - Indians and Diamondbacks - Manual should have gotten Halladay out of there.

Looking at the picks that way gives a better feel for how this picker is doing and last night was pretty good as the smart picks were the largest category. It might be a lot of work, but next season, we'll keep track of these!

Wednesday's full schedule of games should look like this:

  • The Bay Rays over the Red Sox: No David Ortiz. David Price just whipped the Yankees. John Lackey. Those are three good reasons to make this pick.
  • The Astros over the Cubs: Bud Norris is much better than Casey Coleman and that should be the difference.
  • The Athletics over the Orioles: All other things being equal, you have to go with Brandon McCarthy over Alfredo Simon.
  • The Padres over the Mets: This picker can't get a Mets pick right to save himself. What a befuddling team. Matt Latos goes for the Pads. Dillon Gee goes for the Mets and that's the rub in this one. Gee has become homer prone. But San Diego should minimize that. Oh crap...
  • The Reds over the Nationals: Johnny Cueto is about the only sure deal you'll find in Cincinnati these days. He should beat five-innings of Ross Detwiler and the bullpen.
  • The Twins over the Tigers: Carl Pavano should be better than Brad Penny, who could give up a dinger to Thome if the old slugger plays.
  • The Cardinals over the Pirates: Kyle Lohse has had a solid season and Paul Maholm is probably the weak link in the Pirates rotation.
  • The Braves over the Giants: After a little rest, Jair Jurrjens gets back to his pre-All Star Game self. Matt Cain won't get any offensive support.
  • The White Sox over the Indians: Mark Buehrle has quietly put together a strong season while Fausto Carmona is always a mystery. Indians should have won last night.
  • The Brewers over the Dodgers: Young Nathan Eovaldi threw six shutout innings in his last outings. But that was the Astros. The Brewers are not the Astros. Zack Greinke will show the youngster how it's done.
  • The Yankees over the Royals: Bruce Chen has given the Yankees fits in the past, but this Chen isn't as good as that Chen. Bartolo Colon will need to pitch well.
  • The Marlins over the Rockies: Ricky Nolasco drives this picker crazy. On any given Sunday, he should beat Aaron Cook. But this isn't Sunday.
  • The Rangers over the Angels: Ervin Santana has been the best pitcher in baseball in the last month. But C.J. Wilson is the Rangers' ace and the two should cancel each other out. The Rangers have the superior bullpen.
  • The Blue Jays over the Mariners: Brandon Morrow will cruise through the Mariners' line up and let his mates chip away at Blake Beavan.

And the Game of the Day!


  • The Phillies over the Diamondbacks: Yes, the D-backs beat Halladay. But as far as lefties go, Cliff Lee is a Beemer while Joe Saunders is a Volkswagen.

Yesterday: 10-6
Week: 23-26
Month: 125-89
Season: 999-830
Games of the Day: 84-50

No comments: