Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Game Picks - Tuesday: May 15, 2012

Three straight losing days now as this game picking thing has gone from bad to worse. Yesterday was terrible from a picking standpoint and one point, the picks were 2-10. A late rally made it 5-10, which doesn't really sound much better. So what is the problem? For one, the Detroit Tigers have become impossible to pick. The Cardinals have lost four straight. The Rangers' bats took a day off against Bruce Chen. The Athletics are now 19-17. Yes, that's confusing. And Brad Lincoln is 3-0, with an ERA of 1.33 and a WHIP of 0.98. How can you predict those kinds of things?

Okay, this week has started in a serious deficit. Need to pull out some good days here. Tuesday's picks:

  • The Nationals over the Padres: Stephen Strasburg is doing his part. 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA. The Nationals just need to get their offense going more consistently. Anthony Bass is not pitching badly this season at all and is still 1-4.
  • The Indians over the Twins: Derek Lowe is enjoying his second romp through the AL. He should beat Jason Marquis and the Twins.
  • The Cardinals over the Cubs: Everything points to a Cubs win. Paul Maholm is on a serious roll. Kyle Lohse was limited to five innings his last time out due to leg problem. The Cardinals have lost four straight. So why pick the Cards? It is just too good a set up.
  • The White Sox over the Tigers: The same feelings that pervade the pick above for the Cardinals fit here too. Jake Peavy is really, really good this season. Max Scherzer has been better of late. But the pick is for Peavy.
  • The Red Sox over the Mariners: The temptation again is to pick the underdog here. Especially since Josh Beckett struggled his last time out and is under the gun in Boston. But he'll beat Blake Beavan.
  • The Yankees over the Orioles: Have been picking Wei-Lin Chen in all his picks and it has worked. The guy has been somewhat of a revelation. But he goes against C.C. Sabathia in this one. 
  • The Athletics over the Angels: Bartolo Colon has a bounce-back start against the Angels and Ervin Santana continues his streak of giving up a homer in every start.
  • The Bay Rays over the Blue Jays: The Jays simply confuse this picker. Are they good? Are they not? They don't look like it lately. Henderson Alvarez has been terrific. But David Price is the better pitcher.
  • The Reds over the Braves: Johnny Cueto has been shut down good all season long. Tim Hudson is looking terrific in his latest starts and his back seems fine. Toss up.
  • The Mets over the Brewers: This game is really tough and the outcome has been changed by this picker twice already. The overriding factor here is that Zack Greinke struggles on the road and Dillon Gee is a bit of a good luck charm for the Mets.
  • The Marlins over the Pirates: Typical Marlins yesterday. They wasted another good start by Anibal Sanchez. Josh Johnson has had a really confusing season. Will this game be the one he break out? Kevin Correia has never been a pleasure to pick for or against.
  • The Rangers over the Royals: Not a big fan of Colby Lewis, but how many times is Vin Mazzaro been bombed out in his lifetime? Too many for this picker to ever pick him again.
  • The Dodgers over the Diamondbacks: Chad Billingsley is the weirdest major league pitcher of them all. His body of work seems good. But from start to start, you just never know. He's good at home though. And Wade Miley was not as sharp his last time out.
  • The Rockies over the Giants: It seems easy to pick against Tim Lincecum these days. That isn't a good thing. Jeremy Guthrie is pitching for the first time in a long time and the pick is for him in this one.

And the Game of the Day!

  • The Phillies over the Astros: Any time your pitching match up is Cliff Lee against TBD, then that's not a good sign for the opposing team.

Yesterday: 5-10
Week: 12-18
Month: 102-90
Season: 291-234
Games of the Day: 22-17

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