Happy May Day! The month of April is in the books and it was a good month here. And it also ended well with a 10-5 day. The month ended up with a 58% success rate, which is slightly above normal around here. That may sound rather ordinary. But try it some time to see how difficult this can be.
I was surprised by the Blue Jays' win over Boston as a combination of good hitting against Jon Lester, terrible defense by Jarrod Saltalamaccia, and power by Edwin Encarnacion overcame a couple of deficits to put the Blue Jays on top.
Picking Seattle to win was sort of stupid. The Indians jumping all over Roy Halladay was a surprise, and I should have picked Oakland over the Angels. But there were good picks too. The Royals over the Rays was a good one as was the Marlins over the Mets. Overall, it was a good night of picking.
So here comes May! Wednesday's picks:
- The Mets over the Marlins: The Mets are on a losing streak and they have to break out of it with a win here sooner or later. This afternoon is as good a time as any. Dillon Gee is coming off a decent couple of outings and Wade LeBlanc should not be that tough against to score some runs.
- The Tigers over the Twins: Anibal Sanchez is coming off a 17-strikeout appearances. That makes me a big leery. He will not get as many against the Twins, but he should be better than Scott Diamond. Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera have already combined for 55 runs batted in. Holy cow.
- The Brewers over the Pirates: I am not sure about picking Hiram Burgos. Burgos is not exactly missing a lot of bats, but he has been somewhat effective. This picks is more about Jeanmar Gomez making his first start of the season for the Pirates. Gomez is a fringy sixth or seventh starter.
- The Cardinals over the Reds: Lance Lynn has powered his way to a 4-0 record on the basis of his stuff. But the command is still not there and the walks are concerning. If he is on, the Reds will not score. If he is not, this pick will look bad and Homer Bailey would get the win.
- The Athletics over the Angels: Tommy Milone has been the A's most consistent pitcher and he is averaging over a four to won strikeout to walk ratio. He has six walks total in five starts. I like that. C.J. Wilson is 2-0, but can be had by some of the bigger boys in the A's lineup.
- The Yankees over the Astros: Erik Bedard has been awful. So there is always the danger that he will have a great game just because you pick against him. And David Phelps in the rotation is a bit scary. Joe Girardi will have his bullpen up early and will use it because of the day off tomorrow.
- The Phillies over the Indians: The Indians should have saved some of those runs from yesterday. They will need them against Cliff Lee, who returns to his original Major League home. Trevor Bauer has never impressed me, walks too many batters and seems uncoachable. But I am just believing what I am reading there.
- The Nationals over the Braves: My man, Jordan Zimmermann, pitches tonight. He is a strike throwing studly man. I think he does well tonight while Paul Maholm is either good or not depending on where his batted balls go. This could be a big Bryce Harper game.
- The Rangers over the White Sox: I like this Nick Tepesch kid. I am not sure he will be consistently successful, especially pitching in Arlington. And Chris Sale for the White Sox is a tough opponent. But I think this will be a low-scoring game with the Rangers coming out on top by a run or two.
- The Padres over the Cubs: The Padres are a different team with Chase Headley back in the lineup. Andrew Cashner has a great arm and is going back against the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2008 draft. He will be pumped. Scott Feldman goes for the Cubs and had a good outing his last time out.
- The Bay Rays over the Royals: Luis Mendoza goes for the Royals tonight and he confuses the heck out of me (and probably most Royals fans). Sometimes he looks so good and other times, not so much. Jeremy Hellickson has pitched much better of late for the Rays.
- The Giants over the Diamondbacks: Picking Tim Lincecum to do well in Arizona is asking a bit much. But, he looked a lot like his old self in his last start. Brandon McCarthy has not won yet this year, so he is due and that is the scary part of this pick.
- The Orioles over the Mariners: I learned my lesson last night. The Orioles should beat the Mariners eight out of ten times if given the chance. Wei-Yin Chen goes for the Orioles while Aaron Harang has lost all thre of his decisions thus far.
- The Rockies over the Dodgers: This is my upset pick of the day. And the only reason is that Juan Nicasio is a pretty good pitcher and Josh Becket used to be a pretty good pitcher.
And the Game of the Day!
- The Red Sox over the Blue Jays: Clay Buchholz is 5-0 and it is a really strong 5-0. He should quiet the Blue Jays' bats while Mark Buehrle gives up his normal three or four runs.
Yesterday: 10-5
Week: 27-16
April: 230-164
Games of the Day: 22-8
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