MLB Game Picks - Friday: September 27, 2013

Last night was about as emotional a night as I have ever had watching baseball. I know some of you haters are going to hate. But that send off of Mariano Rivera from Yankee Stadium has to be one of the most wonderful things I have ever watched. It did not matter that these current Yankees could play twenty more games against the Rays and lose them all. What mattered is that the dynasty in New York ended when Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte went out to the mound to take Mariano Rivera out of the game. What an incredible moment in baseball.

As for the picks, they went 7-2, which continues the terrific final full week of games I am having. The two incorrect picks were the Mets as Dillon Gee did not have it last night and the Blue Jays as Mark Buehrle did not have it either.

The last full weekend folks. Friday's picks:

• The Red Sox over the Orioles: Who knows how long Clay Buchholz will pitch in this game as it will be a tune up for the playoffs. Scott Feldman has not pitched well for the Orioles overall and the Red Sox bats do not need to take the day off. But the Orioles have a good lineup too.
• The Bay Rays over the Blue Jays: The final battle of the Ays for the season. The Rays are not in the clear yet as they could lose three and not make the Wild Card. So they have to keep winning. Jeremy Hellickson will be on a short leash I think. R.A. Dickey will try to prevent the win.
• The Tigers over the Marlins: What kind of effort will the Tigers bring? Hard to say. Rick Porcello is probably making his last appearance of the season. I will be surprised if he makes the post season roster and if he does, it will be as a reliever. Tom Koehler goes for the Marlins.
• The Brewers over the Mets: Crap, this will be the fourth home team in a row I am picking against. That is not good. But I still think Yovani Gallardo beats Carlos Torres. David Wright got beaned last night, which also is not good.
• The Reds over the Pirates: How weird is it that these two teams will finish the regular season out together and then go right to the play-in game to determine the Wild Card winner? Well, at least there will not be a lot of traveling. They are, I believe, playing for which team will be the home team. A.J. Burnett goes against Homer Bailey in this one.
• The Braves over the Phillies: Again, just a meaningless game. Kris Medlen will look at it like a tuneup. Cliff Lee gets his last start of the season for the Phillies. Lefties do not phase the Braves much.
• The Indians over the Twins: Can the Indians keep winning? Can they run the last two weeks? I have never seen it done before, but that is their only option with the Rangers only a game back. Corey Kluber tries to keep it going against Pedro Hernandez.
• The White Sox over the Royals: Will James Shields have any motivation with nothing to shoot for anymore? He was big down the stretch. My prediction is that Chris Sale will out-pitch him tonight and then it is just a question of if the bullpen can nail it down.
• The Yankees over the Astros: The Yankees get to end the season in Houston and perhaps can win a game or two. They certainly have died the last two weeks though and have not announced a pitcher for tonight. I think either Phelps or someone like that will get the call. Brett Oberholtzer goes for the Astros.
• The Cardinals over the Cubs: You have to give it up for Travis Wood, who has pitched really well all season, stared down the ace of every opposing team and held his own. The Cardinals at home though are tough to beat. Lance Lynn tries to clinch it for the Cards.
• The Diamondbacks over the Nationals: I am sort of not sure why Stephen Strasburg is pitching this game. He has missed his last three starts. Why not shut him down? Either way, he will not go long into the game and Patrick Corbin will and should win.
• The Dodgers over the Rockies: Clayton Kershaw gets the start, but how deep into the game will he pitch? Long enough for the Dodgers to get a lead off of Collin McHugh to win the game.
• The Athletics over the Mariners: This ought to be interesting with Bartolo Colon going against Felix Hernandez. I don't know how healthy the latter is and the Mariners' offense has fallen off again. Colon is the choice then.
• The Padres over the Giants: Ryan Vogelsong will be glad when this season is over. He did not have a good year. Burch Smith, on the other hand, is having fun in his first extended shot at the big leagues.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Rangers over the Angels: I think the Rangers will not give C.J. Wilson a very good feeling to end his season upon. Alexi Ogando will win at home. The Rangers are still hoping to sneak into the Wild Card picture and like a vulture are waiting for the Indians to lose.

Yesterday: 7-2

Week: 43-24

Month: 208-152

Season: 1350-1047

Games of the Day: 103-70

MLB Game Picks - Friday: September 6, 2013

When I went to bed, the picks stood at 3-1 with the one loss the pie-in-the-sky pick being the Yankees. When I awoke, I found that I had gone zero for the West Coast as all three games out there were wrong. I hate when that happens, especially when one of those picks was the Game of the Day. Oakland lost to the Astros!?

Do you know what I cannot wrap my head around? The Giants are in last place. I am pretty sure I have been picking them all season like they were the World Series Champions. Wait. They are. Whatever. Anyway, the picks are again in the red for the week and the month.

I am hoping I can fix that today. Friday's picks:

• The Brewers over the Cubs: It is difficult to pick who is going to win a game for two teams just playing out the string. Which is going to play more September call ups? Which has packed it in emotionally and which keeps fighting? This pick is based solely on the starting pitchers. Kyle Lohse over Chris Rusin.
• The Braves over the Phillies: Cliff Lee has not won a game in forever. He has been decent, but he has not won. Mike Minor seems like the better pick. The Braves have such a big lead that you wonder how their motivation will be.
• The Red Sox over the Yankees: Nova starting seemed to be the Yankees best chance to win. He was terrible. Andy Pettitte is not someone, at this stage of his career, that can slow down the Red Sox. Felix Doubront always seems to pitch the Yankees well. The Yankees had their chance yesterday and could not get it done.
• The Indians over the Mets: The Indians have a tough challenge against Zack Wheeler, but they should win the game, especially at home. Scott Kazmir should pitch a good game against a team with lefty batters.
• The Reds over the Dodgers: I can see Mike Leake having a better chance of stopping the Dodgers' offense than Chris Capuano stopping the Reds' offense. A lot will depend on if Puig plays. An Aroldis Chapman versus Puig confrontation would have been exciting.
• The Marlins over the Nationals: Jose Fernandez at home in Miami? That is a lock. It has been all season. The only chance for the Nats is for Dan Haren to match him and then win late. I do not see Haren matching him.
• The Royals over the Tigers: They call him "Big Game" James Shields for a reason. He will either rise to that like he has in the past or give up three homers and lose. Those are the two possible outcomes. Anibal Sanchez has this thing about becoming invisible in the second half of a season. He has done it his whole career. Can he break out of it?
• The Blue Jays over the Twins: This is as pick-em a game as there is. Two bad teams. Two so-so to mediocre pitchers. I will give the nod to R.A. Dickey to fool enough Twins to win. Mike Pelfrey should run into a couple of bats.
• The Cardinals over the Pirates: You cannot say that the NL Central has been boring. The three main teams have been battling it out for two weeks now. I see this as a Cardinal win IF Joe Kelly pitches a good game. If he does, the Cardinals should be able to score a few off of A.J. Burnett, who has not been good.
• The Athletics over the Astros: Isn't it just like baseball for the A's to whip the Rangers and then lose the following day to the Astros? Yeah, you cannot predict ball. That said, A.J. Griffin should beat Dallas Keuchel. We are back on track with both A.J.'s pitching on the same day.
• The Rangers over the Angels: I am sure that Mike Scioscia would love nothing better than to knock the Rangers for a loop. And his pitcher, C.J. Wilson (lots of initials today), has been pitching well. But I am still going to go with Matt Garza.
• The Padres over the Rockies: Burch Smith has pitched 12.2 innings of MLB ball. In that time a lot has happened. He has given up 21 hits and five homers to go with seven walks. That is all bad. But he has struck out fifteen. That is good. There is no way he should be picked to win today. But this is a setup and I have been setup all season by such no-brain letdowns. Juan Nicasio goes for the Rockies.
• The Rays over the Mariners: I want so bad to pick Hisashi Iwakuma to win at home. That seems like such a good combination that has served me well. But this is the Rays and this is September and doggonit if they always find a way. Alex Cobb goes for the Rays.
• The Giants over the Diamondbacks: See? I keep picking the Giants like they were the World Series Champions. Yusmeiro Petit has been dominant in his last couple of starts and Patrick Corbin looks like he has hit a wall. Goldschmidt seemed to wake up yesterday though, so that could be trouble.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Orioles over the White Sox: I can sort of see the Orioles having a tough time with John Danks. But I cannot put that together with a loss for the Orioles, not against the roll-over-and-die White Sox. Scott Feldman goes for the Orioles.

Yesterday: 3-4

Week: 33-34

Month: 33-34

Season: 1175-929

Game of the Day picks:  88-64   -3