Sunday May 30th Daily Picks

Hey there guys,

Well I had a pretty good day yesterday as far as my picks went as I racked up a 14-1 record (7-8 ATS). My one loss came as the Indians upset the Yankees 13-11. That sounds like a Baseball score right? But seriously what a fantastic baseball game. The Yankees were up 9-3 at one point! How often do you see a team down 9-3 come back and beat the Yankees? Lou Marson had an incredible day at the plate for the Indians going 3-5 with 3 RBI and likewise for the Yankees Robinson Cano had a great day going 3-4 with 3 RBI. And all of that came after Indians starting pitcher David Huff got hit upside the head by an Alex Rodriguez line drive. He is doing fine now though. But back to the game, that was a big loss for the Yankees as the Rays, Red Sox and even the Blue Jays won. Ladies and gentleman I know this sounds strange but the Toronto Blue Jays are a game behind the Yankees, and more importantly that Wild Card spot, as they beat the Orioles again, 5-2, behind 2 HR from Lyle Overbay and a great start by Brett Cecil, going 8 innings striking out 7 while allowing only 2 runs on 4 hits. Of course I can't forget to mention the 20th Perfect Game in Baseball history, as Roy Halladay struck out 11 as the Phillies defeated the Marlins 1-0. He is without a doubt a top 3 pitcher of our time and maybe one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Despite all of the talk about the Halladay's perfect game the Phils need to be careful though. They are not hitting the ball well as of late, in fact in their last 11 games they have scored 3 or more only 3 times while being shutout in 4. Their run average over that time frame is 1.9 runs per game. They are only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves, aka the Hottest team in Baseball, right now and they have to travel to Atlanta starting tomorrow. If their hitting continues to struggle they will leave Atlanta in 2nd place in the division. Maybe even worse. The NL East is so close right now, with the Last place Marlins only 5 games back, and 2 games from .500, so the Phighting Phils can't afford to many mistakes right now. Speaking of possible changes at the top there was one yesterday as the A's are now a 1/2 game up over the Rangers in the AL West as Orlando Hudson (2-4 1HR) and the Twins took out the Rangers, and Mark Ellis (3-4 1HR 4RBI) and the A's took out the Tigers. The AL West is an interesting division, filled mostly with pitching, and a lack of Offense. If the Rangers can develop some kind of pitching they could very well recover the lead and run away with the division. My Pick the Angels just need to get in a consistent habit of scoring runs, and the Mariners would just take the occasional hit at this point.

Well hopefully I can continue my winning ways today, there are some solid games today that include the 40 year old wonder Jamie Moyer going up against the Marlins Anibal Sanchez as the Phillies look to try and sweep the fish in Florida, Jake Peavy continues to try and get back to his dominant ways as he takes on James Shields and the Rays, Adam Wainwright and Ryan Dempster face off as the Rivals clash to decide the sereies, and in the pitching match up of the day Livan Hernandez and Jon Garland take the mound for the Nationals and Padres, respectively, in what should be a classic pitching duel. Should be fun.


*for Games only; Games in COLOR are recommended games to watch; my pick are in Bold

MLB

5/30 Picks

*Game(s) of the Day*

St. Louis Cardinals (-1.5)(7.5) @ Chicago Cubs
Adam Wainwright (Proj ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (3.81)

Preview: What a fantastic setting with the Cubs and the Cardinals battling for positioning in the NL Central and throwing out two very good pitchers to decide the series. Adam Wainwright has been one of the top 5 Starting Pitchers in the Majors this season and an argument could be made for him being one of the top ten players in the Majors regardless of position. His counterpart on the mound is also having a very solid season, and that is Ryan Dempster. This should be a fantastic pitching battle. Normally I side towards the team that is going to have the better pitching, which right now is definately Wainwright plus the Cards have the better bullpen. But coming into this series the Cubs were definitely the hotter team and after winning yesterday I think they will step back into that and protect Wrigley Field. The Cardinals have a solid lineup but I look for Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukodome to be the difference makers today.

My Pick: Cubs 4-3 <----- UPSET

The Rest

Indians @ Yankees (-1.5)(9.5)
Justin Masterson (6.70) vs. A. J. Burnett (3.48)
My Pick: Yankees 7-4
Why? Because Justin Masterson is not exactly the greatest pitcher in the world to throw against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. Burnett has struggled recently but he will not need his best stuff today.

Athletics @ Tigers (-1.5)(9.0)
Dallas Braden (3.31) vs. Max Scherzer (7.66)
My Pick: A's 5-4 <----- UPSET
Why? Because the A's are on fire recently and, well the Tigers are not. Scherzer has not been getting the job done at home this season and with some of the A's bats catching fire this a bad time to have a rough game. The A's now lead the AL West and I do not think they are going to let up just yet.

Orioles @ Blue Jays (-1.5)(8.0)
Jeremy Guthrie (3.23) vs. Ricky Romero (3.41)
My Pick: Blue Jays 5-3
Why? This is the most underrated pitching match up of the day. Romero has come within inches of throwing a no hitter earlier this season and Guthrie has been very quite but very very effective. The difference in this game is that Blue Jays know they are within a hair of the Yankees, so they are going to be really fighting today, and the Orioles are one of, if not the coldest, team in the Majors. Well 2nd Coldest. But still....Blue Jays win.

Astros @ Reds (-1.5)(8.5)
Felipe Paulino (5.97) vs. Mike Leake (2.51)
My Pick: Reds 6-3
Why? The Reds have dominated the Astros these past two games winning by an average score of 13.5 to 4. Felipe Paulino has pitched well recently but with as hot as the Cinci bats are I don't think he's going to be the man to slow down the reds.

Phillies @ Marlins (-1.5)(9.5)
Jamie Moyer (4.42) vs. Anibal Sanchez (3.39)
My Pick: Marlins 5-4
Why? Because the Marlins bats are going to wake up today. There is just no way you keep an offense that has Coghlan, Cantu, Ramirez, and Uggla down for this many games in a row. They are not going to explode out but will get the lead and follow Sanchez's fine pitching to a win.

Royals @ Red Sox (-1.5)(9.0)
Bruce Chen (2.96) vs. Jon Lester (3.83)
My Pick: Red Sox 5-4
Why? Because I think Bruce Chen is going to do a lot better then what many people expect, but not enough. Lester is a very good pitcher but the Royals offense has been producing as of late and I think they will get some runs but I think it is the Royals bullpen that blows this one in the later innings.

Pirates @ Braves (-1.5)(8.5)
Paul Maholm (3.95) vs. Kenshin Kawakami (4.52)
My Pick: Braves 5-3
Why? Braves are the hottest team in baseball. Paul Maholm has done well against the Braves in his career but with Pittsburgh as one of the colder teams in the Majors I don't expect him to be what unseats the Braves streak. Kawakami gets his first win of the season.

White Sox @ Rays (-1.5)(8.0)
Jake Peavy (4.62) vs. James Shields (2.94)
My Pick: Rays 4-3
Why? While I feel like the White Sox are on the rise, I also feel like the Rays are just now getting back to playing their kind of baseball after losing 4 straight games to footwear (Swept by Boston, One to Chicago) they came back and won 8-5 yesterday. Jake Peavy can be dominant but he hasn't really shown it this season. I like the Rays and Shields to have a good day and get back to winning again.

Mets @ Brewers (-1.5)(9.5)
R. A. Dickey (2.56) vs. Randy Wolf (4.77)
My Pick: Brewers 5-4
Why? Call it a gut feeling? The Mets are hitting better and I like Wolf but Dickey has really been pitching well as of late. And the Brewers have been "eh" at home this season. But it looks like they are getting on some sort of winning streak. Gut feeling.

Dodgers @ Rockies (-1.5)(9.0)
Clayton Kershaw (2.61) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (3.17)
My Pick: Rockies 5-4
Why? The Rockies are hot and the Dodgers bats are kind of cold. But what really has me picking the Rockies is that, for as good as Kershaw is, he doesn't even average going 6 innings per start. If he can only go 5+ innings then the Rockies are going to take advantage of the Dodgers bullpen.

Mariners @ Angels (-1.5)(8.5)
Ian Snell (4.85) vs. Joe Saunders (3.85)
My Pick: Angels 5-3
Why? Even if Morales and Hunter are out of the lineup, the Angels may still be a better hitting team then the Mariners. If I had to choose I will always take Saunders over Snell.

Diamondbacks @ Giants (-1.5)(8.5)
Ian Kennedy (3.59) vs. Todd Wellemeyer (4.51)
My Pick: Giants 4-3
Why? Kennedy is a solid pitcher and I think he will outduel Wellemeyer but the terrible Diamondbacks bullpen seems to be good to give up a couple of runs per outing. Plus the Giants are pretty solid at home.

Nationals @ Padres (-1.5)(7.0)
Livan Hernandez (2.92) vs. Jon Garland (2.22)
My Pick: Padres 3-2
Why? Best pitching match up of the day. Easily. Why do I like the Padres? Because Livan semi struggled in his last outing, and if the game plays out as a pitchers duel like I think it will, it is going to be the team that makes the fewest mistakes.

Rangers @ Twins (-1.5)(8.5)
Derek Holland (4.37) vs. Scott Baker (3.86)
ESPN2
My Pick: Twins 4-3
Why? The Twins are picking up some steam and the Rangers bats are not. Holland had a decent start his last time out but I like Baker to win the match up and the Twins to win the game.

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Thanks for Reading

Batteman