Game Day: Friday, May 29th

It's a Friday, named after the ancient friars, creators of fish and chips, the french fry, hush puppies and my favorite, onion rings.

I'm on a strict diet.  Fried food is for the most part out but if you put a plate of fried cod and fries in front of me, it is going to get finished, like a soft MMA fighter.

It's the last week in May.  A checkpoint.  Six weeks to the All-Star Game.  

All 30 teams are still in the race as we enter June.  The Rockies have the worst record in MLB and are only 10.5 games out of the wild card.  A pair of winning months in June and July and Colorado will be right with the pack down the stretch.  

There are some teams who look at their player personnel, look at the standings, and contemplate, at the end of May, selling off some pieces to save payroll and add prospects.  There hasn't been a big trade yet but there will be sooner than later.  Could Tarik Skubal be on his way to LA?  Will Shea Langeliers be wearing pinstripes in New York?  

The next six weeks of play will separate the living from the dead.  The living will play August and September with the earnest hope of winning the World Series.  The dead will be playing because they are paid to show up and they like their jobs.  Last season, the dead were playing loose, winning ball games late in the season.  It's nice to play a ball game in the sun with no pressure to win.  Playing loose wins games in August and September.  

There is a lot of baseball left to be played this summer.  The next six weeks are certain to be exciting in many regards.  It's the last hurrah for the teams who have fallen behind early.  The Mets, the Red Sox, the Orioles, the Tigers, the Giants, these teams need to put together some wins in June or they are going to be dead before the July 4th holiday weekend.  

There is a full slate of good games on the card today and they all start in the late afternoon.  It gives me plenty of time to dig in some and make a pick.  Back later this afternoon with Today's Pick.  Stay tuned.

Popular posts from this blog

Today's Pick: CIN (-165) over MIA

The Reds and the Marlins conclude a four game series at The Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, OH, it's a 4:10 CDT first pitch.  The Marlins took the first two games of the series but the Reds battled back in game three, winning 7-2 on another quality start from lefty Andrew Abbott.   It's lefty Nick Lodolo starting for the Reds this afternoon.  Lodolo has been prone to giving up the long ball and leads the league in hit batsman.  Oddly, he doesn't walk that many hitters.  Strikeouts are his game, he has averaged nearly a strikeout per inning this season.  It's Lodolo's last start before the All Star break, he'll be charged up and should let it rip today.   Cal Quantrill starts for Miami.  I like Cal Quantrill.  He has pitched well this season and should be under consideration for a trade at the end of July.  Miami's management has been closely watching his pitch count and does everything in their power to keep him from get...
Read more

Wednesday, August 6th: No Pick Today

No pick today, there isn't much on the board that I liked.  I didn't dig into any games but the Giants and the Pirates early this morning.  I liked the Giants but they don't hit left handed pitching all that well and Pirates had a well rested bullpen.  The Giants won that game 4-2.   I had thought about putting on my three dogs play with the Rangers, Reds and the Royals.  The Reds are down 6-0.  That would have been a loser.   There are some games later this afternoon and some late games too but I am going to take a pass on the action today and see if I can find a good spot tomorrow.   I'm sitting at 5.36 units in play and have a four game Pickstreak on the line.  We'll look to make it five in a row tomorrow.  
Read more

Postgame Report: NYY (-215) Winner

That's six wins in a row for the Pickstreak blog.  We crushed that pick into the upperdeck. Carlos Rodon had a great start in front of the New York crowd and the Yanks' bats scored nine runs and hit three homers.  Twins' starter Travis Adams was out of the game in the third.  Minnesota's bullpen gave up seven hits, seven walks and five earned.   The Yanks bullpen locked it down.  Yankees win 9-1. The Yankees were not a sure thing.  Rodon had two fairly bad starts coming into last night's contest.  The Yankees were 3-7 over their last ten and the Twins had played some good baseball.   Following the game closely everyday, you can pick up on some minutia that isn't necessarily in the stats or in the boxscores.   I feel like this series with the Twins is a turning point for the Yankees' season.  I think the Yanks are going to win some games in August with Luis Gil, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren all turning it up a notch....
Read more