Today in our MLB Picks of the Day we have the Washington Nationals against the New York Mets and the Detroit Tigers against the Cleveland Indians. Mets Nationals is 12:10 EST start so be sure to see who holds in the edge in our picks of the day!
And I'm freeeee,
freee fallinggg.
Tom Petty, yep. That
is exactly what the Mets are doing. Mets owners Fred Wilpon got rid of Omar Minaya,
Jerry Manuel and Willie Randolph thanks to their huge second half collapses,
but it seems not even Sandy Alderson, Terry Collins and a whole new core of
players can even prevent the annual Mets fall from grace.
It really is sad to
watch a team who was infused with so much energy, filled with young players who
were really starting to believe, run into a wall. New York has lost 9 of their
last 10, and they now find themselves 3 games under .500.
The Mets thought that
they had sent their savior, RA Dickey, to the mound last night in hopes to put
a stop to the losing streak, but even the All Star knuckleballer couldn’t get
it done, as the Mets got rocked 5-2.
Nothing can stop this
Mets free fall, and it’s almost like the Wilpons team are being punished for
their involvement with the Bernie Madoff scheme. A reach, I know but how else
can you explain these collapses year in and year out?
The road just gets
tougher.
When you starting
dropping ball games like this, hitters start to press and think they have to be
world beaters every time they step into the box. This usually results in strike
outs, double plays, easy ground balls for the opposing pitcher. As if the Mets
line up wasn't pressing enough, they will face one of the nastiest pitchers in
the game today in Stephen Strasburgh. Now I am not going to go over Strasburgh’s
numbers, be cause we all know what a phenom he is. The problem here is the Mets
are averaging just 3 runs per 9 innings in their last 5 games against RHP, and Strasburgh
is a guy that has silenced some of the best bats in the league. So with the
Mets line up pressing hard at the plate and averaging just three runs every
nine innings, facing Strasburgh could mean that they get shut out today.
Washington is hot as
they ever could be.
The Nationals are a
season and franchise high 18 games over .500. Washington comes into this
matchup after a grueling series with the Atlanta Braves, who tried to come into
D.C. and cut the deficit of 1st place in half, but the Nats remained resilient.
The Nats offense has
scored, five, eight, nine, and five runs in their 4 game winning streak, so
they are certainly feeling it at the plate. They will continue to feel it today
as well, as the Mets will throw rookie pitcher Jeremy Hefner to the wolves.
Hefner has been a disaster, giving up 40 hits in just 32 innings pitched, with
a 5.85 ERA. Hefner made a few starts for the Mets, only to be thrown back to the
bullpen. Now he will feel like he has the world on his shoulders, trying to
stop this Mets losing streak against Stephen Strasbrugh. As if that wasn't
enough for this rookie pitcher, he has to get himself stretched out from being
a relief pitcher to a starter. This matchup has disaster written all over it.
The Mets free fall
will continue and the Nats will continue to flourish. Our first MLB pick of the
day is the Nationals RL -1.5 -110.
Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland indians
In our next game we
have the Tigers and Indians, where Max Scherzer and Derek Lowe will start for
their respective teams. Baseball odds makers have opened up the Tigers as a
-130 favorite.
Detroit, 1st place?
After the Tigers won
a series against the White Sox and regained 1st place, they dropped a heart
breaker last night against Doug Fister in his returned from the DL. A suicide
squeeze by the Indians, which resulted in a throwing error by a Detroit pitcher,
cost them the game, and 1st place. The White Sox won last night, so these two
teams are now tied again a top of the division but we fully expect Detroit to
regain 1st place tonight.
Derek Lowe is going
to get rocked.
For a long time Lowe,
looked like he was his old self and held an ERA in the 3.20 range, but all that
time he was using smoke and mirrors. Many said he was set to blow up, and that
is exactly what has happened. Derek has seen his ERA balloon to 5.04 on the
year with a 1.63 ERA. He's given up a staggering 140 hits in only 100 IP this
year, and to make matters worse, he is getting rocked even harder every time he
takes the mound. In his last 3 starts, Lowe has an ERA of 9.00 with a 2.00
WHIP, giving up 20 hits in 15 IP. The guy simply cannot get anyone out. Now he’s
going to face a Tigers line up that consist of Austin Jackson, the newly
acquired Omar Infante, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Delmon Young. Lowe is
in for a very, very long day.
Complete pitching mismatch.
Detroit will counter
with Max Scherzer, who has been up and down all the year, but has elite skills
and when he puts it all together his unhittable. This was the case in his last
start against the Angels. Max went 7 strong innings giving up just three hits
and one earned run while striking out nine. He is on a complete roll right now,
in his last 3 starts he owns an ERA of 2.84, while striking out 24 over that
time frime. Scherzer can blow you away at any moment as he has struck out a
crazy 134 batters in just 109 IPs. Cleveland has not scored more than 3 runs in
their last 6 games so they are certainly in for the long haul today.
What we have here is
a complete mismatch on the mound and on the offensive sides. Detroit will be
eager to avenge last night’s loss and regain first place. Derek Lowes career is
coming to an end, and he should really hang in up rather than going out like
this. We must take advantage of the low line of -130 when Detroit holds every
single advantage on the field in this ball game.
The Detroit Tigers
-130 are our final MLB Pick of the Day. Good Luck Everybody!