August 23rd, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Holy hell and damnation. I neglected to make any picks on Saturday and ended up going 11-3 overall. Of course, I have no way of knowing when I'm going to get better than 3 out of 4 picks right beforehand but it would have been nice to rack up a couple wins today. A week straight of over-.500, here's to 8 days in a row. So on to the picks!

Picks
1) Everton @ Burnley - Burnley win or draw
2) Hamburger SV @ VfL Wolfsburg - VfL Wolfsburg win
3) Mercer Island, Washington vs. Urbandale, Iowa - Mercer Island
4) Los Angeles Angels @ Toronto Blue Jays - Los Angeles
5) Milwaukee Brewers @ Washington Nationals - Washington
6) Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City Royals - Minnesota
7) San Francisco Giants @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
8) Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics - Detroit
9) San Antonio Silver Stars @ Detroit Shock - San Antonio
10) New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
11) Seattle Sounders FC @ Houston Dynamo - Houston win

August 22nd, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Well, I bumped my streak up to 8 with Warner Robins from Georgia but aside from Little League my baseball picks were total shyte yesterday. The Red Sox were simply no match for the Yankees offensively, and San Francisco beat the Rockies with Aaron Cook heading out early (after 47 pitches) with a sore shoulder. The Cardinals just couldn't generate any offense and lost to SD while the Royals were oh so close to winning their game against Minnesota, or at least taking it into even more extra innings. I'll be going for a week straight picking over .500 tomorrow, so beware. I may not make it. And so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Stoke City @ Birmingham - Stoke City win or draw
2) Vancouver, British Columbia vs. Reynosa, Mexico - Reynosa
3) Willemstad, Curaçao vs. Maracaibo, Venezuela - Willemstad
4) Los Angeles Angels @ Toronto Blue Jays - Los Angeles
5) Roger Federer vs. Andy Murray - Federer
6) Warner Robins, Georgia vs. Staten Island, New York - Staten Island
7) Chicago Cubs @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
8) Arizona Diamondbacks @ Houston Astros - Houston
9) Matt Kenseth vs. Mark Martin - Martin has a better final position
10) Pittsburgh Steelers @ Washington Redskins - Washington
11) New York Giants @ Chicago Bears - Chicago
12) Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
13) Indiana Fever @ Seattle Storm - Indiana
14) San Diego Chargers @ Arizona Cardinals - Arizona

August 21st, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)HSV wrapped up their Europa League qualifying tie today with a 5-1 win against EA Guingamp from French Ligue 2. The one goal for Guingamp was actually an own goal by backup keeper Wolfgang Hesl. Now HSV only have to avoid conceding five goals back in Hamburg while losing by 4 goals or less to advance to the group stage. Tomorrow looks to be a bit trickier than yesterday, especially if the Little League games get rained out and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Staten Island, New York vs. Mercer Island, Washington - Staten Island
2) Nîmes Olympique @ Dijon FCO - Dijon FCO win
3) Taoyuan, Taiwan vs. Ramstein AFB, Germany - 12 runs or more
4) Urbandale, Iowa vs. Warner Robins, Georgia - Warner Robins
5) New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
6) Saskatchewan Roughriders @ Montreal Alouettes - 55 points or more
7) Tennessee Titans @ Dallas Cowboys - Dallas
8) Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City Royals - Kansas City
9) San Francisco Giants @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
10) St. Louis Cardinals @ San Diego Padres - St. Louis

August 20th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Picked up another win with Liverpool beating Stoke City 4-0 while Burnley pulled off a huge upset, defeating Manchester United 1-0. Tomorrow looks like a switch back to some easier matchups, so good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Mark Calcavecchia vs. Jonathan Byrd - Byrd cards a lower front 9 score
2) San Francisco Giants @ Cincinnati Reds - San Francisco
3) Hamburger SV @ Guingamp - Hamburger SV win
4) Sergio Garcia vs. Lucas Glover - Glover cards a lower front 9 score
5) Usain Bolt's 200m Finishing Time: 19.33 seconds or less vs. 19.34 seconds or more - 19.33 seconds or less
6) Valencia @ Stabæk IF - Valencia win
7) Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets - Atlanta
8) Philadelphia Eagles @ Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis
9) Josh Johnson strikeouts vs. Houston Astros hits off Johnson - Astros hits off Johnson
10) New England Revolution @ Seattle Sounders FC - Seattle Sounders FC win
11) Indiana Fever @ Sacramento Monarchs - 149 points or more
12) How Many Total Bases Will Albert Pujols Record: 2 or fewer vs. 3 or more - 2 or fewer

August 19th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Up to the 5 win mark again with the Americans taking 1^st and 3^rd in the 400m hurdles yesterday. The Tigers pulled off a nice win against Seattle to move a game further ahead of the White Sox in the division. With two outs and men on 2^nd and 3^rd Fernando Rodney got caught up in a battle with Jose Lopez. Lopez kept hitting the ball foul and had a full count. Rodney started throwing pitches high and inside, settling on a 99mph fastball. Finally with the 12^th pitch Rodney took the fastball down low, well out of the strike zone and got Lopez to whiff. End of game, Tigers win. It's good to have a dependable closer which most playoff bound teams do. Relief pitching made the difference tonight in two games with Boston winning and Texas losing and I suspect Boston's relief pitching will help land them the wild card spot in the AL. Well, on to the picks.

Picks
1) Ivo Karlovic vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu: 2 sets played vs. 3 sets - 2 sets
2) IAAF Men's Discus Final: Gerd Kanter vs. Any Other Throwers - Kanter
3) Maccabi Haifa @ FC Red Bull Salzburg - FC Red Bull Salzburg win
4) Manchester United (@ Burnley) vs. Liverpool (v. Stoke City) - Liverpool has a larger margin of victory
5) Los Angeles Angels @ Cleveland Indians - Los Angeles
6) Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz vs. Aaron Hill and Adam Lind - Hill and Lind record more total bases
7) Florida Marlins @ Houston Astros - Houston
8) Los Angeles Galaxy @ Chicago Fire - Los Angeles win or draw
9) How Many Innings Will Rich Harden Last: 6¹/₃ or less vs. 6²/₃ or more - 6¹/₃ or less
10) St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
11) Minnesota Lynx @ Los Angeles Sparks - 76 points or fewer in the 1^st half

Previews & Notes
1) In the first round Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated world #46 Mischa Zverev 6-1 7-5 while Ivo Karlovic took down #13 Gael Monfils 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(2). The results are on the official tournament website, here. Discounting Challengers matches Karlovic is 1-0 against Mathieu with a straight sets victory in Rome last year. SkyBet has Karlovic as a fairly heavy favorite to win this match. Karlovic is +110 to win in straight sets while Mathieu is at +350 for a straight sets win. For 3 set victories it's +275 and +450 for Karlovic and Mathieu, respectively. This is the first match of the day on court 3 so barring weather it should start right on time and be decided well in time for the next picks of the day.

2) Gerd Kanter is far and away the biggest individual favorite to win this event and is even favored against the field. SkyBet has him at -200 with the biggest challenger being Virgiljus Alekna at +350. When accounting for the sportsbooks profits and combining the odds for the field, however, Kanter is only about -115 against the field. The IAAF website has a good preview for the final. Highlights being that Kanter has won 28 straight discus events with his last loss coming in July of 2008 to none other than Alekna.

August 18th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)Well, picked up a couple of wins with Igor Andreev and Carp n' the Cards. Yesterday was almost entirely made up of major favorites coming through. Kevin Gregg blew a 1 run lead with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9^th making the Padres the only minority pick to pull through on this day. Tomorrow might be a little trickier, so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Chelsea @ Sunderland - Sunderland wins, draws, or loses by 1 goal
2) Nationality Of 400m Hurdle Winner: United States vs. Any Other Nationality - United States
3) Seattle Mariners @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
4) Josh Beckett Strikeouts vs. Toronto Blue Jays Hits Off Beckett Or Tie - Blue Jays hits
5) Phoenix Mercury @ Chicago Sky - Chicago
6) Kansas City Royals @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
7) Chicago Cubs @ San Diego Padres - 4 runs scored before 5^th inning
8) Alana Beard vs. Candace Parker - Beard more 1^st half points

August 17th, 2009 Picks

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(skip to picks)A 2-0-0 day today with Tottenham Hotspur defeating Liverpool and the Angels romping past the Orioles with a 9 run 13^th inning. Baltimore was one home run away from winning that game for a while but didn't really threaten to score in the extra innings otherwise. And can ya believe it? Angels @ Baltimore is on the board again except this time it's Santana (CGSO vs. Tampa Bay last start) against young strikeout pitcher David Hernandez. I gotta say I like the Angels' chances once again assuming Santana is really back to his old form. So good luck tomorrow and on to the picks.

Picks
1) Igor Andreev vs. Nicolas Kiefer - Andreev
2) BK Häcken @ Malmö FF - BK Häcken win or draw
3) Will Tommy Hanson Be The Winning Pitcher (Diamondbacks @ Braves): Yes vs. No - No
4) Los Angeles Angels @ Baltimore Orioles - Los Angeles
5) San Francisco Giants @ New York Mets - New York
6) Staten Island, New York vs. Bernardsville, New Jersey - Staten Island
7) Carolina Panthers @ New York Giants - New York
8) Chicago Cubs @ San Diego Padres - San Diego
9) St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers - St. Louis