MLB Picks: April 17th 2012
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Pick: Toronto Blue Jays -138
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Tampa Bay has had a brutal start to their season getting the Yankees, Red Sox, and Tigers to begin. Jeff Niemann gets his second start of the year after giving up 3 runs and four hits to the Tigers in five innings. He has had his troubles historically with the Blue Jays going 4-3 with a 5.23 ERA in 11 career starts. Adam Lind (11-26) has had his way with the Rays’ starter. As a whole, the team is hitting .267 against Niemann. Toronto is scoring over 5 runs per game despite hitting just .231 as a unit. They are 3-3 at home in six games. Tampa Bay’s bullpen has been awful as a unit as their ERA is still above 10.00.

Ricky Romero is coming off his best effort against the Red Sox his last time out. He gave up 1 run and three hits in 8.3 innings of work in a 3-1 victory. Boston is a team that he has traditionally struggled with so it was a good sign for Romero that he pitched so well in that game. Romero is 5-4 with a 3.18 ERA in 10 career starts against Tampa Bay. Rays’ hitters are 23 for 141 all-time against the lefty. Struggling the most are Matt Joyce (0-12), Evan Longoria (5-20), Carlos Pena (1-10), Sean Rodriguez (1-15), Luke Scott (1-12) and BJ Upton (5-25). Tampa Bay’s offense has scored only 20 runs so far on their current 7-game road trip. They are hitting just over .220 in their last eight games. Toronto’s bullpen has been a question mark this year going 2-3 with a 3.77 ERA and four blown saves in five chances. But we expect Romero will go long enough in this game and limit the bullpen’s work. We recommend laying the price with the Blue Jays in this game tonight. -Steve Merril

MLB Picks: April 15th 2012
Baltimore Orioles vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Pick: Toronto Blue Jays -155
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Toronto looks to avoid the sweep on Sunday after dropping the first two games of this series against the Orioles. The Blue Jays looked great against the Indians and Red Sox in their first two series but the pitching, which has been very solid, has let them down against Baltimore. The offense has been on a slow start out of the gates and that was going to be a strength but there is still time for that to come around. With the pitching matchup today, it likely starts Sunday.

The Blue Jays got a solid performance from Kyle Drabek is his season opener and they are hoping this top prospect puts it together following a rough start last season. He allowed just one run on three hits in 5.1 innings against the Red Sox and he faced the Orioles once in 2010, allowing three runs in six innings in a quality outing.

The Orioles counter with Brian Matusz who did not have a similar strong start to the season. He allowed four runs on six hits and four walks in his opener against the Yankees and going back to last season, he has been horrible. He went 1-9 with a 10.69 ERA and 2.11 WHIP in 12 starts last year but he was able to snag a spot in the rotation following a solid spring which has not carried over into the regular season. In three career starts against Toronto, he is 0-2 with an 18.56 ERA and 3.38 WHIP in just 5.1 innings. 3* (918) Toronto Blue Jays -Matt Fargo

MLB Picks: April 14th 2012
Cleveland Indians vs. Kansas City Royals
Pick: Cleveland Indians +130
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The Indians took the opener of this series yesterday as the offense erupted for seven runs in the first inning and never looked back. They improved to 2-4 on the season which started with a could extra-inning losses so things could be better as far as the record goes. The offense had been struggling considerably so the fact they were able to bust out is a huge move in the right direction. Cleveland is 11-4 over the last 15 meetings including wins in five of its last six in Kansas City.

The Royals were a sleeper pick on many lists this season to make a possible postseason run and with the extra Wild Card spot, anything is possible although I think they are still a year or two away from contending. Kansas City is off to a 3-4 start and its season home opener did not go as planned on Friday. A bounceback will be expected by many here but the Royals offense has been just as anemic as that of the Indians and things will not be easy on Saturday at the plate.

The Indians send Jeanmar Gomez to the hill for his season opener after he won the fifth spot in the rotation over Kevin Slowey. He was supposed to start Monday but a rainout pushed his start back to today. After a slow start last year he came on strong in August and September before getting hit hard in his season finale. The posted a 1.37 ERA in six spring starts so getting the fifth spot was well deserved. Gomez has a 3.76 ERA in five starts against the Royals, allowing two runs or less in four of those.

The Royals counter with Jonathan Sanchez who pitched well in his season opener against the Angels but it was nothing spectacular. He allowed two runs on four hits and three walks in five innings and was able to pick up a win in the process. Last year with the Giants he posted a 4.26 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in just 19 starts and those numbers were more in line with his career log. He had a very strong season in 2010 but prior to that he never had an ERA better than 4.24 so he is a very average pitcher. 3* (977) Cleveland Indians -Matt Fargo

MLB Picks: April 12th 2012
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres
Pick: Diamondbacks -128
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Arizona dropped its first game of the season last night against San Diego so expect a big bounceback here tonight. The Diamondbacks are 4-1 and are coming off their worst offensive performance of the season as they put up just one run. The bats have been relatively slow to start the season as they are hitting just .218 but the pitching has more than made up for it and we should see that a lot this season. Arizona currently possesses a 3.33 team ERA.

The Diamondbacks go with Ian Kennedy who is coming off a sensational season a year ago. He went 21-4 with a 2.88 ERA and 1.09 WHIP but he was not unable to even sniff the Cy Young Award because of even better performances from Clayton Kershaw and Roy Halladay. While his ERA this year is 4.05 after one start, he did toss a quality outing against the Giants as he allowed three runs in 6.2 innings. Kennedy has feasted off the Padres as he is 5-0 with a 2.01 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in seven career starts.

The Padres are off to a 2-4 start to the season and it is one that is expected to be a long one. While the Diamondbacks offense has been slow out of the gates, the Padres offense has been even worse as they are hitting just .180 through five games. This is no surprise though. Last season, San Diego finished with the lowest batting average in the National League while its 593 runs scored were the second fewest in the league. The Padres had only 35 home wins last year, fifth fewest in baseball.

Anthony Bass will be making his first start of the season as his first early work this season has come exclusively out of the bullpen. He has allowed just one run in four innings and if last year was any indication, he likely won’t be going far in this start. He made three starts last season and he did not go past five innings in any of those as his pitch count was limited, which will be the case again Thursday. 3* (959) Arizona Diamondbacks