Get to the Point

By Jimmy Harris

Is this finally the weekend I go 3-for-3 in my Saturday baseball picks? I hope so, because after the pounding my bankroll has taken over the last couple of weekends I could definitely use the profits.

This weekend leagues collide with the first round of interleague play. The American League has ruled interleague play over the last couple of seasons, so I've picked out three AL teams to go with in Saturday's matchups.

First up is Cleveland at Cincinnati, where Fausto Carmona starts for the Indians and Aaron Harang gets the ball for the Reds. Carmona has started to show some life again lately, improving his record to 4-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.40. In his last start he pitched a complete-game shutout against the light-hitting Blue Jays.

Harang has been much better than his 2-5 record gives him credit for, thanks to some horrible run support. In Harang's five losses the Reds have scored a total of 10 runs. Unfortunately for Harang, with Carmona on the mound for Cleveland he'll lack the necessary run support again and take another undeserved loss.

Game No. 2 on my list is Oakland at Atlanta. Injury-prone Rich Harden gets the start for the A's, while Tim Hudson faces his former team for the first time. Harden came off the DL in his last start and looked a little shaky after surrendering five runs in just 3 2-3 innings.

Hudson is off to a solid start at 6-2 with a 2.54 ERA, but he's gotten off easy in a number of his starts against free-swinging teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, and Cincinnati. If Harden can improve and pitch like he did against Boston early on he'll out-pitch Hudson.

The last game I scoped out is a battle of aging southpaws in the White Sox/San Francisco matchup. Mark Buehrle gets the call for Chicago, and Barry Zito tries to get his first win for the Giants.

Heading into Saturday Buerle and Zito are a combined 1-12 this season. Even if Zito somehow turns back the clock and pitches like he did when he won the Cy Young he'll still lose because the Giants can't hit.

In Zito's eight starts this year the Giants have scored only 12 runs. That's less than two runs a start.

To wrap things up my Saturday baseball picks are Cleveland, Oakland, and the White Sox. Take that to the bank or if you want some real expert analysis, click the Buy Picks at the top to get professional baseball picks from the handicapping giants at DocSports.com [1].