Thursday's MLB Picks

C- JP Arencibia TOR- Arencibia went off yesterday for 3 hits with one of them being a home run. He is hitting .333 in the past two weeks, and although he is facing a pitcher with good numbers today (Hughes) we still like this play.

1B-Albert Pujols LAA- Pujols is starting to come around and I'm sure his confidence is gaining mightily right now. Two days ago he had a three hit game, and yesterday he hit a home run. We like this play for the 6K price that he is.

2B- Kelly Johnson TOR- With Johnson being our second pick out of three so far, can you tell we aren't big fans of Phil Hughes? Johnson has had hits in 9 of his last 10 including 4 two hit games. He also hit a home run yesterday.

3B- Miguel Cabrera DET- Miggy is a must pick in our eyes today. He is super red hot right now, and his last two week stats don't show it. He has 16 hits in his last 7 games (even with one game going 0-4). He is a multi-hit machine that also has 11 RBI in the those 7 games. Look for him to stay hot off of the inexperienced Walters.

SS- Ian Desmond WAS- Desmond is also hitting great as of late with 15 hits in his last 10 games. He hit a home run yesterday, and has 5 other extra base hits in those 10 games. He has a tough matchup when you look at just numbers going against McDonald today, but with the Nationals offense turning it up as of late we think those numbers end for him.

OF- Bryce Harper WAS- Harper is starting to hit the ball a lot better over the past couple of days. He has 5 hits in the last 4 games to start. His last three games consist of his first home run, then his second home run, and then yesterday he hit his first triple.

OF- Emilio Bonifacio MIA- Bonifacio has turned his big slump into one big hot streak over the last two weeks. Not only has he hit in the past two weeks (.315 batting average), but he has racked up the stolen bases (10 SBs). Miami's offense is finally starting to click and guys like Stanton and Infante are also hot. Look for Beachy to have a worse day than usual today. 

OF- Brennan Boesch DET- Boesch is starting to figure it out while hitting lower in the lineup, but with Austin Jackson getting hurt yesterday (DTD for now), we wouldn't be surprised to see him slide back into the two hole and Dirks move up to leadoff. Boesch has hits in 9 of his last 10 with 11 total hits.

SP- Doug Fister DET- Fister has been great since he came back from the DL. His ERA is under 1 in his two starts, and his K numbers are up from his usual low numbers (11 Ks in 13 innings). The Tigers are going to need Fister to throw 7 great innings today and we expect that against the Twins today.

SP- Edinson Volquez SD- Volquez is our second Padres starter to be picked by us in as many days. Yesterday we went with Richard and he rewarded us with way more than his value in points. Today we expect Volquez to do the same. He is 2-0 in his last two starts with 10 Ks in 11.1 innings.

RP- Santiago Casilla SF- Casilla has been very good this year since Wilson went down with a season ending injury. We expect a low scoring affair that should be a tight ball game with Cain on the mound. We don't expect that Giants to put up too many runs. 4-1 or 5-2 is what we are seeing as a final score of this ball game.