Streak for the Cash Picks and Breakdown for October 10

The Cincinnati Reds starting pitching has been incredible against San Francisco and Mike Leake (44) will try to continue the trend today while getting Cincinnati into the next round. Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE

The sports world and ESPN’s Streak for the Cash will focus on the Major League Postseason today with an incredible quadruple-header on tap starting with the Cardinals and Nats at 1:07 and running all the way through the the late start at 9:37 in Oakland.

Streak for the Cash is seldom one-dimensional and that holds true again for tonight as there are a couple other picks sprinkled in from the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia and the Irish FAI Cup in soccer.

Hopefully I can finally get my picks turned around with these picks for today:

10/10 picks

9:00- Salavat Yulaev: Salavat is the home team and has won four of their 14 games in regulation and three more in overtime or shootout for a 7-7 record. Bars Kazan has won six games in regulation and picked up another win in a shootout and is overall 7-6. Yulaev has a -1 goal differential, but Bars has a plus 11. Salavat is 3-0 this month while Bars is 0-3. It’s a toss-up pick in my mind but I’ll take the home team which has been playing well. Confidence Meter: 2 1/2 out of 10.

October 2, 2012; St. Louis, MO. USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter (29) throws to a Cincinnati Reds batter during the second inning at Busch Stadium. The reds won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE

1:07- St. Louis Cardinals: The Nationals and Cardinals face off in a huge game three in the Nation’s capital to get the MLB bonanza underway. The Cardinals have their ace Chris Carpenter fresh to say the least after he missed almost the entire regular season. He made three starts the whole year and pitched 17 innings during that time he finished 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA. Carpenter has been a great postseason pitcher in the past unlike Edwin Jackson who is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in his postseason career. I’ll take the improbable story of Carpenter actually being able to pitch at all this season and the Cardinals on another seemingly magical run in the postseason to get a big win on the road in game three. Confidence Meter: 4

4:07- Cincinnati Reds: The Reds will get a second shot to eliminate the Giants and I think they’ll get the job done behind Mike Leake. The Giants will call on Barry Zito who is 4-3  in seven playoff appearances with a 3.25 ERA. Leake is 3-0 with a sparkling 0.77 ERA in his three starts against San Francisco this season. The Giants are struggling offensively and would need a great outing from Zito, which I don’t think they’ll get. Confidence Meter: 8

7:37- New York Yankees: I’m a Red Sox fan. It hurts me to make this pick, so I’ll avoid it. I’ll cheer for the O’s but I can’t pick Gonzalez over Kuroda. Confidence Meter: 5

9:37- Detroit Tigers: The Tigers didn’t get to close out the A’s last night, but will look to Max Scherzer to get them into the second round. If Scherzer is healthy and continues his late-season form, they’ll be celebrating in Motown tomorrow. Since August 10, only one time has Scherzer allowed more than two runs in those 10 starts.

October results

Yesterday’s Results: 2-2

Overall Record: 24-28

My Entry: 16-19

Current Streak: W1