Griff's Picks: May 17

First off, I want to apologize for taking a couple days off for some personal time. Now, here are my picks for Sunday, May 17: (run lines from SportsPlays.com)

Atlanta Braves (+1.5) vs. Miami Marlins

Shelby Miller takes the hill for the Braves against the Marlins' Henderson Alvarez, who's returning from a stint on the disabled list. Atlanta has had the Marlins' number in this series, and that coupled with Miller's excellent pitching this season makes Atlanta a great underdog pick.

New York Mets (-1.5) vs. Milwaukee Brewers

Rookie Noah Syndergaard looked good in his debut against the Cubs this past week, and the Mets have pounded Brewers' pitching in this weekend's series. I like the Mets as favorites here, and Syndergaard will pick up his first Major League win against the Brewers' Wily Peralta.

Arizona Diamondbacks (-1.5) vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Odd taking the Diamondbacks as favorites, but the fact of matter is that they are playing against easily the worst team in the MLB. The Phillies have faced struggles in every aspect of the game, and they'll need to find a way to make a veteran roster get younger if they want to be contenders. That's a discussion for another article, and I'm taking Arizona's Josh Collmenter over the Phillies' Sean O'Sullivan.

As always, thanks for reading! Be sure to follow me on Twitter @griffaldo.