Friday, the 19th

Isn't interleague over after this weekend? I sure hope it is. I don't care what anyone says, it's just not interesting. These players switch teams so often these days that it's not like we haven't seen them before. I know some folks like it, but I just don't give a damn. On top of that, it makes fantasy ball miserable. On top of that, only in interleague play do we see a 5 hour rain delay like they had in New York yesterday. If Bud Selig is not the biggest jackass of all time, I don't know who is. He has fudged up pretty much everything he has touched since he has been the commissioner. Anyway, good morning and welcome back.

YESTERDAY

Yesterday has to have been the most uneventful day of the season. The vast majority had not only the same staff, but the same bats as well. By the time the Rangers game began, I had really lost interest in the whole night. Nonetheless, Haren came through with 14 pitching points (Chad Qualls sucks by the way). I got a lamw 23 from the bats, led by Young and Beltran with 7 each. Everyone else was pretty much useless. The Rangers/'Stros game was a classic game of hype. Most players loaded up with 3-5 bats in this one based on less than average starters. When these games come up, it is very common that we all end up disappointed. So this morning I am still #12 overall and now have a 104 point Leaderboard insurance policy. It feels good. It really does. However.....

TODAY

I went against every bit of good judgement I have and took the Indians again. I have only done that once this year and, after Lee pitched a gen, you know who f'd it all up. But what's done is done. I can only hope that the Cubbies bats continue to be dormant and that Lee goes the distance. If not, I'm sunk. It appears that pitching is wide open today. The LB and the Suspects appear to be totally torn between the Tribe, the Dodgers, and the A's. It could be one Hell of a moving day. I have a really, really bad feeling about this. Here's the final.....

C: VMart
1B: Pujols
2B: Hill
3B: Longoria
SS: Bartlett
LF: Bay
CF: Ellsbury
RF: Hart
DH: Ortiz
PS: Lee

TOMORROW

Weather:
Rays/Mets 80%
Orioles/Phillies 60%
Brewers/Sox 60%

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Indians, Rays, Reds, Nats, Jays, Phillies, Orioles, Giants, Padres, DBacks

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Brewers vs. Fagaro (MLB debut)
Nats vs. Cecil (2-1 4.38 in 4 starts)
Jays vs. Detwiler (0-3 5.23 in 6 starts)
A's vs. Silva (0-0 6.52 in 2 starts)

Batters to Avoid:
Hafner (2-12 vs. starter)
Crawford (3-19)
Bay (0-10)
Lowell (1-8)
Chipper (4-25, 2HR)
McCann (2-11)
Pudge (2-18)
Cantu (0-9)
Ethier (1-11)

Pitchers:
Lilly (7-4 2.94, 1-0 1.27 in June, 4-1 1.48 at home, vs. Cle)
Carp (4-1 1.59, 1-1 2.86 in June, 1-1 2.40 at home, at KC, due for another injury)
Shields (5-5 3.52, 1-3 4.15 on road, 1-1 3.48 in June, at Mets)
Johan (8-4 3.29, 94 K in 82 IP, no more than 7 IP in last 10, 5-1 2.14 at home, vs. TB)
Richard (2-1 3.76, has only gone 7 IP once, at Cin)
Cueto (6-4 2.17, less than 7 IP in 2 of 3, 2-1 0.93 in June, vs. CWS)
Beckett (7-3 4.15, 81 K in 82 IP, on fire till last start, .224 BAA vs. Atl)
Johnson (6-1 2.76, 7 + IP in last 5, 3-1 2.02 at home, 2-0 3.04 in June, vs. NYY)
Weaver (7-2 2.08, 1 R or less in 6 of last 8, 5-0 1.01 at home, 3-0 1.23 in June, vs. LAD and his brother)
Cain (9-1 2.39, 3-0 2.66 in June, 5-1 2.66 at home, vs. Tex)
Thie one is going to be tough. I like Lilly, Carp, Cueto, Becket and Weaver myself. I can take out Carp and Weaver due to Al parks, and Lilly because he has no bats behind him. You know, as I think about this more, Beckett is the pick. The braves top 2 hitters hit .167 against him combined. He also has the K's to back it up. That's my pick, weather permitting. I will check it again before the end of the night.

First:
Lee (7-20, 3HR and hot)
Miggy (2-6, HR)
Prince (vs. rookie)
Pujols (2-8)
Berkman (n/a)
Helton (n/a at Coors)
I'm going to take a chance here. With a high dollar PS, I have to do it eventually. Give me hot Derek Lee vs. Ohka

Second:
Polanco (2-5)
Schumaker (4-9)
Hill (vs. rookie lefty)
Scutaro (vs. lefty rookie)
I will stay with Hill here. He has done me right more than a few times.

Third:
I have nothing here at this time. Reynolds is a thought and Sandoval is worth a look, as is Figgins, but Scott Rolen is hot, hitting .358 vs. lefties, is on a good batting team, costs only 3.8mil and it's a night game. I'll take him and maybe trade up on the Lee deal if I have money later on.

Short:
Tejada (2-5)
I don't like this position at all tomorrow. I'll take Tejada by default.

Left:
Soriano (2-2)
Braun (vs. rookie)
Lind (vs. rookie lefty)
I really don't feel too good about Braun and his bad back, but I will take him for now. He is in the lineup tonight, so I assume he will go tomorrow as well.

Center:
Wells (vs. rookie lefty)
Hunter (12-25, 2HR if healthy)
Hunter is a must unless I see a reason to believe he won't play.

Right:
Hart (vs. rookie)
Pence (n/a)
Hawpe (n/a at Coors)
Vlad (6-19, HR)
Upton (n/a)
Mathews ( 6-12, 2HR)
I like Hart against a weak ass pitcher at home.

DH:
Rivera (2-3)
I like Luke Scott as well, But taking Rivera will allow me to get Mauer at catcher.


Catcher:
VMart (3-8 vs. good lefty starter)
Mauer (n/a)
Like I said above, Mauer it is.

FINAL LINEUP
C: Mauer
1B: Lee
2B: Hill
3B: Rolen
SS: Tejada
LF: Braun
CF: Hunter
RF: Hawpe
DH: Rivera
PS: Beckett

STAT CORNER

Let's look again at the best and worst bullpens year to date:

The best:
Red sox 2.90 ERA
Mariners 3.23
Mets 3.34
Dodgers 3.36
Cincy 3.37

The worst:
Angels 5.83
Nats 5.57
Indians 5.02
Rockies 4.93
DBacks 4.92

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend and.....

I can't do it until after the game is over - bad juju.

Thursday, the 18th

"I don't know a steroid from a reefer." - Lou Pinella on Sammy Sosa

And with that, good morning everyone. John Smoltz will be making his first start for the Sox against the Nats about a week from now. I know, he's too old. And he's recovering from another surgery. But mark my words, the Sox fans will absolutely love him when he comes back better than expected. By August, he will be an intrical part of that organization - guaranteed. I have seen him come back too many times before in Atlanta and have absolutely no doubt that this will happen.

YESTERDAY

It's the way the ball bounces, man. If you have been unfortunate to be double dipped by Verlander and Greinke, you have my deepest sympathies. Seriously. I, on the other hand, have been fortunate enough to avoid both of them. It's luck, I assure you and my day is coming. For now though, I will take my luck and run to the hills with it. Even with a miserable 8th inning, Lincecum came through with 20 for me and my bats pitched in 33 more led by Hill (12) and Dunn (7). If Beltran, Wright and McCann had brought any game at all, it would have been a great night. Nonetheless, my 53 was good enough to move me up another spot to #12 overall and I now have a 98 point safety net on the Leaderboard. Damn, it feels good. Unfortunately, I have to earn the right to keep it.

TODAY

If you were brave enough to play against the New York and Philly weather, I wish you the best. It appears that the vast majority took Haren of the Desert, including 80% of the Leaderboard. I am really happy to see this. At least I won't be alone if he goes down. Day baseball is on the way. Nothing makes the work day go faster. Here's the final.....

C: Varitek
1B: Berkman
2B: Kinsler
3B: Young
SS: Zobrist
LF: Bay
CF: Beltran
RF: Cruz
DH: Scott
PS: Haren of the Desert

TOMORROW

Weather:
Brewers/Tigers 60%
Braves/RedSox 60%
I am not worried about either of these right now and will pick freely.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Cubs, Nationals, Phillies, Marlins, Yankees, Dodgers, Padres, Rangers

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Orioles vs. Bastardo (2-1 5.23 in 3 starts)
Yankees vs. West (2-1 3.00 in 5 starts)

Matchups to avoid:
Helms (1-11 vs. starter)
Ryan (0-8)
An. LaRoche (1-9)
Hunter (1-8)
Blake (0-8)

Pitchers:
Lee (4-6, 2.88, 3 R or more in 3 of last 5, 2-0 1.96 in June, 2-2 3.83 on road, at CHC)
Marquis (8-4 3.77, Low K's, 2 R or less in 5 of last 6, 4-3 4.62 at home)
Bills (9-3 2.72, 93 K in 92 IP, 3-0 2.41 in June, at LAA)
Saunders (7-4 3.66, roughed up in 3 of last 4, 3-2 2.74 at home)
Outman (4-1 3.43, 2-1 4.34 in June, Less than 7 IP in all but 1 start, at SD)
Washburn (3-5 3.30, 1 R or less in 3 of last 4, banged up)
Feldman (5-1 3.70, has not gone 7 IP this year, 1-1 3.12 in June, at SF)
I really kind oflike Marquis tomorrow, but Coors is still Coors. I think Bills will have a good game, but being on the road at an AL park makes me really nervous. So here is where I drive myself crazy. i have not taken Lee since Kerry FU Wood blew up on him a few months ago. And after all the shit I have given that jackass, I am sure there is some bad juju headed my way. On the other hand, if the FU stuff is deserved, which it surely is, would I really deserve the bad juju? This is the kind of stuff that has been in my head all afternoon. Fudge it, the Cubs suck. Keep Kerry FU Wood out of it and hope for the best. on top of that, maybe tomorrow is the day my run is supposed to end. By going against my instincts (any team that doesn't have Kerry FU Wood) maybe I can get around it.

First:
Miggy (4-14, GR)
Prince (never faced starter)
Youk (n/a)
Pujols (2-5)
Berkman (n/a)
Since Pujols has 5 HR in 35 bats at Kaufman in the past three years, I have to take him over the unknown matchups

Second:
Hill (n/a)
Scutaro (n/a)
Utley (2-4, HR vs. lefty)
Roberts (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Pedroia (n/a)
Phillips (1-1)
Cano (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Hill and Scutaro have the best matchups and are coincidently are hottest of the group here. Since Hill has more power, is cheaper, and hits righties better, he is my pick. 47 RBI's at 4.5 mil is with a favorable matchup.....

Third:
Wright (n/a)
Longoria (n/a)
ARoid (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Beltre (6-19, HR)
ARoid is sucking it up and Wright hits lefties only and has let me down a few times lately. Meanwhile, Longoris hits .370 vs. righties and this one does not impress me.

Short:
Rollins (3-8, HR vs. lefty)
Bartlett (0-1)
Zobrist (n/a)
Hanley (5-7 vs. lefty)
Tejada (n/a)
Betancourt (9-20)
Hanley has no HR's vs. lefties all year. Rollins isn't worth the money at all. While bartlett is fresh off the DL, he has comebackpretty well already. I am ready to take him again.

Left:
Soriano (3-8, HR vs. good starter)
Braun (n/a and left game last night with bad back)
Lind (n/a)
Ibanez (0-3 vs. lefty) WENT ON DISABLED LIST TODAY
Bay (n/a)
Crawford (n/a)
Lee (n/a)
Of this group, I think Bay will blow up Kawakami. The Braves pitcher will come at him with that weak offspeed stuff as the Asian pitchers often do on the first pitch and it will land out on the street.

Center:
Jones (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Ellsbury (n/a)
McLouth (n/a vs. Dice)
Beltran (n/a)
I don't care much for this position at all. Give me Ellsbury, just because he is the cheapest and therefore the lowest risk.

Right:
Mags (3-5, HR)
Cake (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Francouer (3-3, HR vs. Dice)
Pence (n/a)
Hawpe (n/a)
Ethier (1-3, HR vs. good lefty starter)
Hart (n/a)
I like Hawpe the best, but Corey Hart is on a tear (see stat corner). Remember that streak he went on last April was it? Maybe this is one of those.

DH:
Hafner (2-4, HR but may sit in NL park)
Ortiz (n/a)
Thome (1-2, HR but in NL park)
Sheff (3-6, HR)
Kubel (2-4 vs. good starter)
The bottom line here is that Ortiz may, just may be coming out of it. This is his chance to prove it to me.

Catcher:
McCann (0-2 vs. Dice)
Yadi (1-3)
Mauer (1-3 vs. good starter)
Martin (2-5, HR vs. good lefty starter)
I really don't care for any of these either. I am going to take a chance on VMart vs. Harden. I'll need his help anyway with Kerry FU Wood waiting in the wings to blow up my night.

As you can see, there isn't squat to choose from. Be wise and go with your gut.

FINAL LINEUP
C: VMart
1B: Pujols
2B: Hill
3B: Longoria
SS: Bartlett
LF: Bay
CF: Ellsbury
RF: Hart
DH: Ortiz
PS: (gulp) Lee

STAT CORNER

The longest current hitting streaks and the numbers that come with them:
D. Lee 14 games, .357 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI
Bartlett 12 games, .400 AVG, 2 HR, 17 RBI
Mauer 10 games, .442 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBI
Hunter 10 games, .389 AVG, 4 HR, 9 RBI
Furcal 10 games, .294 AVG, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Hart 8 games, .443 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI
Flores 8 games, .400 AVG, 2 HR, 5 RBI
Blake 8 games, .375 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBI
C. Pena 8 games, .393 AVG, 4 HR, 7 RBI
Kubel 8 games, .385 AVG, 4 HR, 6 RBI

DISCLAIMER

FU Detroit and KC Staffs! ( one time, for good karma)

Wednesday, the 17th

Wow! I really never saw that coming. To all of you Verlander takers, you have my deepest sympathy. Again, it's a humbling and unpredictable game. On a side note, Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids in 2003. My guess is that it is time for his ability to speak English to vanish once again. "Beisbol and hypodermic needles have been berry, berry good to me". The floodgates are ready to open, folks. I would be willing to bet that either right before or right after the All Star Game, we get to see the rest of that list and all Hell will break loose. Stay tuned.

YESTERDAY

I am really beginning to get nervous. The streak I have been on lately has to come crashing to an end sometime and the longer this run goes, the worse I fear it will be. Led by Zobrist (12) and a handful of 5's and 6's, my bats combined for 42 last night. King Felix was once again a stud and his 32 gave me a total of 74 on the day. This was good enough for a 9 spot jump, up to #13 overall (I hate that number, though). I feel pretty safe on the Leaderboard for now, with a 75 point lead over 50th place. So when are people going to start believing in Felix again? If he was anywhere other than Seattle, he would be an automatic pick.

TODAY

Weather:
Blue Jays/Phillies 70%
Nats/ Yankees 70%
Marlins/Red Sox 60%
I will be watching this closely tonight and suggest that you do the same. Since these are interleague games, I would think that they will do everything they can to get them in, but be extremely careful here. It is now 7 pm and neither the Yankees or the Phillies games look very promising. I believe I will stay away from both of them. If I make a late night change, I will update you at the top of the page, but I really don't think it will happen.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Braves, Twins, Marlins, A's

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Reds vs. Hanson (1-0 6.17 in 2 starts)
Braves vs. Maloney (0-1 4.50 in 2 starts)
Yankees vs. Stammen (0-2 5.86 in 5 starts, but weather is in play)
Mets vs. Berken (1-3 7.32 in 4 starts)
Dodgers vs. Mizzaro (2-1 1.37 in 3 starts)

Matchups to avoid:
A. Hill (1-12)
Laird (1-10)
C. Lee (0-8)
Guillen (2-16)
DeJesus (0-13)

Pitchers:
Joba (3-1 3.84, 58 K in 63 IP, 6 IP or less in 7 of last 8, 0-1 5.33 at home, weather is issue)
Duke (7-4 3.10, 2-2 3.51 on road, 2-0 4.29 in June, at Minn)
Blackburn (5-2 3.31, low K's, 2 R or less in 4 of last 5, 2-0 3.86 at home, vs Pitt)
Z (4-2 3.39, 1-0 0.61 in June, 1-1 4.62 at home, vs. CWS)
Garza (4-4 3.63, at Coors)
Jimenez (5-6 3.92, 2-0 2.74 in June, vs. Tampa)
Porcello (7-4 3.71, 4-2 3.25 on road, 1-1 4.41 in June, at StL)
Pinero (5-7 3.99, low K's, 3 R or more in 6 of last 7, vs. Det)
Haren (5-4 2.20, 9p K in 94 IP, 1-1 1.17 in June, 1-1 2.63 on road, .204 BAA at KC)
Wolf (3-2 3.41, rocked in 3 of last 5, 0-1 4.53 at home)
My final three choices here are Blackburn, Zambrano, and Haren. As well as I have done lately, I don't want to blow it by trying to be a hero, so Blackburn is out. Since Big Z is, in my opinion unreliable, I will go with Haren of the Desert again. I think that, in the end, he will be the most popular pick and I think that is the safest play in this case.

First:
Tex (vs. rookie with weather in play)
Howard (1-2 with weather)
Overbay (3-9, HR with weather)
Morneau (vs. good lefty starter)
Lee
Konerko (7-22. 4HR vs. good starter)
Gonzalez (0-1 and hasn't homered in a while = due)
Huff (5-8, 2HR)
Youk (weather)
Pujols (vs. good starter)
Berkman (10-18, 2HR)
Giambi (2-2, 2HR)
I can eliminate a few guys due to weather and a few more who are struggling to get down to Youk, Gonzalez, Pujols and Berkman. Fat Al has a good pitcher to face and Berkman's numbers are way too good to pass on.

Second:
Phillips (vs. rookie)
Cano (vs. rookie with weather)
Utley (0-3 with weather)
Roberts (4-8)
Pedroia (weather)
Uggla (1-3 vs. lefty)
Kinsler (1-3 and smokes it at home)
While I like Roberts alot, he costs more thanKinsler and has no where near the same amount of power. Kinsler is an easy one.

Third:
ARoid (vs. rookie with weather)
Longoria (at Coors)
Wright (vs. rookie)
Young (10-13, 2HR)
Wright has been doing a great job for me and I have taken him alot lately, but even though Young has been struggling a little, his numbers are again too good to pass up. He is also cheap at only 4.2 mil.

Short:
Jeter (vs. rookie with weather)
Zobrist (at Coors)
Bartlett (at Coors)
Hanley (1-3 vs. lefty)
Tejada (4-12, HR)
Cabrera (12-38 vs. lefty)
Lester is too good right now for me to spend that kind of money on Hanley, so it's either Zo, Bartlett, or Tejada. I want Zo at Coors.

Left:
Damon (vs. rookie with weather)
Ibanez (0-2 with weather)
With both of my guys in the weather zone, I have to look outside the box on this one. Man, this position sucks tomorrow. I'll come back to it.

Center:
Beltran (vs. rookie)
Ellsbury (weather)
Beltran - no brainer.

Right:
Bruce (vs. rookie)
Rios (5-15, HR with weather)
Magglio (9-22)
Cruz (N/A)
Upton (0-2)
I don't trust Mags or Bruce and while Cruz has been slumping, Backe is miserable and I think he will have men on all day.

DH:
Matsui (vs. rookie with weather)
Thome (4-12 vs. good starter)
Scott (1-3, HR)
I'm not touching Thome, but Luke Scott is a very serviceable option against Livan.

Catcher:
Mauer (vs. good lefty starter in a day game)
AJ (5-15. Hr vs. good starter in day game)
Yadi (night game vs. good starter)
Martin (night game, but is 1 for his last 16)
Varitek (night game with weather)
Pudge (night game)
Varitek is amazingly having a decent season and will surely start for the Sox. Book it.

So now I come back to left. I can have anyone I want here, but who? Ultimately, Jason Bay is the best choice. Add him to the lineup and here is the final.....

FINAL LINEUP

C: Varitek

1B: Berkman

2B: Kinsler

3B: Young

SS: Zobrist

LF: Bay

CF: Beltran

RF: Cruz

DH: Scott

PS: Haren of the Desert

STAT CORNER

Every point counts. Lets look at the leaders in WHIP over the last 30 days:
Carp 0.73
Haren 0.74
Floyd 0.82
Vazquez 0.87
Beckett 0.89
Bergeson 0.95
Lester 0.96
Outmann 0.97
Baker 0.98
Lince 0.98
CC 0.99

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, feel free to make a suggestion, please come again and.....

FU Kerry Wood!

Tuesday, the 16th

My impending doom is near. If you have been reading daily, you may have noticed that I have improved my rank 9 days in a row. It's surely not a record streak, but a pretty damn good one nonetheless. Remember a few weeks ago when I talked about how this game keeps us humbled? Well I have to feel that my next ass kicking is overdue. I just hope that when it happens, everyone else has the same staff as me. I have added a new segment as well, that you will see in the "tomorrow" category. It's guys to stay away from. I will list batters who have really been owned by the starter they are facing. I thought about this when I saw yesterday that McLouth is 1-20 in his career vs. Harang. Keep an eye out for this new feature. I also see that our veiwership crossed well over 200 yesterday. I posted this link again on the pineapple board. For those of you that came from there, welcome, and please come again for a little more than what Hula Boy wants you to see.

YESTERDAY

It kind of felt like a doubleheader didn't it? The bats were going wild and the staffs all blew. Unfortunately, we all had the same guys anyway. I put up 74 from my bats, led by Braun (19), VMart (14), Prince (14), Choo (12), and Rivers (10). Too bad I missed out on D-ro. However, after a great start and a 8-0 lead, Lackey and the boys came back to earth and I only got 8 from the pitching. So, after all that excitement, I am still # 22 overall, but have improved my lead over 50th to 69 points. I should be safe for a day or two anyway. Like I said above, doom is eminent.

TODAY

It appears that among the Suspects and the Leaderboard, Felix and CC have split the majority of the pot, with Verlander in third. I really can't see why so many took CC in that matchbox of a park they play in, but I could be wrong. What's amazing to me is that so many of you, just like me, laid off of Verlander. I bet that it was all in fear of Pujols, too. Here's the final again.....

C: McCaan
1B: Tex
2B: Castillo (El Cheapo Especial)
3B: Wright
SS: Zobrist
LF: Ibanez
CF: Ellsbury
RF: Hawpe
DH: Rivera
PS: King Felix

TOMORROW

Weather:
Brewers/Indians 60%
Mets/ Orioles 60%
I see no reason to worry, but will check it again near the end of the night.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Brewers, Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Astros, Pirates, Rockies, Padres

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Brewers vs. Huff (2-2 7.39 in 6 starts)
Rockies vs. Price (see "pitchers" below)

Players To Avoid:
Wigginton (0-12 vs. starter)
Carroll (1-10)
Byrd (0-11)

Pitchers:
Dempster (4-3 3.87, 2 R or less in 5 of last 6 starts, 3-0 4.06 at home, vs. CWS)
Lincecum (6-1 2.66, 103 K in 88 IP, 3 R total in last 5, 2-0 1.59 in June, vs. LAA)
Lannan (3-5 3.51, 1-6 6.30 on road, at Yanks)
Richmond (4-3 3.90, less than 7 Ip in 5 of last 6, at Philly)
Vazquez (4-5 3.31, 105 K in 84 IP, 2 R or less in 6 of 7, 3-1 2.87 on road, at Cin)
Ortiz (3-2 3.48, mostly pen work, at Tex)
Sherzer (3-4 3.63, 69 K in 67 IP, 1-0 0.00 in June, 1-2 1.55 on road, at KC)
Greinke (8-2 1.72, 97 K in 94 IP, 3 R or more in last 3, 6-0 1.37 at home, vs. Zona)
Jackson (6-3 2.24, 2 R or less in 6 of 7, 3-2 1.55 on road, at StL)
Price (1-0 2.37, has not gone more that 5.2 IP, 26 K in 19 IP, at Coors)
Kuroda (1-2 2.86, 19 K in 22 IP, hasn't gone past 6 IP, 0-1 1.64 at home, vs. Oak)
It is easy to narrow it down to Lince and Greinke, but then it gets tough. Initially, I like Greinke vs. Zona's bats and he has been insanely good at home. However, he has struggled lately and with Hunter out and Lince in a NL park, he is my pick once again.

First:
D. Lee
Dunn (vs. Wang)
Howard
Overbay (6-13, HR vs. Lefty)
Youk (vs. Lefty)
Pujols
Fat Al faces a good starter, for what that's worth, so I am torn between Youk, RyHo and Dunn. I have to take someone against Wang. Dunn it is.

Second:
Roberts (2-3)
Derosa (4-11)
Cano (vs. Lefty)
Utley
Scutaro (11-29, 3HR vs. lefty)
Hill (6-16 vs. lefty)
Utley is tempting, but Moyer sucks. Hill is my man.

Third:
Wright
ARoid (vs. lefty)
Zimmerman (2-4, HR vs. Wang)
Rolen (2-6 vs. lefty)
Chipper (3-6, HR but in 0-21 slump)
Young (3-8)
I'm going to stay with Wright, but Rolen kills lefties and I will keep him in mind if I need to save cap room later.

Short:
Jeter (vs. lefty)
Hanley (1-3)
Zobrist
Bartlett
I have ridden Zo pretty hard lately. Hanley is heating up and does his best work vs. lefties. The Green Monster better be ready.

Left:
Quentin (3-6)
Braun (vs. lefty)
Ibanez
Bay (vs. lefty)
C. Lee (vs. lefty)
Crawford (4-6)
Holliday (5-8)
Bruan hits over .400 vs. lefties and is hot as a firecracker. Holliday and Lee are struggling, while Bay hits righties better.

Center:
Beltran
Wells (13-38, 2HR)
McLouth (4-8)
Granderson (3-8)
If Wells was doing anything lately, I would have him vs. Moyer. But, he's not, so 'Tran is my man.

Right:
Dye (3-7)
Rios (9-19, HR vs. lefty)
Cruz (0-2)
Cuddyer (2-3)
Of this group, Rios is the only one hitting well this week. He also kills Moyer and I really want 2 Jays.

DH:
Scott (1-4)
Matsui (vs. lefty)
Johnson (vs. Wang)
A. Jones (10-24)
Blalock (1-3)
Burrell (11-16, HR)
If I knew for sure that Burrell or Andruw would play, I would take them. Since I don't Blalock is my pick. Ortiz blows and Hank the Tank is due to go deep twice.

Catcher:
AJ (4-10, HR)
VMart
McCaan (1-3)
Mauer (1-3)
Johjima (4-13, HR)
Due to cap restrictions, I think I will stay with the combo of McCaan and Wright over VMart and Rolen.

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCaan
1B: Dunn
2B: Hill
3B: Wright
SS: Hanley
LF: Braun
CF: Beltran
RF: Rios
DH: Blalock
PS: Lince

STAT CORNER

The top 10 in on base percentage year to date:
Youkilis .463
Wright .459
Pujols .442
Utley .438
Beltran .437
Fielder .421
VMart .420
N. Johnson .417
Chipper .416
Branyan .415
Braun .415

The bottom 10 in on base percentage:
C. Young .248
Rollins .254
Betancourt .263
C. Davis .266
Benji .259
Kouzmanoff .278
Giles .279
J. Lopez .279
Pudge .280
O. Cabrera .280
Atkins .282
Francouer .282

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, register as a follower if you like and.....

FU Kerry Wood

Monday, the 15th

Good morning everyone. Welcome to the beginning of the last month of the first half. There are 4 weeks left to make your move, or to not fudge it up depending on your current status. Unfortunately, it begins with more interleague. Lets get to it.

YESTERDAY

I was out for most of the day and missed pretty much everything, but was pleased to see that Dream Weaver did a terrific job, pitching a complete game shutout for me. This is the second time I have taken him and the second time he has performed well. He may have to be added to the automatic list in the near future. My bats did ok as well, let by Berkman (9) and Tejada (8). McCaan, Chipper, Soriano and Upton combined for only 3 points but I still took home 34 from the bats and ended the day with a 65. This was good enough to bump me up a little further to #22 overall and 61 points ahead of 50th. My demise is surely eminent as I have been on fire for over a week. Look out.

TODAY

When in doubt, play it safe. That's what I tried to accomplish with today's lineup. There are only 2 games and neither of them are what I would consider to be good. I, and I suspect you as well, will be happy just not to be on the wrong side with the staff. If that happens, it won't be all that bad. Here's the final.....

C: VMart
1B: Prince
2B: Buriss
3B: Figgins
SS: Hardy
LF: Braun
CF: Hunter
RF: Choo
DH: Rivera
PS: Angels

TODAY

Weather:
White Sox/Cubs 60%
Braves/Reds 50%
Tigers/Cards 60%
I don't see anything her worth worrying about, but I suggest you check it again before the end of the night. I know I will.

Teams facing Lefty starters:
Brewers, Nats, Phillies, Blue Jays, Rangers, Cubs, Royals, Rays, Dodgers, A's, Angels

Teams facing rookie starters:
Phillies vs. Romero (3-3 3.71 in 7 starts)

Pitchers:
Felix (6-3 3.06, 84 K in 85 IP, 3 R in last 28 IP, 3-1 2.36 on road)
Gallardo (6-3 2.88, 77K in 78 IP, 2 R or less in last 4, 3-1 2.81 on road, At Cle)
CC (5-4 3.68, 3 R or more in last 4, 1-1 4.07 at home, .203 BAA vs. Was)
Romero (3-3 3.71, 0-2 3.66 on road, 1-1 2.70 in June, at Phi)
Braden (5-5 3.33, 2 R or less in last 3, 1-3 3.72 on road)
Jurrjens (5-2 2.85, rocked in 2 of last 3, 3-1 2.27 on road)
Harang (5-6 3.74, 4-2 2.84 at home, 0-1 1.72 in June)
Wandy (5-5 2.82, 75 K in 79 IP, rocked in 3 of last 4, at Tex)
Millwood (6-4 2.72, 2 ER in last 19 IP, 4-1 2.19 at home)
Z (4-2 3.39, 2 ER in last 21 IP, 1-1 4.62 at home)
Davis (3-7 3.65, 2 R or less in 3 of last 4, 2-2 3.77 on road)
Meche (3-5 3.70, 2 R ot less in 4 of last 5, 0-3 5.93 at home)
Verlander (7-3 3.02, 106 K in 86 IP, 2 R or less in 9 of last 10, 4-2 4.39 on road, at StL)
Wainwright (6-4 3.49, poor in 2 of last 3)
It's no day to try tobe a hero on this one. I can easily narrow it down to CC, Gallardo, Felix and Verlander. I don't want any part of any pitcher at Coors East and I don't want Yoga in an AL park, so it it Justin ot Kinf Felix? Either are going to be solid choices, but in the end I have to go with Felix at Dan Diego. Fat Al alone scares me off of Verlander and Felix has been just as solid inhis last 3 starts.

First:
Huff (1-2)
Tex
Youk
Berkman (8-24, HR vs. good starter)
Konerko (7-22, 4HR vs. good starter)
Morneau
Pujols (3-5 vs. good starter)
Helton
A Gonzales (7-17, HR vs. good pitcher)
When looking at the matchups, it is clear to me that Tex has notonly a good opportunity vs. Martis, buthe's inthe besthitters park in the league.

Second:
Roberts
Castillo (2-2)
Cano
Utley (vs. Lefty)
Pedroia
Phillips (1-3, HR vs. good starter)
Kinsler (7-10 vs. good starter)
Roberts and cano hit righties equally well, but for now I'll take Roberts. I will also keep Castillo in mind if I need to save dough later.

Third:
Wright
ARoid
Cantu (7-21, HR)
Reynolds (1-2 vs. good starter)
Longoria (vs. lefty)
Beltre (3-7, HR)
I lose out on ARoid every time I take him. Wright is an easy one for me.

Short:
Jeter
Hanley (1-3)
Zobrist (vs. lefty)
Renteria (4-15)
I think Hanley will have a big day, but can't pass on Zo at Coors right now.

Left:
Braun (vs. Lefty)
Damon
Ibanez (vs. lefty)
Bay
Lee (2-4 vs. good starter)
Pierre (kills lefties)
Holliday (2-5 vs. lefty)
Man, I'm going to be way over the cap. I would take Pierrs, but Braun is only 0.1 more. Braun also went deep tonight already, so I have to take Raul for now.

Center:
Jones
Beltran
Victorino (vs. lefty)
Granderson (1-1 vs. good starter)
Upton (vs. lefty)
Hunter
At the moment, I like Victorino - the ugly bastard can play some ball and I almost never take him.

Right:
Cake
Bruce (2-3 vs. good starter)
Pence (2-6 vs. good starter)
Upton (0-3 vs. good starter)
Hawpe
It's Hawpe or Cake for me and Hawpe is hitting better.

DH:
Matsui
Kubel
Stewart
Griffey (3-5, HR)
I really like Matsui more than anyone else, but can't afford him. I think I'll stay with Rivera who is absolutely hammering lefties.

Catcher:
McCaan (7-13, HR)
Soto (1-2 vs. Lefty)
AJ (5-15, HR, vs. good starter)
Mauer
Yadi (3-5 vs good starter)
Benji (2-5)
I want McCaan here. This is an easy one for me and it saves me some cash.
Now, I'm considerably over the cap andhave to get creative. However, I don't want to sell the farm to meet the limit. I'll take the two guys who have the least power, Roberts and Victorino, and trade them off for Castillo and Ellsbury. Cool. I'm set.

FINAL LINEUP
C: Mccaan
1B: Tex
2B: Castillo
3B: Wright
SS: Zobrist
LF: Ibanez
CF: Ellsbury
RF: Hawpe
DH: Rivera
PS: King Felix

STAT CORNER

Who's hot:
Last 7 days:
M. Olivo, KC8-for-21, 4 HR, 8 RBI
A. Pujols, STL7-for-23, 4 HR, 6 RBI
M. Reynolds, ARI10-for-23, 3 HR, 9 RBI

Last 30 days:
J. Broxton, LAD2 W, 7 SV, 14.0 IP, 2 ER
M. Cain, SF6 W, 0 SV, 41.2 IP, 8 ER
J. Verlander, DET4 W, 0 SV, 36.0 IP, 5 ER

Who's not:
Last 7 days:
W. Taveras, CIN0-for-22, 0 HR, 0 RBI
W. Harris, WSH1-for-17, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Last 30 days:
F. Carmona, CLE0 W, 0 SV, 13.1 IP, 20 ER
M. Parra, MIL1 W, 0 SV, 27.1 IP, 34 ER

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend and.....

FU Kerry Wood

Sunday, the 14th

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming again. Today begins our fourth week of doing this and we are now over 3100 views. I am seriously impresed with that. Thank you all for coming. It certainly makes it well worth my time to put this out everyday. I hope you all enjoyed Zeus' article on piching yesterday. It was a great read and I certainly look forward to his next entry. Thanks again, folks.

YESTERDAY

Posada, Tex, Braun, Ethier, Rasmus. Nice job, ladies. The five of you didn't get the first point yesterday. I'll remember this. Thanks the these clowns, I only put up 21 points from the bats. Pujols and ARoid could have matched that themselves. On the bright side, I was on the right end of the much heralded Ratface/Outman battle and made up some of the deficit. The Big Unit gave me 25 and has managed not to do me right both times I have taken him. I better not risk it again. This morning I see that, while I did drop 2 spots to #27, I have added to my safety net and am now 42 points ahead of 50th place. Today,I would like to continue building on that.

TODAY

We had some pretty respectable staffs to pick from yesterday. It will probably be a fairly diverse breakdown today, although it did seem last night, from what I saw, that Cain and Weaver were the top choices. I took the Dream Weaver Express myself and hope he takes care of me again. Here's the final again.....

C: McCaan
1B: Berkman
2B: Sanchez
3B: Larry Jones Jr
SS: Tejada
LF: Soriano
CF: Hunter (bum rule for sure)
RF: Upton
DH: Scott
PS: Dream Weaver

TOMORROW

Wow, I just really don't know where to start. There are only 2 games to choose from and nary a one has a pitcher worth a damn. I'll list pretty much everything there is to list, but this will be one of those days where it is a good idea to ignore stats and go with the sensible pick. Trust your instincts on this one. Here goes.

Weather:
There will be no weather tomorrow.

Teams facing Lefty starters:
Angels

Teams facing Rookie starters:
none

Pitchers:
Bush (3-3 4.58, 3 R or more in last 4 starts)
Pavano (6-5 5.40, ( 9 earned in last start but 3 R or less in 5 previous to that)
Lackey (1-2 6.61, 15 earned in last 19 IP)
Zito (3-6 4.09, less than 7 IP in last 4 starts, 0-2 2.70 at home)
I want to stay in the NL park, so Lackey and Zito are the only ones for me. I like neither so I will go with the one that is on the best team. Lackey it is.

First:
Prince
Morales (0-5)
Catalanotto (3-6)
Garko
Aurillia (1-3)
Ishikawa
This one is easy - Prince.

Second:
ATTENTION!!! I just found out that Howie Kendrick was sent down this weekend. Sorry for the delay inposting this and thanks, Monk, for letting me know.
Carroll
Grafanino
Buriss
By default, and only because he will surely play, its Buriss.

Third:
DeRosa (4-15, HR)
Figgins
Sandoval
Counsell (0-2)
McGehee
Uribe
Hall (2-3)
This one is a little harder. I think Figgins is probably the best pick (hitting .432 in June), but I have always been a big fan of DeRosa and, since he is facing the weaker pitcher I will take him.

Short:
Hardy
Peralta (2-3)
Renteria (0-5)
Izturis (1-5)
Aybar (1-2)
I like none of them, but would think that JJ has thebest chance to hit one out.

Left:
Braun
Abreu (1-5)
Francisco
Lewis
Abreu is hitting better and Braun has screwed me a few times, but common sense says Braun.

Center:
Hunter
Rowand (6-11)
Cameron (1-10)
Gerut
You have to go with the best player here as well, and that's Torii.

Right:
Choo
Vlad
Hart
Winn (10-35)
Matthews
I really want to take Vlad, but Choo does most of his damager vs. righties and is the smart pick.

DH:
Hafner (1-6)
Rivera
Pronk might be the more sexy pick, but Rivera is hitting .391 vs. lefties and I haven't really seen Hafner do too much in the last few years.

Catcher:
VMart (0-6)
Molina (0-3)
Napoli (1-9)
Shoppach
Kendall (9-26)
Mathis
I have to take VMart here. The problem is that, and I have no idea how, I am over the cap. I'll dump DeRosa for Figgins. It's probably a safer pick anyway as hot as Chone has been this month. Here's the final.....

C: VMart
1B: Prince
2B: Buriss
3B: Figgins
SS: hardy
LF: Braun
CF: Hunter
RF: Choo
DH: Rivera
PS: Lackey

STAT CORNER

Did you know that Willie Mays began his career 0-23?

Lets look at ERA leaders over the last 30 days (starters only):
Beckett 0.76
Verlander 1.25
Carpenter 1.59
Zambrano 1.75
Jackson 1.87
Cain 1.93
Halladay 1.93
Lincecum 2.06
Marquis 2.08
Weaver 2.12

And the leaders in batting average over the last 30 days:
Wright .413
Ichiro .410
Figgins .409
Mauer .388
Branyan .376
Tejada .376
Tex .374
Rowand .370
Sandoval .370
D. Lee .365

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, make a suggestion if you have one and.....

FU Kerry Wood

ATTENTION!!! ZEUS IS BACK!!!

Guys, I would like you all to welcome Zeus back to the site. He has posted a terrific article on how and how not to pick a pitching staff. I just finished reading it and agree whole heartedly.

Thanks, Zeus, and great work once again. We look forward to your next entry.

Folks, please check this out and feel free to comment if you have one. My usual acount of the day is at the bottom of the page.

Picking Pitching Staffs

Hi everyone, it's Zeus again, and today I will attempt to shed some light on how I go about picking my staffs, particularly on days when there isn't a clear cut choice.

Before we get to that, I want to state this one fact: On any given day in BBC, anything can happen, and the results of such a day shouldn't alter your strategy that you have to apply day in and day out. If you pick all the right matchups for your hitters, and you even choose the most obvious staff, sometimes it won't work out. No matter how bad a day ends up, you should still push through with your strategy, not go off the wall, give up and try something crazy.

With that being said, here's the logical step by step approach I try to use when picking the best pitching for a given day.

From most important priority to least:

1a) Stud
1b) Opponent
2) Streak
3) Strikeouts, Opponent Strikeout Potential
4) Home/Away
5) NL/AL
6) Righty / Lefty P

For now just ignore #'s 2 through 6. Let's look at how the caliber of the pitcher can be just as important as the caliber of the opposition. To illustrate this, think of Justin Verlander facing a strikeout prone team, at home, with how hot he's been lately. The team he's facing happens to be the Texas Rangers. Do you still take him? Probably not. The Yankees or Red Sox? Absolutely not. So while it's very obvious not to pick against very good teams, it should be just as obvious to take against very bad teams.

So at this point hopefully you've got a stud or at least a good pitcher against a bad team.
If you're not clear cut yet, you've obviously got it narrowed down to a few staffs.
The number one tiebreaker at this point should be how hot each starting pitcher has been. I look as far as the last five games to determine this. Keep a watchful eye for implosions too. A 2.2 IP start in the midst of a few good ones should raise some flags.

Sometimes your choices have been equally hot/cold, so move on to strikeout potential for both sides of the ball. As we all know, K's can go a long way towards a good score, and it is quite important for determining your pick. However it shouldn't fall higher or lower than at this point in the priority list. Also if one of your choices K's 4 per 9 inning, and the other K's 5 per 9, just ignore the strikeout factor. You should only consider this when the differential is high enough to make a difference.

As far as home and away staffs, people tend to give this a lot more importance than it truly holds. For me it falls after strikeouts as far as importance goes. Yes, a staff should feel more comfortable at home, and they do get the assured 9 innings instead of 8. But you can get into a lot of trouble ignoring other factors and going out of your way to pick a home staff. Be wary of home/road splits, but also be careful not to put too much importance into it.

The extra position batter (DH) in the American League should sway you sometimes to take an NL staff, but at an even rarer rate than home/away should. There's not much to say here, except that if you get to this point, just take solace in the fact that AL bests the NL in just about every offensive category (and even strikes out less, so far in 2009). GO NL over AL at this junction.

If you've reached the bottom of the barrel and you still can't make the decision, take the righty. Most hitters bat right and picking a lefty just gives them an added advantage. There should be almost no situation in which you would use L/R as a tiebreaker, although I personally have used it before.

To recap, consider the caliber of each pitcher and each opponent. This should be enough to guide you about half the time. Then in this order: K's, hot/cold, home/road, AL/NL, L/R; consider the other choices and make the right decision.

Hopefully, this will help you make better PS choices from this point forward. Thanks for reading and good luck!



** As a footnote, I'd like to point out this post comes on the day after I mostly ignored my own rules by picking Halladay over Lincecum to the tune of a -4. The Giants were facing a lesser opponent, and Timmy has a much higher K/9 than Roy. I also ignored AL/NL rules. My only defense is that Roy had been riding a much hotter streak than Timmy lately, and the fact that he did leave due to injury. **

Saturday, the 13th

Good morning everyone. Ok, who had the sack to take Lester last night? Yeah, me either. It just goes to show how great this game is. On the bright side, hockey season is over so baseball will get that much more coverage for the rest of the summer. Once the hoops finals end, we'll be the only show in town till football season. That, my friends, is a good thing. If my math is right, there are 30 days left in the first half. Time to put on your game faces and get down to business. The home stretch is already here.

YESTERDAY

From the look of things, it seems that the 37 points my bats gave me was pretty average. Bats were doing well everywhere. Amazingly, of those 37 points, I only had one home run. That doesn't happen too often. Everyone I had pitched in at least 3 aside from ARoid and Vlad, who had 2 apiece. I was also fortunate enough to be on the right side of the Doc/Lince discussion. Lince was not perfect by any means, but 32 is 32. Enjoy watching that kid folks, as he sure looks like one of the future greats of the game. I'm sure the Yankees are already preparing their offer. My 69 total points moved me up 2 spots to #25, but more importantly added to my Leaderboard cushion. I am now 40 points ahead of 50th place.....for now.

TODAY

Why did I say "for now"? Well, for starters.....there are no starters today, none that I trust anyway. I hated to do it, but for some reason a 46 year old rat looked like the safest option today. Where we usually look for the best chance to get 30 from the mound, today I am pretty sure we all tried to pick the one lease likely to put us in thenegatives. Here is my misery.....

C: Posada
1B: Tex
2B: Utley
3B: Wright
SS: Zobrist
LF: Braun
CF: Beltran
RF: Ethier
DH: Rasmus
PS: RJ

TODAY

Weather:
No games are currently scheduled for more than a 40% chance of rain.

Teams facing Lefty starters:
Yankees, Marlins, Red Sox, Pirates, Rays, Brewers, Twins, Rockies, Giants, Cardinals

Teams facing Rookie starters:
Rays vs. Detwiler (0-3 5.06 ERA, 23 K in 26 IP)
Dodgers vs. Holland (6.54 ERA in 12 appearences and 3 starts)

Pitchers (and lots of them):
Lee (3-6 3.17, 3 R or more in 3 of last 4, vs. StL)
Carp (4-0 1.23, 1-0 1.96 on road, 1-0 2.41 in June, at Cle)
Cain (8-1 2.55, less than 7 IP in 4 of 5, rocked last start, vs. Oak)
Weaver (6-2 2.31, 2 R or less in 6 of last 7, 4-1 1.21 at home, vs SD)
Johan (8-3 2.39, 91 K in 79 IP, 3 R or more in 4 of last 5, at Coors East)
Johnson (5-1 2.73, 77 K in 89 IP, 7+ Ip in last 4, vs. Tor)
Lowe (7-3 3.44, 7+ ip in last 5, .240 BAA at Balt)
Beckett (7-2 3.77, 76 K in 76 IP, 3 ER total in last 5 starts, at Phi)
Happ (4-0 2.98, has only gone 7 IP once, vs. Bos)
Shields (5-3 3.36, 2 R or less in 5 of last 6, vs. Was)
Buehrle (6-2 3.24, 3 R or more in last 3, 0-1 5.65 in June, at Mil)
Cueto (6-3 2.33, 7+ IP in 9 of last 10, 2-0 1.35 in June, 5-1 1.72 on road, at KC)
Lilly (7-4 3.00, 2 R total in last 3, 1-0 0.66 in June, 4-1 1.29 at home, vs. Minn)
Bills (8-3 2.73, 90 K in 85 IP, less than 7 Ip in 4 of last 5, at Tex)
Vargas (2-1 2.35, less than 6 IP in 4 of 6, at Col)
I eliminate Lee, Carp, Johan, Lowe, Happ, Buehrle, Lilly, Bills, andVargas because of who they play, but still I have 6 to choose from. Beckett is probably the best pick on the board, but I hate to take him in that park. My final 3 are going tobe Cain, Weaver and Cueto. Because Weaver plays on the best team of the 3 and the teams they are facing are equally crappy, I think I will take Weaver again. I know he's in an Al park, but he has beenas good as anyone in the last month or so.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The batter matchups are horrid today. I will lis who I think is a good pick, but very little of it will be based on BVSP. Who hits lefties/righties and who's hot will play more of a factor for me with these picks. The only possible load up I see is with the 'Stros.

First:
Youk (hot)
Berkman ( 3 multi hit games in last 5, vs. Crap starter)
Branyan (12 Hr vs. righties, at Coors)
Lee (coming around, 11 game hit streak and very, very cheap)
Derek is only 3.6 mil and Baker is no stud by any means. I'll pencil him in for now to save money for later. However, I may upgrade if I can after I've worked my way around the horn.

Second:
Sanchez (10-17 vs. Willis)
Every good hitter here is either struggling or facing a good starter. Damned if you do........gimme Sanchez for the time being.

Third:
Reynolds (hot)
Figgins (.439 in June)
Chipper (vs. rookie)
He shits on me every time I do it, but let me have Chip again.

Short:
Zobrist (hits lefties for average)
Escobar (hot, but got hit on hand last night)
Tejada (hitting .344 and I like the 'Stros tomm)
I'll take Tejada over Zo, just a feeling I have

Left:
Pierre (on road vs. Lefty, hitting .447 vs. Lefties)
Lee (does most of his damage vs. righties)
Soriano (Baker is a turd)
Abreu (hitting well but power has disappeared)
Only because Lee always seems to short me, I'll give Fonzie a shot)

Center:
Kemp (vs. lefty rook, .377 vs. lefties)
Hunter (hits righties well)
McLouth (warming up a little)
Torii is hitting better than Kemp right now.

Right:
Ichiro (3-4)
Vlad (10-17, 4HR)
Upton (hits best vs. righties)
Dye (.314 vs. righties)
Pence (.335 vs. right)
I have to go with Upton...Moehler sucks.

DH:
Sheff (8-28, 3HR)
I'm going to take Scott here, only becasue I think there is a chance Sheff could sit.

Catcher:
McCaan (vs rookie, should at least DH)
I'll take it, can't afford Mauer.

I have some money left, so I'm going to jump back to first and take Berkman over Lee. I think he has a better chance to go deep in that one. Again, I am sorry for the lack of batter info here, but there just isn't much to go by. Here is the final.....

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCaan
1B: Berkman
2B: Sanchez
3B: Larry Jones Jr
SS: Tejada
LF: Soriano
CF: Hunter
RF: Upton
DH: Scott
PS: Dream Weaver

STAT CORNER

Did you know that Matt Stairs has hit 246 home runs since he turned 29 years old? Leads the majors. WTF? I never realized he had hit that many.

It's time to look again at the best and worst hitters at home and away.

Top and bottom 10 at home (100 ab minimum):
M. Cabrera .400 Wells .162
Youkilis .390 Duncan .172
Sandoval .375 Swisher .183
Tejada .367 Giles .188
Morneau .365 Eckstein .189
Lind .357 Werth .191
Castillo .356 Rollins .193
Pujols .348 Beltre .193
Kinsler .347 Dunn .195
Zimmerman .346 Sizemore .202

Top and bottom 10 on the road (100 ab minimum)
Wright .417 Bruce .157
Ichiro .393 Ad. LaRoche .165
Beltran .385 Ortiz .171
Figgins .382 Atkins .177
Hanley .378 Griffey .180
Braun .374 Uggla .182
VMart .358 Kinsler .182
Bartlett .354 BJ Upton .189
Hill .353 C. Davis .196
A. Cabrera .352 Castillo .198

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend, and.....

FU Kerry Wood

Friday,the 12th

Good morning, everyone. You know, we are a funny bunch of people and baseball continues to prove it. We all, regardless of rank, think we have this game figured out day after day. Yet, on a daily basis, we are humbled as our pitchers continue to crash. 86% of The Usual Suspects and 82% of the Leaderboard picked up 8 points or less from their staffs yesterday and it seems that on a daily basis we are bitching and moaning about how the top staff always fails. So what do we really know? Not a damn thing. Why? Because the only sure thing in this game is that, as sure as Kerry Wood is a piece of shit, we will convince ourselves once again that we have chosen the right staff, only to see it blow up in our faces again while Livan F'ing Hernandez pitches a 2 hit shutout against the Yanks tonoight. Don't get me wrong though. We will spend endless amounts of time blowing off our wives, kids, and jobs doing quality research, using solid statistical information and watching the wind pattern in Kansas City before we make our choice, only to be proven wrong again. Yeah, we think we know........and will continue to do so. I love this game!

YESTERDAY

Hitters were 1-39 on the season against with runners in scoring position against Rafael Soriano until yesterday. This is another example proving that what I said in the opener is correct. Yes, I had Vazquez and yes, I had a pretty good day even though Soriano screwed me. 24 pitching points on a day like yesterday is a blessing. But of course the game won't let usenjoy that too often, will it? My lame ass bats only gave me 21. In the end, my 45 total points was good enough to bump me up to #27 overall, giving me a 25 point LB cushion. I have been on a roll lately, so take what I say below with a grain of salt. It's only a matter of time until I implode.

TODAY

Have I mentioned that I really hate interleague play? It appears that the pitching is split pretty much 50-50 between Lincecum and Halliday and I hope you all saw that Maine is not going today after being bumped for Livan. I Feel pretty good about my bats for once and don't think weather will be an issue. Here's the final.....

C: Posada
1B: Tex
2B: Hill
3B: ARoid
SS: Zobrist
LF: Ibanez
CF: McLouth
RF: Vlad the Impaler (hope he has something left)
DH: Scott
PS: Lince

TOMORROW

Weather:
Twins/Cubs 60%

Teams facing lefty starters:
Blue Jays, White Sox, Mets, Braves, Red Sox, Tigers, Rangers, Rockies, Mariners, Padres, Giants, A's

Teams facing rookie starters:
Cubs vs. Swarzak (1-2 5.43 in 4 starts)
Blue Jays vs. West (1-1 2.22 in 4 starts)
Cardinals vs. Huff (1-2 8.71 in 5 starts)
Rays vs. Stammen (0-1 6.45 in 4 starts)
Red Sox vs. Bastardo (2-0 2.45 in 2 starts)

Pitchers:
Harden (4-2 4.74, will be on a pitch count of 85 or 5 innings)
Duke (6-3 3.07, hammered in last start, 4-2 2.66 at home)
Wolf (3-2 3.62, smoked in 3 of last 4, at Texas)
Bedard (5-2 2.47, 65 K in 65 IP, 2 R or less in last 6, 3-0 2.72 on road, at Coors)
Marquis (8-4 3.98, Low K's, at Coors)
Peavy (6-6 3.97, 92 k'S IN 81 IP, so-so in 2 of last 3, .179 BAA vs. Angels)
Saunders (6-4 3.94, beat up in 4 of last 5)
Outman (4-1 3.17, 49 K in 59 IP, 2-0 3.55 in June)
RJ (5-5 5.14, 61 K in 63 IP, Dare we give the old man a shot?)
This is murderous. I really like Bedard, but not so much at Coors. RJ would be flat out crazy. This leaves Duke, Peavy, Outman, and Saunders. Damn......I'm going to regret it, but let it be Outman in a pitchers park vs. a team that doesn't hit many long balls. Screw that - change of heart - RJ at home. I really want to take Jake and the majority will. However, Oakland hits .206 vs. lefties and I don't like them with a DH, much less without one. It's a major risk and probably a dumb one, but what the hell.

First:
Prince (vs. crap)
Pujols (vs. rook lefty)
Tex (7-15, HR)
Howard (vs. Dice)
Youk (vs. rook lefty)
Miggy (5-9)
I think I'll stay with Tex, but any of these could go deep twice.

Second:
Uggla (1-1)
Utley (vs. Dice)
Phillips
Chase is on fire and Dice sucks. Easy math, here.

Third:
Wright (8-18, 2HR)
Longoria (vs. rook)
Beltre (4-12, HR)
Another easy one here.

Short:
Jeter (3-5, HR)
Zobrist (vs. rook)
Tejada (10-23, 2HR)
Renteria (2-2)
I want Tejada but he has cooled off a little. Zobrist continues to hit day after day.

Left:
Braun
Bay (vs. rook lefty)
Braun continues to heat up and Contreras is coming off a good start - no way he does it twice.

Center:
Cameron (1-2)
Beltran (14-40, HR)
I don't think much of it, but Beltranis the best option for this crap position today.

Right:
Ethier (hot, vs. texas)
There are many decent options here, but I have to take Ethier.

DH:
Hafner (1-1, HR)
Matsui (3-4, but possible DNP)
Jr. (6-15, but possible DNP)
I will go outside of my usual comfort zone here and give Colby Rasmus a chance. He has been hitting well and I can't bring myself to dip into the old man club for any of the sensible picks.

Catcher:
Posada (2-3, 2HR)
Laird (2-3)
I'll stay with a hot Posada.

FINAL LINEUP

C: Posada
1B: Tex
2B: Utley
3B: Wright
SS: Zobrist
LF: Braun
CF: Beltran
RF: Ethier
DH: Rasmus
PS: (gulp) The Big Unit

STAT CORNER

In 5 starts this year, the Yankees biggest Wang is 0-4 with a 21.60 ERA. This is the worst ERA after 5 starts in the history of baseball.

Which teams have the most quality starts this year? It may surprise you:

Cubs 35
Rockies 35
Braves 34
DBacks 33
Blye Jays 33

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend, make a suggestion, and.....

FU Kerry Wood!

Thursday, the 11th

Good morning, and welcome back to Interleague play. I cannot tell you how much I hate this garbage. You have to be very careful with who you choose. AL teams in NL parks will be a bat short and NL teams in AL parks will be a bat heavy. The batter/pitcher matchups are difficult to predict as many have not seen eachother and, if they have, it was a long time ago and doesn't mean as much as it ordinarily would. On top of that, who really cares about the Blue Jays visiting the Marlins or the Angels hosting the Padres. Yuck! Anyway, good luck with it. Personally, I can't wait until its over.

YESTERDAY

I really need to maintain thishot streak for a few more days so that I can build up a little more of a cushion on the Leaderboard. Verlander did exactly what I had been expecting him to do and was "the pick" among pitchers with his 31. My bats were pretty lame, led by Youk and Braun. Kinsler (DNP), Jeter, and Choo did nothing at all for me and, in the end, I picked up another 26 from the bats. Fortunately, bad bats were pretty common and my 57 was good enough to move me up to #33 overall, 17 points ahead of 50th. With a few more days like this, I can get into somewhat of a LB safety zone.

TODAY

The first thing that concerns me today is that the weather seems to be worse in Ney York than it was yesterday. This could be a real problem as I have three bats there. Chicago looks like it could have a good bit of rainas well. Damn. When I look at this lineup this morning, I really don't know what to make of it. I kind of like it, but i can also see it being a total bust as well. Some of these picks will not be among the common choices and that always makes me a little nervous. I will be pretty happy just to hang on today. I am also seriously regretting not taking Greinke. Here's the final again.....

C: Zaun (Just hope he plays)
1B: Dunn (K machine)
2B: Utley (Bum rule after 2 HR last night)
3B: Wright (rain)
SS: Zobrist (This I like)
LF: Lee (Cool)
CF: Upton (Why did I do this?)
RF: Cruz (Solid)
DH: Sheff (Kills Moyer)
PS: Vazquez (Again...why?)

TOMORROW

Weather:
Reds/Royals 50%

Teams facing lefties:
Phillies, Brewers, Royals, Rockies

Teams facing rookie starters:
Giants vs. Mazzaro (2-0, 0.00 in 2 starts)
Royals vs. Maloney (0-0, 3.00 in debut)
Twins vs. Wells (0-2, 1.86 in 6 starts, 31 K in 38 IP)
Orioles vs. Hanson (0-0, 9.00 in debut)
Braves vs. Berken (1-2, 7.04 in 3 starts)
Rays vs. Stammen (0-2, 6.45 in 4 starts)

Pitchers:
Joba (3-1, 3.79 ERA, 55 K in 59 IP, has only gone past 7 IP once)
Porcello (6-4, 3.98 ERA, 6 IP or less in last 6, 3-2 3.72 on road, at Pitt)
Halladay (10-1, 2.52 ERA, 88 K in 100 IP, 7+ Ip in last 10, 2-0 2.00 in June)
Garza (4-4, 3.55 ERA, 3-2 3.88 at home, vs. Wash)
Kuroda (1-1, 1.62 ERA, Hasn't gone more than 6 IP, at Texas)
Washburn (3-4 3.07 ERA, 1 R oe less in last 3, 1-2 3.06 on road, at Coors)
Haren (4-4, 2.33 ERA, 83 K in 85 IP, 3-3 2.05 at home, 2 R or less in last 3, .279 BAA)
Escobar (0-1, 3.60 ERA, only 1 start this year, .120 BAA vs. SD)
Lincecum (5-1 2.96 ERA, 95 K in 79 IP, 1-0 2.63 in June, 2 R or less in last 4, .271 BAA vs. Oak)
Once again, it comes down to Haren, Doc, and Lince. I think the easiest way to go is with CumBoy at home. The Marins scare me a little with an extra bat and Haren is due for an implosion.

First:
Pujols (7-14, HR)
Tex (7-15, HR)
Youk (6-18, HR)
Miggy (2-5, HR)
Konerko (14-34, 2HR but possible DNP with no DH)
I've been passing on Tex all week, not again.

Second:
Hill
Phillips
Hill is starting to heat up again and is a bargain at 4.7 mil.

Third:
Chipper
Inge (1-2)
Rolen (2-3)
I know I'll regret it as he always busts for me,but Chiller vs. the rookie is a good pick, especially at 4.1 mil.

Short:
Jeter (3-5, HR)
Drew (5-14)
Again,the options here are crap again. I think I am going to stick with Zobrist by default.

Left:
Ibanez (3-6)
Braun
Pierre (8-28)
Did I mention that I hate interleague play. Since money isnot an issue due to previous picks, gimme Ibanez against Lester.

Center:
McLouth
Victorino (1-3)
Granderson (1-3)
Grandy is struggling and Victorino does nothave enough power for me. McLouth is the one.

Right:
Werth (2-3)
Drew (4-12)
Mags (2-2)
Bruce
Vlad (6-17, 3HR)
Vlad has been pretty much useless this year, but his is hitting over .300 in June and I really like the numbers he has put up vs. Gaudin

DH:
Hafner (3-7)
Matsui (3-4)
Ortiz (6-20, 2 HR but a likely DNP with no DH)
Thome (13-42, 3HR but again a possible DNP with no DH)
This position is a block party of jackasses today. Let's go with Hafner, only because I feel confident he will play.

Catcher:
McCaan
VMart (4-14)
Posada (2-3, 2HR)
AJ (10-30)
Posada is the only one I can really consider here. McCaan is not a bad option, but I don't want to carry 3 Braves.

I absolutely hate this lineup, but can't really find anything better. Let's just hope that someof these FORMER BBC stars can get it together for one more night. Here's the final.....

ATTENTION: LATE CHANGE!!!
Maine as been pushed back to Saturday and Livan is facingthe Yanks tomorrow per ESPN. Please be aware that the following Yanks hit Livan well: ARoid (10-16, 3HR), Jeter (6-17), Matsui (3-5, HR), Tex (2-3, HR), Melky (2-3). In light of this, I am dumping Chipper for ARoid and, due to salary issues, Hafner for Scott.

FINAL LINEUP
C: Posada
1B: Tex
2B: Hill
3B: ARoid
SS: Zobrist
LF: Ibanez
CF: McLouth
RF: Vlad
DH: Scott
PS: Lince

STAT CORNER

Don't fill your team with guys who can't drive in a run when they have the chance. Below are the best hitters (by average) with runners in scoring position (50 AB minimum).

The top:
Bartlett .452
Hawpe .449
Escobar .421
Youk .415
Chipper .412
Overbay .381
Bourn .378
Phillips .375
Beltran .368
Wright .365

The bottom:
Tulowitzki .116
Navarro .118
Soriano .133
M. Young .143
Cameron .146
Wells .159
Bruce .160
Fowler .171
Lewis .175
Berkman .185

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend, and.....

FU Kerry Wood

Wednesday, the 10th

Wakey, wakey, hands of snakey! 'Mornin gents. It feels like a leaderboard kind of day,so lets get right to it.

YESTERDAY

Of the three most popular starters (Bills, Carp and Lee) the average score was 12. That doesn't even account for what Johan did. With this being the case, my 13 from Cain kind of worked out ok. I still can't believe that I was the only one thathad him. Oh well, I'll take it. How about those bats, though? 13 from Ethier and his two dingers. I never saw that coming, nice job Andre! Thwor in another 22 from Wright, Beltran and Escobar, then a few scraps from the rest and I ended up with 55 on the night. So my on again/off again relationship with the Leaderboard continues. This morning I am ranked #41 with a 7 point cushion. This time, I really need to find a way to stay for a while.

TODAY

I fully expect to see what everyone, their mother, and their mother's mother has Verlander today. There were some good choices out there but I really don't see too many passing on him against the Sox. As I look at my lineup, I feel pretty decent about my bats. Not overjoyed, but decent. If everyone indeed has Verlander, I think I will have enough today to stay on the LB. Hopefully it's enough to give me some stability there as well. Here it is again.....

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCaan
1B: Youk
2B: Kinsler
3B: ARoid
SS: Jeter
LF: Braun
CF: McLouth
RF: Choo
DH: Ortiz
PS: Verlander

TOMORROW

The pitchers are not as promising as they have been earlier in the week. Unfortunately, the batter matchups don't really thrill me either. This is going tobe the kind of day I really hate, I'm afraid. Oh well, lets get to it and see what shakes out.

Weather:
Tigers/White Sox 60%
Reds/Nats 50%
Royals/Indians 50%
Mariners/Orioles 50%
Yankees/Red Sox 50%
Phillies/Mets 50%
Looks to me like the weathermen have no clue at all. With all these cities at 50%, it looks like they just decided to punt instead of making a call. I'm not going to worry about it.

Teams facing Lefties:
Cards, Braves, DBacks, Reds, Royals, Red Sox, Angels, Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, Orioles

Teams facing Rookie Starters:
Mariners vs. Uehara (2-3 4.09 in 9 starts)
Angels vs. Price (See Pitchers)
Blue Jays vs. Holland (6.54 ERA, has never gone more than 5.2 IP)

Pitchers:
Maholm (4-2 3.94, rocked in 3 of last 6, 2-1 5.71 on road, 7 scoreless vs. Atlanta this year)
Vazquez (4-5 3.54, 93 K in 76 IP, 1-4 4.19 at home, .233 BAA vs. Pitt)
Jackson (6-3 2.16, 2 R or less in 5 of last 6, 3-2 1.31 on road)
Gallardo (6-2 2.84, 71 K in 73 IP, 1 R or less in last 3)
Blackburn (5-2 3.30, 2 R or less in 5 of last 6, 3-2 3.48 on road, .267 BAA at Oakland)
Lannan (3-5 3.68, Lok K's, 2-0 1.76 at home)
Greinke (8-2 1.55, 91 K in 81 IP, 2-2 1.93 on road, 11 IP - 2 ER vs. Indians this year, .305 BAA)
Price (1-0 2.45, 20 K in 14 IP, has never gone 6 IP)
CC (5-3 3.56, 3 R or more in last 3, 4-2 3.07 on road, at Yanks)
I really want to trust Greinke, but I can't. I think Vazquez, Jackson and Gallardo ore the best options. I'll take NL pitcher at home over an AL pitcher on the road. Give me Vazquez.

First:
Pujols (2-2)
Lee (16-55, 3HR)
Dunn (3-5, HR)
Tex (0-6)
I want Pujols, although I will keep Dunn in mind in case I get in a salary jam.

Second:
Uggla (2-4, HR)
Polanco (8-24, HR)
Phillips (3-6)
Utley (8-18, 2HR)
Chase usually does me well.

Third:
Hall (5-11)
ARoid (0-2)
Wright (16-38, 3HR)
Wright continues to heat up with the weather and these numbers are too good to pass on.

Short:
Tejada (5-15)
Theriot (4-12)
Drew (6-16)
Jeter (1-3)
You know, the only one I like is Drew and his HR vs. Cain last night has him on my bad side. Gimme Zobrist.

Left:
Braun (1-2)
Lee (7-20, HR)
Crawford (7-18)
Damon (0-2)
Ibanez (1-6)
I think Lee hits two to the Dumpster. Just a hunch.

Center:
Upton (7-12)
Victorino (6-16)
For the first time this season, I am beginning to trust BJ.

Right:
Pence (8-17, 2HR)
Cruz (2-3)
I like Cruz at home in this one.

DH:
Cust (2-5)
Sheff (14-30, 4HR)
Can't pass on Sheff, even if he is slumping.

Catcher:
Mauer (day game)
Benji (2-5 but in day game)
Posada (never faced pitcher)
I'm way the hell over the cap. To make room, I am going to give Dunn a shot at first since Pujols is slumping and put Zaun behind the plate since he has a night game. Here's the final.....

FINAL LINEUP

C: Zaun
1B: Dunn
2B: Utley
3B: Wright
SS: Zobrist
LF: Lee
CF: Upton
RF: Cruz
DH: Sheff
PS: Vazquez

STAT CORNER

Who's hot:
Last 7 days:
A. Lind, TOR12-for-26, 4 HR, 7 RBI
I. Stewart, COL11-for-27, 3 HR, 9 RBI
A. Ethier, LAD9-for-20, 4 HR, 6 RBI

Last 30 days:
R. Halladay, TOR4 W, 0 SV, 48.0 IP, 9 ER
J. Beckett, BOS4 W, 0 SV, 35.2 IP, 3 ER
J. Broxton, LAD3 W, 6 SV, 14.0 IP, 4 ER

Who's not:
Last 7 days:
A. Hernandez, WSH1-for-19, 0 HR, 0 RBI
G. Beckham, CWS1-for-17, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Last 30 days:
S. Kazmir, TB0 W, 0 SV, 7.2 IP, 14 ER
R. Nolasco, FLA0 W, 0 SV, 12.2 IP, 18

Sorry there is not more to see here today, but I'm low on time today as the little one turns 5. Birthday party starts soon.

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend, and.....

FU Kerry Wood

Tuesday, the 9th

Happy Tuesday, everyone. I heard from JT yesterday and his first post should be up in the next few days. Please come back to see it as I am sure he will bring some quality stuff that you will find beneficial in your quest for success. Thanks for coming again, as your regular patronage is greatly appreciated.

YESTERDAY

To all of you that had the sack to run with the ChiSox, I tip my cap to you. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Thescary part is that we still have yet to have a total bust from a double dip this season. Keep this in mind when the next one comes along, as we are way overdue. All in all, it was a good day. I ended up with 72 from the bats, led by Dye, Thome, Alezei, and Konerko who all reached double digits. Polanco and Granderson were the onle disappointments with 2 each. Jake the Snake treated me well with 25 in a quality effort. In the end, my 97 points was not enough to get back to the Leaderboard, but it did bump me up to 57th overall, only 6 off the LB pace.

TODAY

I see this morning that the leading staffs, according the the LB and Usual Suspects (thanks Mo), are the Bills, Carp, Lee, and Johan in that order. Some of you must have forgotten about Kerry Wood as he is sure to ruin the Tribe's afternoon once again. I really like Cain's chances against the D'Backs tonight and am really surprised to see that I am seemingly the only one that does. While that makes me a little nervous, it could be a good day for me if the Dodgers go down. Man, when I give the disclaimer every day, you guys must really pay attention. Not even one of you trusted me on that pick. I sure hope you were wrong........

C: McCaan
1b: Prince
2B: Pedroia
3B: Wright
SS: Escobar
LF: Braun
CF: Beltran
RF: Ethier
DH: Scott
PS: Cain

TOMORROW

There are no less than 13 pichers going tomorrow with ERA's under 4. The amazing thing is that I have a hunch that we will all have the same man anyway. There are going to be some hidden gems if you want one, just pick wisely. Lets get to it.

Weather:
Rockies/Brewers 60%
Royals/Indians 60%
Blue Jays/Rangers 50%
Tigers/White Sox 60%

Teams facing Lefty starters:
Mets, Brewers, Rangers, Cubs, Tigers, DBacks, Giants, A's, Twins, Padres

Teams facing rookie starters:
Reds vs. Detwiler (0-2, 5.23 in 4 starts)
Rangers vs. Romero (3-2 4.10 in 6 starts)

Pitchers:
Braden (3-5 3.41, 4-2 3.11 at home, 3 R or less in last 4 starts)
Davis (3-6 3.36, 2 R or less in last 3)
Zito (2-6 3.86, 2-4 4.98 on road)
Jurrjens (5-3 2.84, ( runs allowed total in last 2, 1.35 ERA vs. Pitt in 1 start, 2-2 3.51 at home)
Felix (5-3 3.22, 79 K in 78 IP, 1 R or less in 4 of last 5, 2-1 2.56 on road, .373 BAA at Balt.)
Niemann (5-4 3.77, 6 IP or less in 8 of last 10, 1 R or less in last 3)
Wainwright (5-4 3.35, 2 R or less in 4 of last 5, 3-1 4.22 on road)
Volstad (4-5 3.65, less than 7 IP in 6 of last 7, 2-3 4.00 at home)
Gallardo (6-2 2.84, 71 K in 73 IP, 1 R or less in last 3, 3-1 2.87 at home)
Millwood (5-4 2.96, 3-1 2.59 at home, 5.14 ERA in 1 start vs. Tor)
Z (4-2 3.72, 53 K in 55 IP, Less than 7 IP in last 4, 3-1 2.97 on road, 1.50 ERA in 1 start vs. Hou)
Wandy (5-5 2.97, 69 K in 72 IP, 18 R allowed in last 3 starts, 1.50 ERA vs. CHC in 1 start)
Verlander (6-2 3.26, 97 K in 77 IP, 3-2 5.08 on road)
I think Jurrjens and Gallardo are certainly worth a look, but I am not going to Pass on Verlander again. This surely means that he will be a bust, but I have to take him vs. the weak hitting Sox. I expect to be in the vast majority with this pick.

First:
Youk (8-27)
Howard (5-14, HR)
Overbay (5-13, 2HR)
Millar (16-41, HR)
Lee (12-24, 2HR vs. good starter)
Morneau (1-5 but kills lefties)
I think Howard and Youk have the best matchups, but Wang is on the mound, so Youk it is.

Second:
Peralta (14-38, 2HR)
Phillips (vs. rookie)
Pedroia (5-16)
Cano (12-37, 3HR)
Kinsler (vs. rookie lefty at home)
I like Phillips and Kinsler best, and will pencil in Ian for the time being.

Third:
Chipper (never faced starter)
Zimmerman (1-2)
Longoria (1-2)
ARoid (21-76, 7HR)
Rolen (19-56, 2HR vs. good starter)
Inge (4-10, HR)
ARoid and Chipper are the choices. I think Chipper may be going on a run with help from the addition of McLouth. I also heard him the other day talking about how the ball is beginning to jump out of Turner. Tough call, but Chip is cheap. I may change this later.

Short:
Jeter (31-99, 3HR)
Tejada (7-15, HR vs. good starter)
Theriot (9-18 vs. good pitcher)
Based strickly on the matchups, I have to take the pretty boy.

Left:
Crawford (11-30, HR)
Damon (19-60, 4HR)
Ibanez (2-6)
Braun (5-6, HR
Lee (17-49, 4HR vs. good starter)
I have to roll with Braun, although Damon feels right too.

Center:
McLouth (never faced starter)
Hunter (never faced starter)
Melky (5-11)
Give me McLouth. The Braves bats seem to be waking up.

Right:
Choo (6-11)
Bruce (vs. rookie)
Magglio (10-17, HR)
This position offers very little today. I'm not happy with it, but Choo is the pick.

DH:
Johnson (3-3, HR)
Ortiz (16-36, 2HR)
Kubel (1-1 vs. Lefty)
It's time to give Ortiz another chance vs. a piss poor pitcher.

Catcher:
McCaan (never faced starter)
Mauer (1-3)
I'll stay with McCaan.

The amazing thing now is that I have 1.3 mil left over. I see that as a sign and, because of it, will dump Larry Jones Jr. for ARoid and his 7 long balls vs. Wake. Here is the final.....

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCaan
1B: Youk
2B: Kinsler
3B: ARoid
SS: Jeter
LF: Braun
CF: McLouth
RF: Choo
DH: Ortiz
PS: Verlander

STAT CORNER

Last year, in 81 home games, 160 home runs were hit in the old Yankee Stadium. This year, in 29 games, 105 have beenhit in the new Yankee Stadium.

Have you ever looked at your scoring summary to see who you are usually right/wrong on? I did this last night and here is what I have found:

Top pitching staff successes:
Blue Jays 4/24.8 avg
Braves 3/23.3
Arizona 8/22.3
Giants 6/22.0

Top pitching busts:
Indians 1/-1.0 (Kerry Wood)
Royals 3/7.7
Astros 5/9.0
Cubs 3/9.7
Padres 4/10.5

Top hitting successes by position (5 time minimum):
C: Benji 5/3.2
1B: Pujols 21/5.7
2B: Utley 15/6.3
3B: Wright 11/4.4
SS: Hanley 13/4.5
LF: Ibanez 5/6.6
CF: Jones 5/5.2
RF: Cruz 5/5.0
DH: Sheff 5/5.8

Top hitting busts by position (5 time minimum)
C: Varitek 6/2.0
1B: Cabrera 6/3.7
2B: Roberts 9/3.0
3B: Longoria 10/2.9
SS: Jeter 10/3.2
LF: Quentin 5/1.0
CF: Cameron 5/2.0
RF: Cake 13/4.4
DH: Ortiz 7/2.9

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. I do not tell anyone who to pick for their team. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, make a suggestion, and.....

FU Kerry Wood

Monday, the 8th

Lord have mercy, let's get straight to yesterday.........and thanks for coming!

YESTERDAY



Ok, so it seems like the consensus is that the bats were pretty much useless for everyone. At least I wasn't alone. Wright got me 8 the hard way and pretty much everyone else was useless. In the end, I got a measly 22 from the lumber haulers. But what about that pitching? Remember that I flipped a nickel to give me my staff and ended up with Haren of the Desert. I realized how stupid that was when Hallady put up a cool 31 in just over 2 hours. Of course when it was 6-1 going into the 9th, I was feeling a little better. Then Qualls came in. I was all prepared to finally let Kerry Wood off the hook for ever until that bastard came in. At the end of the 9th, it was 6-6 and I had 2 points from the arms. Then, of all damned things, the rest of Snakes staff goes for 9 hitless innings and Reynolds tees off on a shortstop. By the time it was done, I had 40 points from pitching alone. Luck, brother, luck. Kerry Wood, you're not off the hook just yet. I gues the nickel was lucky afterall. If anyone needs it, I can ship it to you for a small fee. Now that it is all said and done, I am ranked #70 and am 15 points off the Leaderboard pace. After that ride I went on yesterday, I'll take it.

TODAY

As you saw from yestrday's post, the Dh was pretty much all I looked at. I have said before that I have no problem taking bats against my staff in a double dip, but after I had picked my bats, I had 4 from each team. This was enough to tell me that taking either staff would be a crapshoot. It may come out well for one of them, but I won't be the one that benefits from it. For the first time this year, I did not take a staff from a DH. I thought long and hard about going with Duke vs. Atlanta, but in the end stayed with Jake the Snake. I know his pen got worn to shreds last night, but I really think this is the safest pick, especially with Upton banged up. Here is the final.....

C: Mauer
1B: Konerko
2B: Polanco
3B: Inge
SS: Alexei
LF: Thames
CF: Grandy
RF: Dye
DH: Thome
PS: Peavy

TOMORROW

Weather:
Royals/Indians 50%
Tigers/White Sox 60%
Phills/Mets 50%
Cards/Marlins 50%
None of this scares me. I will pick freely.

Teams facing Lefties:
Orioles, Royals, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, Astros, White Sox, Tigers, and Twins


Teams facing rookie starters:
Seattle vs. Bergeson (2-2 4.64 ERA in 9 starts)


Pitchers:
Bills (7-3 2.59, 85K in 80 IP, Less than 7 IP in 3 of last 4, .227 BAA)
Buehrle (6-2 2.91, 8 scoreless vs. Tigers on 5/7)
Cain (7-1 2.27, 1 R or less in 5 of last 6, 3-1 1.36 on road)
Lowe (6-3 3.40, 3 R or less in last 5, 2-1 3.16 at home, .178 BAA vs. Pitt)
Vargas (2-0 1.93, 2 R or less in all 5 starts, only gone 7 IP once)
Lee (3-6 2.96, 3 runs or less in last 10, 2.25 vs. KC in 2 starts this year, Kerry Wood)
Cueto (5-3 2.43, 7+ IP in 9 of last 10, 4-1 1.80 on road)
Weaver (5-2 2.26, 1 R or less in 5 of 6, 1-2 3.77 on road, .180 BAA at Tampa)
Niemann (5-4 3.77, 3 R or less in last 5)
Johan (7-3 2.00, 3+ R in 3 of last 4, 4-1 1.37 at home, 89 K in 72 IP, .219 BAA vs. Philly)
Carp (4-1 0.71, 3 ER all year, never faced Marlins)
Johnson (5-1 2.63, 72K in 82 IP, 3 R or less in last 9, 3-1 1.71 at home)
Lilly (6-4 3.28, 5.73 ERA vs. Houston in 2 starts this year, 7 IP and 1 R in each of last two)
The good news it that I can easily narrow it down to Bills, Lowe, Cain, Lee Cueto and Carp. Take out the AL team and the Kerry Wood factor and Lee is gone. I can eliminate Lowe from, this list as well and Cueto doesn't have enough bats behind him. I want Carp, but for some ungodly reason the Marlins bats make me nervous. Bills has been close to average in his last few starts. You know it, I'm taking the unheralded Cain. He has been as solid as anyone and Zona's bats are less than impressive.


First:
Prince (never faced starter)
Lee (6-16, 3HR)
Morneau (never faced starter, kills lefties)
It should be Lee based on the numbers but Prince may beginning a big run.

Second:
Phillips
Pedroia (6-20, 2HR)
Cano (12-36, 2HR)
Hill (4-12, HR)
Polanco (12-32)
Pedroia hits .343 at home and I think ther will be some fireworks in that one.Also, Hill faces a decent starter and Phillips had a poor weekend.


Third:
ARoid (11-34, HR)
Wright (2-5, HR)
Young (2-3 and kills lefties)
ARoid usually chokes on the big stage so I will eliminate him. I wish I knew where Wright's power went. He and Young both kill lefties. Wright for now.


Short:
Jeter (14-41, HR)
Cabrera (9-21)
Escobar hits righties well and is also solid at home. In effort to save a little money, I'll add him to the roster.

Left:
Bay (6-16, HR)
Damon (12-38, 2HR)
Braun (never faced starter)
Soriano (7-20)
Lee (kills lefties)
Bay hits lefties better. Soriano doesn't hit for average on the road. Lee and Braun are both heating up, but Braun has the better matchup.

Center:
Fukudome (4-12)
Melky (kills Beckett)
I don't care for either of these, but with the money I have available I can afford Beltran

Right:
Cruz (0-1 but almost all power vs. righties)
Mags (15-30, 3HR)
Ethier (10-26, 4HR)
For some reason, I tend to shy away from Andre, but today looks like a good time to give hima chance.


DH:
Scott (1-2, HR and .361 vs. lefties)
Hafner (5-12)
Scott looks like the best way to go.


Catcher:
McCaan
Varitek (5-17, HR)
Posada (9-26)
Mauer (never faced starter)
Martin (7-23)
I like Jorge, but am going to take McCaan


FINAL LINEUP
C: McCaan
1B: Prince
2B: Pedroia
3B: Wright
SS: Escobar
LF: Braun
CF: Beltran
RF: Ethier
DH: Scott
PS: Cain

STAT CORNER

Since May 23rd, the Braves bats have had 3 scoreless streaks of 18 innings or more.

Juan Pierre was named after Juan Maricial

The best hitters vs. lefties (min. 50 at bats)

Pierre .455
Jeter .421
C. Lee .409
Rivera .409
Morneau .405
M. Young .397
Rolen .392
Melky .386

The worst hitters vs. lefties (min. 50 at bats)

Giles .120
C. Davis .143
N. Morgan .143
O. Cabrera .164
Rollins .167
Dye .171
Bruce .173
Huff .192
Uggla .196

The best hitters vs. righties (min. 100 at bats)

Ichiro .369
Pence .367
Hawpe .364
Ad. Jones .362
Hanley .361
Zimmerman.358
Beltran .356
Tejada .353
Kubel .353

The worst hitters vs. righties (min. 100 at bats)

Hall .168
Atkins .173
Ortiz .183
Bradley .186
K.Matsui .191

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. I do not tell anyone who to put on their team. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, make a suggestion if you have one, and.....

FU Kerry Wood