Tuesday the 26th

Good evening. We had roughly 180 hits again yesterday. Man, it’s good to see that viewership is still going up. I must say I am quite surprised by the response. Please keep coming and tell your friends. The more, the merrier!

ALERT! Due to censorship in the workplace, I cannot work on this from the office. Please be advised that future entries will rarely come before 9:00 PM eastern on weekdays. On the weekend, I will try to have it done sooner. Sorry for the inconvenience.

YESTERDAY

Not too bad and we finally get to see a decent afternoon. I can’t possibly tell you how much I love unearned runs – especially when they come in groups of 8. Amazing luck there. Pierre does it again with 9 points and both Cruz and Granderson did the same. Blalock and Hill were my only busts, giving me a total of 59 for the day. I jumped from #114 to #103 and am now 35 points off the Leaderboard. Baby steps, man.

TODAY

Weather,weather, weather everywhere. But I think I will be fine today. Here is the lineup:
C – Benji (usually does me right)
1B – Pujols (pretty sure he goes deep tonight)
2B – Shumaker (cheap pick, see stat corner from yesterday about low value steals)
3B – Wright (beginning to trust him again)
SS – Jeter (should have taken more Yanks)
LF – Bay (my favorite Canadian)
CF – Hamilton (token Ranger)
RF – Upton (steady pick)
DH – Sheff ( better play)
PS – Lincecum (Braves suck vs. lefties)

TOMORROW

Weather – It’s everywhere again. Wash/Mets 60%, Tam/Cle 60%, Tor/Bal 50%, Fla/Phi 50%. Please remember also to check for rainouts tonight as they could very well lead to a double header tomorrow.

Teams facing Lefties – Cards, Jays, Cubs, Rocks, A’s, Nats, Yanks and Braves

Teams facing rookies – Rays (weather permitting here. The kid has had 2 starts and got shelled in both), Yanks, Pads and Giants

Pitcher – There are a few chices here but the weather will make this really difficult.
Peavy – 2-2, 1.50 ERA in May, .200 BAA, but is 2-3 with a 4.77 at Chase field since ‘06
Weaver - .123 BAA, ChiSox can’t hit, 3-0, 1.23 ERA at home.
Doc – 7IP and 1 run or less in last 4 starts, .288 BAA, weather is in play
Zambrano – ALERT! Will be on 85-90 pitch count
Kershaw – gave up 9 earned at Coors on 4-26
Bedard – skipped last start, 2 starts before were 5 IP or less, did shutout Oak in April
Johan – 0.81 home ERA
If the weather is clear I go Johan for sure. Will have to check it closely tonight. If not, I’m stumped right now. Nonetheless, let's pencil in the Met.

First – Pujols (6-13, 1HR), Miggy (6-20, 2HR), Howard, Berkman (13-41, 5HR), Branyan (2-5, HR), Tex (vs. rook), Morneau (5-9, HR), A Gonz. All goodoptions,butI have to take Tex vs.the rook.

Second – Utley, Uggla (12-33, 4HR), Cano (vs. rook). Possible weather issues in Philly so I have to take the red hot Cano. When in doubt, go against Texas pitching

Third – Longoria (vs. rook), Hanley (10-28, HR), Aroid (vs. rook), Chipper (13-33, 6HR but may be injured), Cantu 5-10, HR). Chipper is banged up and Aroid is still a steal at only 4.9 mil.

Short – Hardy (5-11 but may be out), Theriot (8-25), Furcal (3-8), Bartlett (vs. rook but may be out), Tejada (11-30, 2HR), Jeter (vs. rook). I can't go all Yanks and with Bartlett ailing, I am going to bust out Tejada again. He has been a favorite pick of minefor years.

Left – Braun (7-10,HR), Fonzie (14-25,2HR), Holliday (3-5 but poor vs. lefties), Francisco *(cheap special, 6-7, 4HR)*, Ibanez, Lee (11-31, 2HR), Damon (vs. rook). Braun and Soriano have had a poor run of late. Let's go Francisco! and save some dough.

Center – Granderson (4-13, 2HR), Kemp (6-14, HR), Hamilton (4-6, HR). Grandy did me right yesterday,but Hamilton is the cheapest of the three.

Right – Mags (6-16), Hawpe (2-4, HR), Pence (7-18). Hawpe seesa good starter and Mags is just getting too damn old. Pence it is because, if nothing else, Arroyo blows.

DH – Nothing stands out – kind of liking Blalock. I would take Sheff, but see the Stat Corner for why I won't. No one else I like but Hank the Bank.

C – Yadi (4-11), Laird (5-10, HR), Martin (6-17), Mauer (1-5). Gues what? I saved enough money with the Francisco pick that I can now afford Mauer.

I have 0.9 Mil left unspent. Sometimes it's better off that way. I really like this lineup - if the weather holds.

FINAL LINEUP

C – Mauer
1B – Tex
2B – Cano
3B – ARoid
SS – Tejada
LF – Francisco the cheapo
CF – Hamilton
RF – Pence
DH – Blalock
PS – Johan

STAT CORNER

Joe Mauer – In 2008, Mauer hit 9 home runs in 536 official at bats – 46.8 AB per HR. In 2009, he hit his first 9 home runs in only 77 at bats – 8.6 AB per HR. Pretty impressive. I wonder if a needle comes with that extra pop?

Who can’t hit lefties? Here are the ten lowest batting averages vs. lefties of batters who have had at least 25 at bats against them. I only included players who are commonly picked in BBC.

Chris Davis .136
Uggla .140
Soriano .143
Hardy .147
Dye .152
Quentin .167
Blalock .167
Ankiel .174
Huff .182
Rollins .186

Want the same numbers vs. righties? Here are the top 5:

Ian Stewart .160
Hall .176
Atkins .186
Ortiz .188
Sheff .197

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. I do not tell people who to put on their teams. If you choose to follow my lead, do so at your own risk.
Please keep reading and pass along any suggestions you may have. Thanks for coming and……..

FU KERRY WOOD.