Monday, the 29th

Good morning, everyone. There are exactly two weeks left until the end of the first half. It's time to buckle down and make the most of it if you are in the running, or to hone your skills and maybe try a few things differently in order to gear up for the 2nd half if you are out of it. Either way, interleague is over and we are finally back to real baseball. More importantly, it's the last chance for any of the leaders to pass Poulliot, who has led for practically the entire half. He seems to be weakening of late, but is it enough? Time will tell.

YESTERDAY

Pretty much all of the top staffs equalled eachother out yesterday, aside from the Dodgers who had a really rough start, but recovered to save a decent day. Greinke was solid for me, putting up a respectable 23. My bats were led by Hill and his 2 longballs, but the rest were pretty average at best. In the end, my 30 points from the bats gave me a 53 overall. I dropped one spot to 13th overall, but am only 5 points out of the top 10 (as opposed to 20 points out a day ago).

TODAY

Close to 80% have Lincecum, so this will not me a big moving day for most. Halladay and Harden are represented, but surprisingly by only a few. Will Pujols blow the day for the majority, or does Lince have the stuff to hold him off? Keep an eye out in the STAT CORNER today for an interesting Fat Al stat. Here's the final again...

C: AJ
1B: Gonzalez
2B: Kinsler
3B: Blake
SS: Hanley
LF: Braun
CF: Kemp
RF: Dye
DH: Ortiz
PS: Lince

TOMORROW

Weather:
Cubs/Pirates 60%
White Sox/Indians 60%
Nats/Marlins 60%
I don't really think rain will be a problem, but will be sure to double check it before nights end.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Red Sox, Indians, White Sox, Pirates, Nats, Brewers, Rangers, Cards, Tigers, Padres

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Nats vs. West (3-2 3.38 in 7 starts)
Tigers vs. Gonzalez (0-1 8.03 in 3 outings, one of them a start)

Pitchers:
Lee (4-6 2.92, 2-4 2.21 at home, 2-0 2.43 in June, 1-0 0.00 vs. CWS this year, Kerry Wood)
Joba (4-2 3.81, 69 K in 75 IP, Less than 5 Ip in 9 of last 10, 0-2 5.18 at home, 2-1 3.56 in June, vs. Sea)
Lilly (7-5 3.41, 3-4 4.96 on road, 1-1 3.24 in June, rocked in last start, at Pit)
Garza (5-5 3.61, 1-3 4.29 on road, 1-1 3.42 in June, 1.16 WHIP, at Tor)
Richmond (6-4 3.68, 1.16 WHIP, 3-2 3.92 at home, 2-2 4.07 in June, vs. Tam)
Haren (6-5 2.25, 0.81 WHIP, 104 K in 108 IP, 2-1 2.63 on road, 2-1 1.70 in June, 0-1 3.86 vs. Cin, 2 R or less in last 6 starts)
Johan (9-5 3.08, 100 K in 96 IP, 1.20 WHIP, 3-3 4.79 on road, 2-3 5.93 in June, 1-0 0.00 vs. Mil this year)
Saunders (8-4 3.66, 4-2 4.57 on road, 2-1 4.50 in June, 0-1 11.81 vs. Tex this year)
Carp (5-2 1.78, 3-0 0.43 at home, 2-2 2.70 in June, 1-0 3.00 vs. SF this year)
Bills (9-3 3.10, 99 K in 104 IP, 6-2 3.35 at home, 3-0 3.82 in June, 1-0 4.5 vs. Col)
The way I see it, this is a two man race. As much as I like Haren and as well as he has done for me, I have to go with Carp at home. The fact that he is at home breaks the virtual tie.

Bats to Avoid (and tons of them):
Feliz (5-26, 2HR vs. starter)
Howard (2-19)
Stairs (2-15, HR)
Dobbs (0-10)
Victorino (1-8)
Andino (1-9)
Zaun (1-8)
Bay (1-14)
Dye (6-30, HR)
Thome (5-24, HR)
B. Anderson (2-16)
Rios (2-15)
C. Snyder (0-8)
Kendall (2-23)
Hall (4-21, HR)
Hart (2-11)
Hardy (2-10)
Cruz (3-15, HR)
Byrd (2-14)
Blalock (1-10)
Salty (1-9)
C. Davis (1-8)
Vlad (2-11)
Abreu (1-8)
J. Buck (3-16)
Crisp (2-13, HR)
Pena (1-9)
Crede (1-10, HR)
DeRosa (1-13)
LaRue (0-10)
Renteria (1-12)
Benji (1-8)
Ausmus (6-34)
Hudson (1-15, HR)
Martin (3-15)
Ethier (1-13)
Kemp (0-8)
Atkins (1-17)
Stewart (1-8)

First:
Konerko (16-45, 5HR vs. good lefty)
A. LaRoche (5-12, HR vs. good lefty)
Overbay (5-16 vs. good starter)
Prince (3-9 vs. good lefty)
Morneau (7-20)
Pujols (9-21, 3HR)
Giambi (1-1)
Loney (6-9, HR)
I like Morneau and possibly Derek, but I just can't stand being the one smart ass that thought I could best Pujols.

Second:
Roberts (2-5)
Phillips (3-9, 2HR vs. good starter)
F. Lopez (9-21, HR)
Kinsler (8-18, 3HR vs. good lefty)
Since I have him at a discount, I will keep Kinsler, but Lopez is a good possibility if I need to save money later.

Third:
ARoid (2-7, HR)
Young (8-22 vs. good lefty)
Inge (1-1 vs. lefty rook)
I want either ARoid or Inge here. Since Inge is only .1 cheaper, I will risk another disapointment from the big boy.

Short:
Escobar (4-8, HR)
Rollins (7-23)
Peralta (2-5 vs. lefty)
Alexei (3-8 vs. good lefty)
Hanley (n/a)
Greene (7-20, HR)
Tejada (1-3)
Furcal (7-16, HR)
Tulo (5-17, HR vs. good starter)
Just like at 2nd, I am saving money on Hanley and none of the other matchups impress me.

Left:
Francisco (2-5 vs. lefty)
Crawford (2-3 vs. good starter)
Braun (4-9 vs. good lefty)
Span (3-8)
Holliday (1-1)
Surprise pick here. As I look for something I like, such as a good bat with a good matchup, I see that Josh Willingham is 9 for his last 18, is hitting .278 overall, and is facing his former team. He also costs only 3.0. It's worth a chance and saves a ton of cap room.

Center:
Podsednik (8-23 vs. good lefty)
Rowand (3-5 vs. good starter)
Turd city here. Give me Upton, just because I want to move on and he is really hitting well of late.

Right:
Francouer (2-6)
Cuddyer (4-11, HR)
Ludwick (2-5, HR vs. lefty)
Magglio (1-1, HR vs. lefty rook)
Hawpe (6-16 vs. good starter)
The only one I like (Hawpe) is facing a hell of a pitcher (Bills). When there is nothing else I see, give me Upton vs. Arroyo in a hitters park.

DH:
Ortiz (n/a vs. lefty)
Rivera (3-10)
Cust (3-6, HR)
Teahen (8-26)
Ortiz is not a good match vs. a lefty and I really don't trust Cust. I think I will give Teahen and his .293 avg. vs. righties a chance so I can go a little bigger at catcher.

Catchers:
McCann (6-7, 2HR)
VMart (2-3)
AJ ( 11-35, HR vs. good lefty)
Posada (1-2)
Napoli (6-9)
Mauer (4-13)
You know, I have never liked Posada much until this year, but somehow he has finally grown on me. That, and he keeps me under the cap.

FINAL LINEUP

C: Posada
1B: Pujols
2B: Kinsler
3B: ARoid
SS: Hanley
LF: Willingham
CF: Upton
RF: Upton
DH: Teahen
PS: Carp

STAT CORNER

Do you like to take Albert Pujols on a day after he goes hitless. It certainly sounds like a good idea. However, the best player in the game is 17-79 (.215) with 6 homers and 21 RBI coming off a night where he goes hitless compared to 59-183 (.322) with 22 homers and 53 RBI after a game in which he gets a hit. Odd but true.

It is time for me to pick my All Star Team. Here are my picks, along with what would be my second choices.

American League

1B: Youk over Branyan
2B: Hill over Kinsler
SS: Bartlett over Scutaro
3B: Longoria over Figgins
C: Mauer over VMart
OF: Bay over Damon
OF: Hunter over Jones
OF: Cake over Granderson

National League

1B: Pujols over Gonzalez
2B: Utley over Phillips
SS: Tejada over Theriot
3B: Wright over Reynolds
C: Yadi over Benji
OF: Braun over Werth
OF: Ibanez over Kemp
OF: Hawpe over Upton

Tomorrow we will look at the best and worst from July of 2008 in anticipation of what we may expect in the next 30 days.

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, pass the word, and.....

FU For Life Kerry Wood