Thursday, the 25th

Good morning, everyone. Can anyone tell me why the Hell Manny is playing in minor league games? To me, this is not a 50 game suspension. Where do minor leaguers go when they are suspended? Back to high school? I mean, it's no skin off my ass, but if my team was competing with the Dodgers for the division title, I would be pissed. Good job, Selig. Keep up the good work!

YESTERDAY

So, Lester didn't do much more than I expected. I guess I'll take the 17 points, though, as I only took him out of a total lack of good starters yesterday. I pussed out on Haren because of the Rangers bats and that was probably the wrong move. Seriously, what has Texas done in the last month. Oh well. The bats were pretty good for me led by Hill and Wells with 10 each. My second mistake of the day was dropping Lind for Crawford. In the end, my 52 points was enough to bump me back up to 7th overall (sorry, Gene). On the bright side, the pack that I am in is getting a little closer to 4th place, only 36 points behind.

TODAY

It looks like some of you took the chance with Lee and the bullpen tsunami that is Kerry FU Wood. I will say that Lee is a great pick, but you better hope he goes the distance. About 65% have Carp today, as do I, facing another 25% that have Johan. It should make for a great day of afternoon baseball. Here's the final again...

C: Salty
1B: Prince
2B: Utley
3B: Young
SS: Hanley
LF: Bay
CF: Cameron
RF: Upton
DH: Butler
PS: Carp

TOMORROW

Weather:
Nats/Orioles 50%
Yanks/Mets 50%
Looks like nothing to worry about at this time.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Orioles, Reds, Jays, Phillies, Mets, Tigers, Cards, Rodkies, Dodgers, Mariners

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
White Sox vs. Wells (see "pitchers")
Orioles vs. Detwiler (0-3 4.76 in 7 starts)
Phillies vs. Romero (see "pitchers")
Rangers vs. Silva (0-0 6.00 in 3 starts)

Bats to avoid:
D. Lee (3-16 vs. starter)
VMart (2-15)
Francouer (1-10)
Chipper (5-28, 2HR)
Burrell (2-12)
Almezega (0-11)
Cameron (3-25)
Hart (1-8)

Pitchers:
Vargas (3-2 3.24, 1-2 5.16 in June, at LAD)
Verlander (8-3 3.31, 118 K in 98 IP, 1.15 WHIP, 2-1 2.15 in June, at Hou)
Wandy (6-6 3.18, 3-2 2.15 at home, 1-2 5.87 in June, vs. Det)
Wainwright (8-4 3.58, 3-1 4.15 in June, vs. Minn)
Weaver (7-3 2.53, 2-2 3.65 on road, 3-1 2.96 in June, at Zona)
Kershaw (4-5 3.76, 75 K in 76 IP, 1-2 2.18 in June, vs. Sea)
Millwood (7-5 2.62, 3-1 0.94 in June, vs. SD)
Wells (1-3 2.57, 0-1 2.10 on road, 1-1 3.38 in June, 1.10 WHIP, at CWS)
Contreras (2-6 5.23, 2-1 1.23 in June, vs. CHC)
Harang (5-7 3.66, 1-4 4.47 on road, 0-2 2.19 in June, at Cle)
Happ (4-0 3.47, 1-0 4.13 in June, at Tor)
Romero (4-3 3.59, 3-1 3.75 at home, 2-1 2.96 in June, vs. Phi)
CC (6-4 3.71, banged up, 4-3 3.44 on road, 1-1 4.50 in June, at Mets)
Beckett (8-3 3.74, 88 K in 91 IP, 4-3 4.67 on road, 3-1 1.88 in June, shutout Atlanta last week)
Jurrjens (5-5 2.89, 2-3 3.43 at home, 0-3 3.80 in June, vs. Bos)
Johnson (7-1 2.66, 1.05 WHIP, 4-1 1.94 at home, 3-0 2.64 in June, at TB)
Shields (6-5 3.36, 4-2 3.07 at home, 2-1 2.93 in June, vs. Fla)
Cain (9-1 2.28, 4-0 2.06 on road, 3-0 2.22 in June, 1-0 1.29 vs. Mil this year)
Gallardo (7-4 3.00, 93 K in 90 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 2-2 2.53 in June, vs. SF)
It's pretty easy for me to narrow this down to, oh, seven. Millwood, Beckett, Johnson, Cain, Gallardo, Verlander and Weaver can all be great picks. As we all know, though, at least two of them will blow up. Cain and Johnson have to go because of the teams they face. I just don't trust Gallardo for some reason. I am really torn between the other four. I almost never do this, but Millwood is by far the cheapest of the three. He has been as good as anyone in the last month and the Rangers pen really hasn't been bad at all. Hopefully he can at least keep pace with the others.

First:
Dunn (1-3, HR)
Tex (4-10)
Youk (1-3 vs. good starter)
Pujols (n/a vs. lefty)
Giambi (3-4)
Youk and Pujols face decent pitchers and Tex has slowed down lately. Give me Dunn on the road in a good hitters park. He actually hits .280 vs. righties. If I have money left when I am done, I may upgrade though.

Second:
Phillips (4-10, 2HR vs. lefty)
Hill (n/a vs. lefty)
Scutaro (n/a vs. lefty)
Cano (1-3)
Kinsler (n/a vs. rookie)
Fontenot (4-8, 2HR)
Utley (2-5 vs. lefty)
I like Kinsler, buthe only hits .226 vs. rhp. Cano is not hitting anything this week and both Hill and Scutaro face a decent starter. I want Phillips on the road vs. a poor pitching squad.

Third:
Zimmerman (1-3)
DeRosa (4-14, HR)
ARoid (2-3)
Longoria (2-4 vs. good starter)
Inge (2-3 vs. good lefty)
This group is pure crap. Inge (banged up), DeR0 (struggling), ARoid (can't hit), Longoria (vs. good starter), and Zimmerman don't impress me at all. I'll come back to this at the end.

Short:
Rollins (2-4 vs. lefty)
Jeter (1-3)
Hanley (5-15 vs. good starter)
This group isn't much better. Hanley sees a good pitcher and Rollins is undependable this year. Tulowitzki is a good thought, but he doesn't hit lefties too well. Jeter has hit over .400 vs. the Mets in the last three years. Book him.

Left:
Soriano (5-8, 3HR)
Lind (n/a vs. lefty)
Anderson (9-20, HR vs. good starter)
With very little thought, Fonzie's numbers vs. Contreras are too good to pass on.

Center:
Sizemore (8-20)
Wells (n/a vs. lefty)
Victorino (1-2 vs. lefty)
Melky (1-3)
Granderson (2-4 vs. good lefty)
Wells doesn't hit lefties, Grandy sees a decent starter and Victorino has little power. Sizemore vs. Harang is a pretty easy one for me.

Right:
Fukudome (2-5)
Bradley (4-12, HR)
Cake (1-3 vs. lefty)
Ross (3-8 vs. good starter)
cruz (n/a vs. rook)
Hawpe (n/a vs. lefty)
The only one in this group that is hitting well is Hawpe, but he is not too good with the lefties. I know Vlad has been poor this year, but he traditionally hits over .330 vs. lefties. He also cut that nappy hair of his and immediately got results last night. it's worth a shot.

DH:
Ortiz (2-3, HR but in NL park)
Cust (2-3, 2HR)
Rivera is a decent option as he hits lefties very well (over.425), but I like the numbers on Cust as well. Let me go with the one that has both average and power. Juan.

Catcher:
Soto (2-5, HR)
Posada (1-3)
Benji (4-8 vs. good starter)
Yadi (n/a vs. lefty)
Mauer (n/a vs. good starter)
I kind of like Posada, but not in that lame ass pitchers park that replaced Shea. I know Wainwright is decent, but Mauer is better.

Back to Third. Money is not an issue, but do I want to spend it here? I can go back to Pujols at first and still have anyone I want. Let me start by doing that. I'll regret it later, but when they all suck, I want the Hall of Famer (steroid HOF that is).

FINAL LINEUP
C: Mauer

1B: Pujols

2B: Phillips

3B: ARoid

SS: Jeter

LF: Fonzie

CF: Sizemore

RF: Vlad

DH: Rivera

PS: Millwood

STAT CORNER

Lets look again at the best and worst home batting averages. Tomorrow, we'll look at the same numbers, but on the road.

Best Avg. at home (100 AB min.)
Mauer .458
Miggy .409
Hawpe .402
Sandoval .392
Ad. Laroche .376
Tejada .367
Harris .355
Castillo .353
Ichiro .351
Youk .350

Worst Avg. at home:
Headley .157
Wells .165
Giles .176
Fontenot .176
Swisher .177
Hardy .188
Buriss .190
R. Sweeney .191
Rollins .192
Duncan .192

DISCLAIMER

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

FU For Life Kerry Wood!