Tuesday, the 23rd

Good morning, everyone. I hope you enjoyed your uneventful Monday and I also wish you a good uneventful Tuesday. More on that later. Are my eyes decieving me, or have the Rockies really won 17 of 18 games. Sadly enough, they are still 9 games behind the Dodgers. On the bright side, they only train the Giants by 1/2 a game for the wild card. Who would have thought that those two would be in the position they are in. This is why I love this game. I also see that we had close to 300 views again yesterday. Your partonage is once again greatly appreciated.

YESTERDAY

Like I promised, yesterday was kind of a wash. The vast majority picked up 28 ugly points from the Braves staff, myself included. The second most popular pick (Oakland) did pretty much the same. Most of us had the same bats as well. Hawpe gave me 10, Tulo 6, and everyone got at least two, giving me a total of 65 on the day. This was good enough to move me up to 6th overall. Unfortunately, I am about 50 points behind the next pack and am only a handful of points away from being out of the top ten altogether. No complaints, though.

TODAY

I speculated yesterday that 75% of the Leaderboard would have Lincecum today. Boy was I wrong. It's 88%. This will give us yet another day of little movement unless you went against the grain. The bats will be the factor that decides your fate today and, fortunately, I love the ones I have lined up. Here they are...

C: Pudge
1B: Pujols
2B: Hill
3B: Longoria
SS: Bartlett
LF: Crawford
CF: McLouth
RF: Upton
DH: Rasmus
PS: Lince

TOMORROW

Weather:
Orioles/Marlins 60%
I see no reason for concern at this time.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Nationals, Indians, White Sox, Angels, Rockies, A's, Giants

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Boston vs. Stammen (1-2 4.76 in 6 starts)
Florida vs. Berken (1-3 6.84 in 5 starts)

Bats you might want to avoid:
Hinske (1-9 vs. starter)
Bartlett (2-14)
Stairs (1-10)
Olivo (2-11)
Guillen (0-9)
Vizquel (3-26)
Abreu (3-21)
Holliday (2-17)

Pitchers:
Saunders (7-4 3.80, 3-2 3.12 at home, 1-1 5.19 in June, vs. Col)
Joba (3-2 3.80, 64 K in 69 IP, 6 IP or less in 9 of last 10, 3-0 2.72 on road, 1-1 3.75 in June, at Atl)
Porcello (8-4 3.54, 2 R in last 2 starts, 3-2 4.22 at home, 2-1 3.08 in June, vs. CHC)
Lester (5-6 4.69, 100 K in 86 IP, 1.67 in last 4 starts, 2-5 5.36 on road, at Was)
Duke (7-5 3.18, low K's, 5-2 2.77 at home, 2-1 4.33 in June, vs. Cle)
Richmond (5-4 3.79, 2-2 4.22 at home, 0-1 4.60 in June, some is bullpen work, vs. Cin)
Garza (4-5 3.83, 3-2 3.52 at home, 0-1 4.60 in June, vs. Phi)
Thompson (2-1 3.89, Bullpen guy, 2-1 3.63 in June, vs. NYM)
Nieve (2-0 1.84 in 2 starts, vs. StL)
Blackburn (6-2 3.09, low K's, 3-2 3.46 on road, 1-0 1.88 in June, at Mil)
Wolf (3-2 3.29, 3-1 2.28 on road, 0-1 4.63 in June, vs. CWS)
Haren (6-4 2.23, 96 K in 101 IP, 4-3 1.87 at home, 2-0 1.50 in June, vs. Tex)
Marquis (9-4 3.71, low K's, 5-2 3.10 on road, 2-1 3.18 in June, at LAA)
Outman (4-1 3.48, 2-1 4.43 in June, 0-1 6.00 vs. SF this year)
What I see here is a large number of second rate starters that is just are just as likely to blow up as they are to pitch shutouts. Haren, Wolf, and Lester are the best of the bunch in my opinion. I can't risk Haren vs. Texas. Wold is probably fairly safe,but I have to give the ball to Lester the way he has been going lately.

First:
Tex (n/a vs. Kawakami)
Youk (n/a vs. rook)
Overbay (1-1)
Pena (4-7)
Pujols (0-1)
Huff (1-3, HR)
Morneau (1-1)
Berkman (n/a)
Gonzo (2-3)
I would be happy to drop Pujols, but there is not anyone who's numbers give me a good enough reason to do so.

Second:
Cano (n/a vs. Kawakami)
Polanco (5-7 vs. good starter)
Hill (3-9)
Roberts (3-4)
Again, I'll stay put here. Cano and Roberts are good options, but they don't have Hill's power and cost considerably more.

Third:
DeRosa (7-20 vs. good lefty starter)
Rolen (9-25, 2HR)
Longoria (1-3)
Wright (2-6, HR)
Young (11-28, HR vs. good starter)
I am going to pass on everyone else and save money with Rolen, who is hot and hits righties well against a poor pitching Arroyo. He also has multiple hits in 6 of his last 7 games.

Short:
Zobrist (1-3)
Hanley (n/a vs. rook)
Hardy (2-3, HR vs. good starter)
Tejada (n/a)
Renteria (3-5 vs. good lefty)
Big Ben's power is vs the righties and that's who he's facing tomorrow in Blanton. Because of this, I will continue to try topick the right side of Tampa's SS combo.

Left:
Damon (n/a vs. Kawakami)
Bay (n/a vs. rook)
Lind (1-1)
Crawford (7-22)
Braun (2-3 vs. good starter)
Lee (n/a)
Pierre (3-6)
I like Lind, Crawford, and Pierre the best among this group. Give me the hot hitting Lind over Pierre unless I need the money later.

Center:
Granderson (1-3, HR vs. good starter)
Wells (8-28, 2HR)
Kemp (2-4, HR)
I want to go with Kemp,but Wells has more power and isa steal at his current price. This does give me four Jays however, which I do not want. I may have to drop Lind before its all said and done.

Right:
Rios (2-5, HR)
Church (2-6)
Hart (2-3, 2HR vs. good starter)
Cuddyer (1-3)
Pence (n/a)
Upton (n/a)
I always talk about Pence, but rarely take him. Tomorrow, I will. No real good reason for this one, just a hunch.

DH:
Byrd (6-11 vs. good starter)
Rivera (1-3 vs. good lefty)
Rivera is probably the best pick here because of his numbers vs. lefties, but Marquis has been surprisingly good and I don't care much for that matchup. I could keep Rasmus, but Stewart is really hitting well and deserves a chance to play.

Catcher:
VMart (1-2 vs. good lefty)
Mauer (3-3, HR)
Martin (2-5, HR)
Benji (2-3 vs. good lefty)
Schneider (3-9, HR)
I can't afford the ones I really want, so let's get crazy. Nolasco really blows and it's enough that Weiters might just go deep for me.

I said before that I didn't want to have so many Blue Jays and I still don't. Drop Lind for Crawford. Now this leaves me .6 mil unused. Please remember the following. You do not always have to use it all. Changing your team simply for the sake of spending money is a bad move. If you like it, leave it.

FINAL LINEUP
C: Weiters

1B: Pujols

2B: Hill

3B: Rolen

SS: Zobrist

LF: Crawford

CF: Wells

RF: Pence

DH: Stewart

PS: Lester

STAT CORNER

As promised, we will check out the best pitchers thus far in June.

ERA Leaders (with at least 20 IP)
Millwood 0.94
Lannan 1.16
King Felix 1.19
Contreras 1.23
Haren 1.50
Floyd 1.57
Zambrano 1.66
Lester 1.71
Mazzaro 1.75
Blackburn 1.88
Beckett 1.88
Lilly 1.98

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