Wednesday, the 24th

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming back and, if you are new, welcome. We have been averaging about 250 views a day for a while now and yesterday was exactly one month after I started this. Your respose has been tremendous and I am very happy that you guys find it worth your time to drop by. Please keep one thing in mind if you will. While all comments and suggestions are welcome, this is not a message board. If you would like to comment on baseball, the blog, ot BBC in general, please do so. Positive or negative, all suggestions are good suggestions. That being said, please keep your comments constructive and do not criticize previous comments or the people who post them. Let's save the smack talk for the real message boards, whichever one you prefer. I myself come from the Country Club. However, anyone who plays this game is welcome here and will be treated equally, no matter who you are or what your alliance is. Thank you.

YESTERDAY

I was very adamant about how good I felt about my bats yesterday. For some reason, though, Jamie Moyer decided he was tired of being a whipping post and most of my bats curled up like a dried up worm. Justin Upton gave me 10, but the rest pretty much busted out. It just goes to show that no matter how much we think we know, baseball will always have the upper hand. If it was easy, we wouldn't play. Fortunately, Lince kicked in 32 and, as promised, movement was minimal for most of us. In the end, my 55 points was not too bad, but dropped me to 8th overall, in the middle of that pack of about 7 teams, jockeying for position to see who can reach the next level first.

TODAY

Today will be different as the Red Sox carry about 45% of the staffs and Zona has another 30% or so. This leaves a good few of you to share the rest. I also see that the popular position picks are a little more diverse today than they have been. Could be a moving day. Here's the final...

C: Weiters
1B: Pujols
2B: Hill
3B: Rolen
SS: Zobrist
LF: Crawford
CF: Wells
RF: Pence
DH: Stewart
PS: Lester

TOMORROW

Weather:
Cubs/Tigers 50%
Dodgers/White Sox 50%
Indians/Pirates 50%
It looks like the weathermen have no idea at this point, but 50% doesn't scare me in the least.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Tigers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, Braves, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Marlins, Orioles

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Twins vs. Burris (1st career start, but 46 relief appearences in previous years)
Mariners vs. Leblanc (0-0 9.00 in debut)
Reds vs. Cecil (2-1 4.26 in 5 starts)
Rays vs. Bastardo (2-2 5.21 in 4 starts)
Orioles vs. West (2-2 3.96 in 6 starts)

Bats to avoid:
N. Johnson (6-32. HR vs. starter)
R. Belliard (3-17)
Dunn (2-12, HR)
C. Guillen (4-22)
Inge (1-9)
Tatis (0-8)
Ludwick (2-15)
Counsell (1-12)
Teix (0-9)
Swisher (1-9)

Pitchers:
Lilly (7-4 3.04, 3-3 4.40 on road, 1-0 1.98 in June, 1.06 WHIP, at Det)
Carp (5-1 1.53, 2-1 2.15 on road, 2-1 2.43 in June, 0.72 WHIP, at Mets)
Johan (8-5 3.22, 97 K in 89 IP, 5-2 2.18 at home, 1-1 7.33 in June, vs. StL)
Bills (9-3 2.83, 96 K in 98 IP, 3-1 2.27 on road, 3-0 2.92 in June, at CWS)
Bannister (5-4 3.89, 2-2 4.55 on road, 1-2 4.01 in June, at Hou)
Washburn (3-5 3.24, 2-2 3.00 at home, 0-2 2.77 in June, vs. SD)
Smoltz (Welcome back Smoltzie! will be on a pitch count, at Was)
Lee (4-6 2.94, 2-2 3.83 on road, 2-0 2.40 in June, Kerry FU Wood, at Pitt)
Cueto (6-4 2.55, 5-2 1.53 on road, 2-1 2.63 in June, 1.12 WHIP, at Tor)
Carp, Bills and Washburn look like the best of the bunch. Lee would be a very good pickas well, but there is no way that I am going to fall forthat one again. The fact that the Mets are using a minor league lineup is all I need to know. Carp.

First:
Lee (n/a)
Pujols (2-4, HR vs good lefty)
Prince (5-15, HR)
Morneau (n/a)
Youk (n/a)
Votto (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Howard (n/a)
C. Davis (3-5, 2HR)
This one is automatic for me. Without any serious consideration for the others, I want Prince.

Second:
Castillo (6-20 vs. good starter)
Phillips (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Utley (n/a)
Roberts n/a vs. lefty rook)
I am jumping off the Jays duo today for sure. Phillips looks safe, but I like Utley at the Trop.

Third:
Chipper (7-19 vs. good lefty)
ARoid (7-24 vs. good starter)
Longoria (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Chipper never performs when I take him, plus it's a day game and he tends to puss out. ARoid sucks and Longoria doesn't impress me inthis matchup. To save dough, I'll roll with Michael Young.

Short:
Jeter (15-52 vs. good starter)
Zobrist (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Bartlett (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Hanley (n/a vs. lefty)
Bartlett is decent, Jeter sees a good pitcher, and Zo is cold as ice this week (see stat corner). Give me Hanley by default.

Left:
Pierre (n/a vs. lefty)
Anderson (32-80, 3HR vs. lefty)
Damon (5-11 vs. good starter)
Bay (n/a)
Bay is hands down the best of this bunch. Watch out if you want Anderson. He rarely sees lefties in favor of Diaz.

Center:
Cameron (2-5, 2HR)
Sizemore (1-1)
Upton (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Jones (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Upton is hot,but struggles vs. lefties. Jones doesn't sound good to me. I could go with cameron, but Sizemore is a steal at less than 5 mil. You know what? Serious cap issues are in the works, make it Cameron.

Right:
Hart (2-6)
Guillen (6-16)
Francouer (3-6, HR vs. good lefty)
Bruce (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Cake (n/a vs. lefty rook)
Upton (n/a)
Upton is the only one I am considering here.

DH:
Matsui (12-22, HR vs. good starter)
Blalock (10-33, HR)
Byrd (5-10)
I can't be sure any of these will play. Give me Billy Butler whohits .292 vs. righties and is facing a turn in the form of a starter.


Catcher:
McCann (1-3 vs. good lefty)
VMart (1-1)
Salty (2-6)
Money is still a big issue for me. I'll take Salty in the night game.

Guys, be very careful tomorrow with the day games. Many starters could get the day off, especially if they are of the older variety.

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

STAT CORNER

Struggling bats over the last 7 days:
Zobrist .120
Reynolds .125
Rollins .130
Cruz .160
VMart .174
Soriano .179
Chipper .182
Zimmerman .185
Wright .185
Barmes .185
Ad. Jones .192

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 For Like Kerry Wood!