Wednesday, the 3rd

DH TOMORROW!!! SAN FRAN AT WASHINGTON!!!

Good morning everyone. Thanks for coming to see us once again. I see this morning that ESPN has again failed to update the scores. Well done ESPN, well done. And yet they wonder why Yahoo fantasy sports are blowing them out of the water. Nonetheless, I'll play again next year, just like the rest of you will. Also, please make sure to read the Stat Corner today. I have some pretty rediculous numbers in there.

YESTERDAY

Just like we always come back to ESPN we continue to take the most logical starters day after day. Johan - crap, Peavy - crap and hurt, Lince - sorry Lince takers. If you had Halladay and went against the grain by taking the AL starter, good for you. My bats came through late last night thanks to Miguel Tejada who continues to quietly put up the best numbers of all shortstops. He gave me 11 last night to lead my team. McCann and Kubel were total busts for me but I ended up with 35 points offensively. Add 9 from Johan's pen and I believe that a total of 44 will probably move me up just a little in the rankings. Then again, maybe not. It looks like I am still #79 and am 23 off the Leaderboard pace. I don't know how, but that is exactly where I was yesterday. Well, it's better then dropping.

TODAY

Well I must admit that I am surprised to see the pitching breakdown this morning. 86% of the Leaderboard seems to have taken Billingslea today as their starter. Honestly, I never gave him too much thought as he has been comparitively mediocre over the last month. I am either a genius or a moron, it appears, as I went with Weaver. Good luck to me! Here's the lineup again:

C: Salty
1B: Youker
2B: Phillips
3B: ARoid
SS: Jeter
LF: Lee
CF: Hunter
RF: Hawpe
DH: Byrd
PS: Dream Weaver

TOMORROW

Weather:
Giants/Nats 100%
Brewers/Marlins 50%
Mets/Pirates 50%
Rangers/Yankees 70%

Teams facing Lefties:
Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, White Sox, A's, Giants, Rockies, Dodgers

Teams facing rookies:
White Sox vs. Anderson (2-5 5.70 in 9 starts, 1-2 6.46 on road)
Giants vs. Detwiler (1-0 4.80 in 4 games)

Pitchers:
Hamels (3-2 5.21, inconsistent, 101 6.89 on road)
Kershaw (1-0 1.13 at home, not vs. Philly)
CC (7+ IP and 3 R or less in last 5 starts, 1-1 3.97 at home, .208 BAA vs. Texas)
Buehrle (6-1 2.71, 7+ IP in last 5 starts, 4-0 1.60 at home, vs. Oakland
Shields (3-1 2.83 at home, inconsistent, .244 BAA, vs. KC)
Z (At Atlanta, 2-1 3.80 on road, 46K in 49 IP, .244 BAA)
Jurrjens (5-2 2.59, finally rocked in last start, has never faced any Cubs)
Cain (6-1 2.31, 8 of 10 starts Quality, 2-0 1.59 on road, 7IP and 4R vs. Wash ytd)
Johnson (4-1 2.66, mediocre in last 4 starts, 1.66 home ERA, .286 BAA)
Wandy (5-4 2.26, 62 K in 67 IP, 7 IP 2 R and 11K vs. Col ytd, 3-1 0.70 at home)
Carp (3-0 0.62, 0.00 home ERA in 12 IP, .192 BAA)
My immediate thoughts are Buehrle, Carp and Wandy. I just can't go AL over NL even that worked out for the Halliday takers yesterday and with Wandy being as good as he has at home, I will take him over Carp. The way I see it, when you are totally torn between two starters ( in this case Wandy and Carp) and they are in the same league, both at home, both vs. bad teams, take the cheapest one. On top of that, Colorado is much worse of a team then Cincy.

First:
Youk (1-2)
Tex (2-8, 2HR)
Swisher (2-5, HR)
Morneau (5-20, HR)
Giambi (9-22, 2HR but vs. good starter)
Pena (8-25, 3HR)
Pujols (14-50, 2HR)
Of these, I like the matchup Tex has the best - as well as the launching pad he plays in.

Second:
Castillo (2-3)
Harris (1-3)
Uggla (5-11, HR)
Shumaker (7-21, HR)
9 of Uggla's 10 home runs have come at home. I'll give him another chance.

Third:
Lowell (1-3)
ARoid (0-3)
Crede (3-9)
Longoria (2-5)
Hall (4-6, 2HR but vs. a good starter)
ALERT! Evan is having an MRI today. Crede is still nursing a knee. I'll stay with ARoid again. Paying only 4.6 mil for him is the best deal in the game.

Short:
Wilson (10-26)
Jeter (1-2)
Cabrera (12-37, HR but vs. good starter)
Hanley (2-6)
Rollins (3-8)
ALERT! Hanley was lifted for a pinch runner last night. I'm going back to Tejada. He has been so, so solid lately and I don't want to overload with Yankees as Mccarthy is not really a bad pitcher.

Left:
Crawford (7-22)
Soriano (.362, 7 HR 16 RBI at Turner Field since 2007)
Ibanez (1-2)
It's getting hot and humid in Atlanta a nd balls are beginning to jump out of there (see what Francouer did last night?). Put that together with Fonzie's numbers in that park and I am going to take him, against my better judgement.

Center:
McLouth (2-6)
Granderson (4-11, HR)
Melky (3-3, 2HR)
Bourn (3-3)
Granderson in a landslide here.

Right:
Rios (6-18)
Magglio (15-38, 2HR)
Pence (2-3)
I really don't care for any of these guys. However, Mags hits Wake well and at the low, low, "I'm old and can't hit anymore" price of 3.8 mil, I will risk it.

DH:
Matsui (1-2)
Kubel (8-18)
This group is loaded with turd after turd these days. Godzilla is the only one I can possibly stomach.

Catcher:
Mauer (2-9)
VMart (7-25)
Suzuki (5-9, HR)
Pudge (3-7)
I have the money to do it. Give me VMart vs. Baker.

There are a number of cheap options out there for tomorrow at a few posisions. Find one you like and save some dough for another place.

LATE NIGHT DH UPDATE!!!

FINAL LINEUP
C: VMart
1B: Pujols over Dunn (Youk and Tex are banged up)
2B: Burriss x2 over Uggla
3B: Zimmerman x2 over ARoid
SS: Renteria x2 over Tejada
LF: Lewis x2 over Fonzie
CF: Rowand x2 over Grandy
RF: Winn x2 over Mags
DH: Johnson x2 over Byrd
PS: San Fran x2 over Wandy

Guys, we are overdue thisseason for a shitty DH. I'm going to roll with it, but look out and don't say I didn't want you!

STAT CORNER

Fact of the day #1: Dan Uggla hit his 100th home run last night. He has reached the 100 plateau faster than any other 2nd baseman in MLB history.

Fact of the day #2: Coming into this year, Ryan Theriot had hit 7 home runs in 1346 official at bats. This year, he hit 5 home runs in his first 99 at bats.

Fact of the day # 3: Atlanta's outfielders combined to hit a grand total of 2 home runs in the month of May. Jeff Francouer hit on on the 1st and Garrett Anderson hit one on the 31st.

In light of what happened last night, I thought it might be good to know what teams use their bullpens the most (in innings pitched). Here 'tis:

The most:
Marlins 184.0
A's 180.0
Orioles 178.2
Indians 178.0
Dodgers 176.0

The least:
Cubs 132.0
Pirates 132.1
Rangers 135.1
Royals 141.1
Tigers 141.1

DISCLAIMER

My picks are my picks. I do not tell anyone who to put on their teams. If you wish to follow my lead, do so at your own risk. Thanks for reading, please come again, tell a friend, make a suggestion, and as always.....

FU Nats Pen! (didn't expect that one, did you?)