Monday, the 20th

Good morning, everyone. It sure is nice to be home. I have not seen the first pitch of any game since the 2nd half started, my research has been done in advance, and I have seen my team suffer because of it (particularly last night). It's great to be back in the saddle and to have the ability to make a decent effort again. Time to climb back up a few hills. Thanks for putting up with the shitty quality over the weekend and now, back to business.

YESTERDAY

If it wasn't for sucking, my team wouldn't have done anything at all yesterday. Gallardo and his pen were kind enough to keep me in the positives, but not much more. Why I didn't take Cain, I'll never know. My bats weren't much better. The head of the class was Zobrist with 4. The whole group combined to give me a strong 14 and my 16 total bumped me back to 17th overall and 8111 (57 off the LB) in the 2nd half. Dropping over 7000 spots gives me a bit of a belly ache. I suggest you avoid doing so yourself if at all possible.

TODAY

This was not an easy day for picking starters either. Did you go with Blackburn and his lack of strikeouts as I did? It appears that he is the second most popular pick today as the majority went with the rookie Hanson. My guess is that both of them will be less than spectacular and 15-20 points will be a good staff score today. Here's the final again...

C: Napoli
1B: Pujols
2B: Zo
3B: Figgins
SS: Hanley
LF: Soriano
CF: Jones
RF: Hawpe
DH:Thome
PS: Blackburn

TOMORROW

Weather:
Brewers/Pirates 50%
Mets/Nats 60%
Angels/Royals 60%

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Tigers, Yankees, Nats, Mets, Jays, Indians, Cards, Angels, Rays, Twins, Reds

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Braves vs. Sadowski (2-0 1.00 in 3 starts)
Brewers vs. Vazquez (1-3 6.54 in 4)
Indians vs. Cecil (3-1 5.40 in 8)
Red Sox vs. Hunter (1-1 2.35 in 4)
A's vs. Swarzak (2-3 4.50 in 6)

Possible Load-ups:
Indians vs. Cecil (rook)
Angels vs. Chen (sucks rocks)
Brewers vs. Vazquez (rook)
Yankees vs. Hill (never faced)
Orioles vs. Mitre (1st start of year)
Dodgers vs. Bailey (sucks)

Bats You May Want To Avoid:
W. Harris (0-10 vs. starter)
Ad Laroche (3-16)
Wilson (1-14)
Pujols (3-21, yeah, I said it)
C Jackson (1-13)
J Upton (1-12)
B Harris (1-10)

Pitchers:
Lannan (6-7 3.64, Low K's, 1-1 4.58 July, 3-1 2.25 home, 1-1 3.21 vs. Mets this season)
Lee (5-9 3.31, 1-2 2.86 July, 0-1 7.20 vs. Tor, Kerry Wood)
Beckett (11-3 3.35, 1.15 WHIP, 110 K in 121 IP, 5-3 4.32 road, 2-0 2.78 July, at Tex)
Wandy (9-6 2.81, 112 K in 118 IP, 4-2 2.21 home, 3-0 0.41 July, 0-1 4.50 vs. StL)
Niemann (8-4 3.73, 5-2 4.08 road, 1-0 2.25 July, 0-1 3.00 vs. CWS)
Sherzer (5-6 3.64, 97 K in 96 IP, 2-3 2.15 road, 0-1 4.50 vs. Col)
Cook (9-3 3.85, 3-1 4.44 home, 1-0 4.32 July, 0-0 9.82 vs. Zona)
Braden (7-8 3.45, 2-1 4.50 July, 0-0 2.50 vs. Min)
Wolf (4-4 3.51, 1.16 WHIP, 1-1 2.95 July, 0-2 4.09 home, vs. Cin)
This one starts out pretty easy for me. It'seither Wandy at home or Wolf at home. After that, it gets pretty difficult to choose. The bottom line is that if you took away the names and looked solely atthe stats, Wandy would be the play. That said, give me Wolf in a close one. Nevermind - Wandy again.

First:
Miggy (1-3 vs. lefty)
Youk (2-2 vs. rook)
Berkman (3-10, HR)
Konerko (2-5, HR vs. good starter)
Votto (4-9 vs. good lefty)
Youk is the only oneI like here,but I feel like I can do better outside the stats. I'm going to reach out and get Prince vs. the rookie.

Second:
Castillo (4-9, HR vs. lefty)
Pedroia (1-2 vs. rook)
Zo (1-1 vs. lefty)
Phillips (3-9, HR vs. good lefty)
Again, I will go back to the possible loadup category and get Roberts against Mitre. This game should see bullpens a plenty.

Third:
Inge (1-3, HR vs. lefty)
Zimmerman (6-19 vs. lefty)
ARam (1-3)
Rolen (5-9 vs. good lefty)
Cantu (2-3)
I like Inge, but he has been a little off lately soI will go for ARam in Philly. He has always been one of my favorites to take and Blanton is a turd.

Short:
Renteria (4-11)
Scutaro (6-17 vs. good lefty)
Peralta (2-3 vs. lefty rook)
Drew (10-32 vs. good starter)
Cabrera (2-2 vs. rook)
With nothing here at all appealing, I will take a chance on Yunel Escobar vs. the Giants rookie. It maybe the only chance the Braves get to score in this series.

Left:
Sheff (2-6, HR vs. lefty)
Fonzie (4-11)
Bay (1-2 vs. rook)
Lee (4-9, HR)
Rivera (1-2 vs. lefty)
I will keep Fonzie as well tomorrow. He is the hottest of this group and maybe finally coming out of the washed up funk.

Center:
Rowand (10-20)
Byrd (6-18 vs. good starter)
Grady is tempting and I can't pull the trigger on Rowand. I think I will stay with Jones, who is best vs. righties. Toss in Coors East as well as Mitre and pen work and I'm in.

Right:
Ichiro (1-3)
Kearns (10-29, 4HR vs. lefty)
Francouer (6-12, HR vs. lefty)
Abreu (5-7 vs. lefty)
Dye (2-5, HR vs. good starter)
Willingham (7-23, 3HR vs. lefty)
None of these guys feel good to me right now. Hawpe is a thought,but has let me down a few times lately. I think I'll give Markakis the call and stay with the blow up Mitre theme.

DH:
Scott (1-2)
Ortiz (1-2, HR)
Thome (1-3, HR vs. good starter)
Scott is tempting, but I don't like to take more than 3 bats vs. one team. Ortiz is suitable in Texas, though.

Catcher:
Benji (8-24)
Flores (4-6, HR vs. Lefty)
VMart (1-3 vs. lefty rook)
Olivo (1-2, HR)
Snyder (13-22, HR vs. good starter)
I don't trust any of them. Give me McCann by default.

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCann
1B: Prince
2B: Roberts
3B: ARam
SS: Yunel
LF: Fonzie
CF: Jones
RF: Cake
DH: Papi
PS: Magic Wandy

DISCLAIMER

My picks are exactly that, my picks. If you choose to follow my lead, you are welcome to do so at your own risk. Thanks as always for reading, please come again, pass the word, and.....

FU For Life Kerry Wood!