Sunday, the 5th

Good morning, everyone. I see that traffic here has been a little low over the last few days. So many of you must be with family and low on time, or you have seen the piss poor quality I have put out. On the bright side, I get back home today, so things should be back to normal in time for tomorrows edition. Thanks as always for reading.

YESTERDAY

Again, I have yet to see anything, but it looks like Varitek, Votto, Hanley and Manny all went deep for me, leading me to 44 patting points. And, as expected, Lince was the king of the hill last night, pitching in 37 of his own. My 81 total points bumped me all the way up to 9th ovrall, 43 points out of 5th with just 8 days to go. I'll certainly take that with a smile.

TODAY
The summaries are not out yet, so I do not know the breakdown, but I think there will be some pretty good diversity. Again, I did the prep work for this on Thursday, so please check and make sure the starting pitchers have not been changed. Here's what I have.

C: AJ

1B: Pujols

2B: Castillo

3B: ARod

SS: Hanley

LF: Fonzie

CF: Upton

RF: Ichiro

DH: Thome

PS: Bills

TOMORROW

Weather:

There is no weather tomorrow.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Yankees, Jays, Reds, Red Sox, Orioles, Giants

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Astros vs. Vazquez (1-1 3.75 in 2 starts)
Rockies vs. Stammen (1-3 5.44 in 8 starts)
DBacks vs. Silva (0-2 8.86 in 5 starts)
Giants vs. West (3-2 4.06 in 8 starts, 1-0 0.00 vs. SF)

Bats to Avoid:
Overbay (2-24 vs. starter)
Lind (2-12)
Phillips (2-15)
O. Cabrera (4-23)
Johnson (2-11, HR)
Eckstein (2-19)
Willits (1-11)
Izturis (2-13)
Aybar (2-11)
Davis (1-11)
Roberts (4-27)



Pitchers:
Romero (6-3 2.85, 3-0 1.55 in last 4 starts, at NYY)
Jurrjens (6-6 2.73, 2-3 2.44 on road, 2 R or less in 4 of last 5, at ChC)
Wells (3-3 2.43, 1.08 WHIP, 2 R or less in 6 of last 7, 0-0 1.29 vs Atl)
Cueto (8-4 2.69, 1.12 WHIP, rocked in 3 of last 4, 6-2 2.14 on road, 0-1 5.14 vs. Phi)
Marquis (10-5 3.87, low K's, 4-2 4.34 at home, vs. Was)
Millwood (8-5 2.80, 1-0 4.50 vs. LAA)
Weaver (8-3 3.10, 1.13 WHIP, 5-1 1.83 at home, 0-1 6+ ERA vs. Tex)
Bergeson (5-2 3.53, 1.16 WHIP, 2 R or less in 6 of last 7, 0-1 4.48 on road, 1-0 0.00 at Sea)
Washburn (4-6 3.36, 1.19 WHIP, 3-2 3.00 at home, 0-1 1.29 vs. Balt)
Cain (9-2 2.48, 1 R or less in 7 of last 9, 5-1 2.44 at home, vs. FLa)

I have to go with Cain here. Jurrjens and Cueto are decent picks, but Cain has been the most dependable of late.

First:
Miggy (5-16, 2HR)
Howard (1-3, HR vs. good starter)
LaRoche (10-26, 2HR)
AGon (2-6)
Huff (13-42, HR vs. good lefty)
I could go with LaRoche, but I really hate thet sumbitch for some reason. Give me AGon vs. a washed up Garland.

Second:
Utley (1-3 vs. good starter)
Sanchez (11-19)

Since I don't like the matchup with Utley and Sanchez is banged up, I will go outside and a little cheaper with Pedroia.

Third:
Rolen (12-36, 3HR vs. lefty)
Inge (10-31, HR)
Kouz (3-10)

These are all solid picks, but something is telling me to take Reynolds at home vs. the rookie. For now, I will.

Short:
Hanley (5-13, HR vs. good starter)
I can't take Hanley vs. my starter, so it's either Drew or Renteria. For now, I will go with Edgar to save some money. I may upgrade later, though.

Left:
Holliday (6-16, HR)
Abreu (14-45, HR vs. good starter)
Man, I don't like any of the matchups for today. I am going to go with Bay at home. I know he's been struggling, but I like him over the other matchups and he is at home.

Center:
Wells (15-38, HR vs. lefty)
Granderson (9-28, HR)
Gwynn (2-3)
Hunter (13-32, 2HR vs. good starter)
Jones (4-9 vs. good lefty)
Since Wells only hits .195 vs. lefties, I will bounce out with Grandy tomorrow.

Right:
Rios (7-21 vs. lefty)
Mags (13-42, HR)
Kearns (8-19, 2HR vs. good starter)
Vlad (25-75, 4HR vs. good starter)
Ichiro (3-7)
Cake (7-17 vs. good lefty)
I see that Hawpe is at home vs. a rookie and I need to see no more. Done deal.

DH:
Blalock (10-24, 2HR)
Byrd (6-14)
I don't trust either Hank or Byrd vs. Weaver, numbers or no numbers. I guess Ian Stewart will work at Coors.

Catcher:
Laird (5-13)
Napoli (5-11, HR)
I think I will go with McCann, again ignoring the numbers.

FINAL LINEUP

C: McCann

1B: Gonzalez

2B: Pedroia

3B: Reynolds

SS: Renteria

LF: Bay

CF: Granderson

RF: Hawpe

DH: Stewart

PS: Cain

STAT CORNER

Sorry, but due to time constraints and a long drive today, the stat corner will return tomorrow.





DISCLAIMER

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

FU For Life Kerry Wood!