Wednesday, the 1st

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to July. There are 12 days left in the first half. Are you happy with where you stand, or do you feel the need to make a run. If you want to push for greener pastures, be careful. This has been known to sink an entire half over the years. There is certainly nothing wrong with going for it all down the home stretch, just make sure you do it smartly. End your half on a positive note. This way, you go into the rest of the season with a high level of confidence and the ability to trust your instincts.

YESTERDAY

Well Carp sure crapped out for most of us didn't he? For you Haren takers, and I should have been one of them, congrats on a job well done. His 28 definately outdid the 4 the restof us got. I will pass out a kudos and thanks to the St. Louis pen, though. They managed to turn a disaster into a positive. As far as bats go, I believe I had a season best score, DH's not included. 61 total points came from my offense, aided by a flurry of longballs from Pujols (x2), Kinsler, ARod, Hanley and BJ. Hell, Willingham and Teahen even combined for 8 points. My 65 total points moved me from 10th to 8th, now only 44 points out of the top 5.

TODAY

56% of the Suspects and Leaderboard jumped on Yoga's bandwagon today, compared to only about 32% for Verlanders. In seeing late last night that Sheff and Wright were going to take the day off, I wanted to change to Gallardo myself, but bad juju is a horrible thing and I decided to stick it out. If either of these guys folds like the Indian's pen, it could be a huge moving day for those who took the right side. Have I mentioned how much I love day baseball. At least until the DNP's start mounting, that is. Here is the final again.....

C: Napoli
1B: Pujols
2B: Phillips
3B: ARod
SS: Jeter
LF: Braun
CF: Sizemore
RF: Ichiro
DH: Thome
PS: Verlander

TOMORROW

Weather:
There is no weather for tomorrow. Pick at will.

Teams Facing Lefties:
Reds, Mets, Padres, Braves, Mariners, Yankees, Cards, Royals, White Sox

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
None

Bats to Avoid:
J. Hairston (2-14 vs. starter)
Tracy (3-17)
Reynolds (1-9)
F. Sanchez (1-8)
K. Matsui (0-8)
Rollins (8-50, 2HR)
Stairs (2-24, HR)
Werth (2-14)
Beltre (0-10)
Betancourt (0-8)
Soriano (1-15)
R. Johnson (1-9, HR)
Hardy (2-23)
Hart (2-20)
Cameron (3-18)
Hall (3-18)
J. Buck (6-45, 2HR)
Dye (1-9)
Abreu (2-15, HR)
Vlad (1-10)
Figgins (1-9)
Huff (2-25)
Mora (2-24)

Pitchers:
Davis (3-8 3.28, 1 R in last 14 IP, at Cin)
Harang (5-8 3.95, 4-3 2.87 at home, vs. Zona)
Wandy (6-6 3.35, 90 K in 96 IP, 1-0 0.00 in 8 Ip vs. SD year to date)
Happ (5-0 3.00, 2 R in last 15 IP, 3-0 1.67 on road, 0-0 9.00 vs. Atl in 2 IP ytd)
Vazquez (5-7 3.04, 125 K in 106 IP, 2 R or less in 8 of last 10 starts, 2-5 2.95 at home, 1-0 3.29 in 13.2 IP vs. Phi ytd)
Vargas (3-3 3.79, 1.09 WHIP, 1-3 5.86 on road, at NYY)
CC (7-4 3.55, 1.09 WHIP, 2-1 3.90 at home, vs. Sea)
Buerhle (7-2 3.26, 1.16 WHIP, 3-1 3.83 on road, at KC)
This is definately a hard group to choose from. CC is inconsistent and pitches in a playpen. Maholm would be a solid choice, but gets no run support. I am going to give Happ a chance, for the first time ever, and see what he can do vs. the lowly and banged up Braves.

First:
Berkman (1-3)
Pujols (5-9, 2HR vs. lefty)
Prince (5-19, HR)
Konerko (3-8, 2HR vs. lefty)
While the others may be good options, there is no way I am passing on Pujols.

Second:
Phillips (7-18 vs. lefty)
F. Lopez (3-6, HR)
Schumaker (4-6 vs. lefty)
Phillips does his best work against lefties and he also has the numbers in his favor.

Third:
Chipper (1-3 vs. lefty)
Utley (5-15, HR vs. good starter)
McGehee (1-1)
This one is pretty easy for me as well. Chipper always blows when I take him, I don't like Utley's matchup, and everyone else is mush. McGehee is hitting the ball very well and deserves a chance.

Short:
Wilson (10-26)
Ryan (4-7 vs. lefty)
Renteria (1-3)
Bloomquist (11-22 vs. lefty)
Remember what I said yesterday about Renteria being the best deal in the league at 3.0 mil? That's why I will have him in my lineup tomorrow.

Left:
Gomes (1-2 vs. lefty)
Lee (3-5)
Duncan (3-6 vs. lefty)
Lewis (2-5)
Podsednik (4-9, HR vs. lefty)
Lee is facing an (amazingly enough) hot pitcher, so he's out. Gomes is killing lefties, so he's in.

Center:
Taveras (8-24 vs. lefty)
Hairston (4-9, 2HR vs. lefty)
Rowand (3-7)
Hunter (4-6)
I really would feel good about Hairston here since he does so well vs. lefties, but Torii Hunter is simply the better player.

Right:
Ichiro (15-38, 3HR vs. good lefty)
Ludwick (4-12 vs. lefty)
Fukudome (4-6)
Bradley (1-2)
Cake (5-17)
Did I mention that the batter matchups suck tomorrow? Only because none of these guys make me feel good, I am going to go back to Upton. 0-4 vs. the starter is not enough to scare me off.

DH:
Sheff (2-3 vs. lefty)
Teahen (20-47, HR vs. lefty)
Thome (1-3 vs. lefty)
Scott (1-2, HR)
Sheff will be coming off a day of rest. That and he hits lefties well.

Catcher:
Snyder (4-10 in day game)
Johjima (3-5 vs. good lefty)
Yadi (4-9 vs. lefty)
Kendall (18-43)
Olivo (5-15, HR vs. lefty)
AJ (5-9, HR vs. lefty)
Napoli (1-3, HR)
Just my luck. Tons of money and the two best catchers are off. I'll stay with Napoli, I guess.

Back to short. Just like yesterday, I am going to leave Renteria for Jeter since I have the money and he hits the daylights out of lefties. Also, I am going to dump the Brewers rookie for Wright, who is still hitting over .450 vs. lefties.

FINAL LINEUP
C: Napoli
1B: Pujols
2B: Phillips
3B: Wright
SS: Jeter
LF: Gomes
CF: Hunter
RF: Upton
DH: Sheff
PS: Happ

STAT CORNER

Today we will look at June's statistical leaders for both batting and pitching.

Batting Average:
Ichiro .407
Sandoval .394
Rolen .384
McGehee .368
Wright .365
Prince .363
Lind .360
Mauer .353
Braun .345

Home Runs:
Pujols 14
Ethier 9
Branyan 8
Rivera 8
Olivo 8
Prince 8
Kubel 8
Zobrist 8
Sandoval 8

RBI:
Pujols 35
Hanley 33
Prince 26
Reynolds 26
Braun 25
Rivera 24
Abreu 23
ARod 22
BJ 22
Ethier 22

ERA:
King Felix 0.94
Floyd 1.28
Millwood 1.30
Lince 1.48
Beckett 1.51
Haren 1.64
Lester 1.85
Zimmerman 1.90
Ortiz 1.91
Nolasco 1.91
Vazquez 1.95

Tomorrow, we will look at the best of July, 2008 to see who warms up as the mercury rises.

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 for reading, please come again, make a suggestion if you have one of value and.....

FU For Life Kerry Wood