Wednesday, the 8th

Good morning, everyone. Please make sure to keep an eye of the blog for some special "All-Star" entries next Monday and Tuesday. I have already recieved commitments from some pretty big players, including maybe the biggest of all, and am still hoping for more. The will be telling us how they do it, including personal strategies, experiences and more. If you are interested in being a part of this, please let me know.

YESTERDAY

It turned out to be a pretty good on if you had the majority staffs as both Beckett and Verlander put up strong numbers. In fact, many of the prime picks did well aside from Gallardo. Beckett was low on the strikeouts, but gave me a strong 26. My bats did well also, led by Rivera, who went deep twice, backed up by good performances from Miggy and Utley. My 42 from the offense gave me a total of 68, enough to get me back up to 11th overall, just 13 points out of 10th.

TODAY

I expect the pitching to be all over the place today with Greinke, Wandy, Sherzer, Kuroda and Burnett all going, but all having as many reasons not to take them as there are for them. With only 5 days to go, this could be a big one. Go Greinke. Here's the final again...

C: Suzuki
1b: Prince
2B: Hill
3B: ARod
SS: Bartlett
LF: Braun
CF: Gwynn
RF: Hawpe
DH: Blalock
PS: Greinke

TOMORROW

Weather:
Should not be an issue anywhere.

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Jays, White Sox, Indians, Reds, Mets, Astros, DBacks, Mariners

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Yanks vs. Swarzak (2-2 3.90 in 5 starts)
Rocks vs. Hanson (see "pitchers")

Teams Facing Pitcher for First Time:
Yanks, Jays, Rocks

Bats to Avoid:
Kapler (2-16 vs. starter)
Cameron (2-11, HR)
Victorino (1-11)
Nix (1-11)
Tatis (2-28, HR)
Hudson (2-19)
Martin (2-18)
K Johnson (0-11)
Kinsler (6-31, HR)
Hamilton (2-16)
Giles (5-29)

Pitchers:
Halladay (1-02 2.79, 1.09 WHIP, ERA over 4.50 since DL return, 4-0 2.52 on road, 0-1 3.00 vs. TB this year)
Pineiro (6-9 3.39, Low K's, 1.18 WHIP, 3-5 4.11 on road, vs. Mil)
Wolf (3-3 3.49, 1.15 WHIP, less than 7 IP in last 7 starts, 3-2 2.91 on road, 0-0 2.35 vs. Mets this year)
Lannan (6-5 3.45, Low K's, 3 R or less in last 7 starts, 3-5 5.12 on road, at Hou)
Hanson (4-0 2.25, 3-0 1.25 in last 4 starts, 2-0 1.45 on road, at Col)
Cook (8-3 3.76, 2 R or less in 5 of last 6 starts, banged up, vs. Atl)
Lince (9-2 2.23, 141 K in 121 IP, 1.05 WHIP, 0-1 3.65 vs. SD in 2 starts this year)
Who are we kidding? Lincecum is a given unless you want to try to make a run. In this case, it would be a very risky one.

UPDATE ALERT!!!!
It appears that there have been some pitching changes. Para is now listed for the Brewers and Liriano for the Twins. Please double check this on your own and change accordingly. Thanks to Rich for the heads up!

First:
Youk (1-3)
Loney (4-11)
Berkman (4-7 vs. lefty)
Dunn (1-1)
Davis (5-14, HR vs. good starter)
With Young struggling a bit and Berkman's poor numbers vs. lefties, Dunn is my pick. He went deep for me last time I had him and hopefully will again.

Second:
As. cabrera (3-8 vs. lefty)
Utley (5-10, HR)
Castillo (18-48, HR vs. good lefty)
Phillips (2-5 vs. lefty)
Utley seems like the only way to go here, facing a mediocre pitcher in a hitters park, with the numbers to back it. Phillips would probably be safe as well.

Third:
Hall (3-9, HR)
Feliz (3-9)
Blake (4-10)
Chipper (8-23, HR)
Reynolds (3-5 vs. lefty)
Young (16-45, HR vs. good starter)
I am going to stick with ARod vs. the rookie, I think. Chipper always lets me down, Reynolds has had a poor couple of days, and Young sees a good starter.

Short:
Rollins (3-9)
Furcal (23-69, 4HR)
Lopez (4-8 vs. lefty)
Hanley (1-3, HR)
Kouz (10-28 vs. good starter)
I can't trust a banged up Hanley until he gets back in the lineup. I could go with either Jeter, Rollins, or Furcal really. While Jeter is tempting vs. the rookie, I think I will take the lesser evil (salary) and give Furcal a shot. Just a feeling.

Left:
Bay (1-3)
Manny (5-8, HR)
Lee (4-9, HR vs. lefty)
Murphy (7-22, HR vs. good starter)
I don't trust Manny to play, much less to play the whole game, and Lee is off his game right now. Bay wins by default.

Center:
Crawford (21-67, 2HR vs. good starter)
Taveras (4-8 vs. lefty)
Ellsbury (3-6)
Kemp (1-2)
Rowand (1-2)
I like Kemp, barely, over Ellsbury but I really want a bat at Coors. McLouth is hitting .330 in his last 10 games with a few longballs, so he gets the call.

Right:
Bruce (2-6 vs. lefty)
Drew (2-4)
Ethier (6-16, HR)
Since I laid off of Kemp, I will go with Ethier vs. the same weak pitcher.

DH:
I have nothing here, so it's strictly by feel for today. This really is a poor group and the only ones that are performing (Scott and Rivera) are off. Give me Big Papi.

Catcher:
VMart (2-6 vs. lefty in day game)
Varitek (2-3, HR)
Olivo (1-3)
Benki (1-3)
You know that when Paul f'n Bako is listed at 4.0 that catchers suck and ESPN has not done their homework. I can't afford VMart, so I will go back to Varitek.

I now have 1.8 leftover and will use it to upgrade from Furcal to Jeter at short. Jeter is simply more reliable.

FINAL LINEUP

C: Varitek
1B: Dunn
2B: Utley
3B: ARod
SS: Jeter
LF: Bay
CF: McLouth
RF: Ethier
DH: Ortiz
PS: Lince

STAT CORNER

This feature will return tomorrow. Until we hang this guy ( I have jury duty this week), my computer time is limited.

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, feel free to contact me any time and...

FU For Life Kerry Wood!