Monday, the 24th

Good morning, everyone. It's surely going to be a busy day tomorrow, as there are important numbers everywhere, so let's get right to it today.

YESTERDAY

Well the pitching was certainly disappointing throughout as Lince, Felix and Bills all put up subpar scores. On the bright side of that, having no winners or losers keeps us all even for the most part. My bats is where I got hurt. The White Sox chose once again not to bring their bats to the game and were held in check for most of the day. With Felix giving me 13 and only 18 from the bats all day, my 31 total points kicked me down to #30 overall and #825 in the half.

TODAY

Let me guess...you have Cliff Lee tonight. Well, at least 90% of you do, as he is clearly the top pick of the night. He should be as well, as he has been fantastic since coming over the the NL and the Mets are putrid. Good call, if you have him. As for myself, I have Yoga vs. the Nats. It should be a decent choice as well, but not near as probable as Lee. Here are the top picks, followed by my load...

Top Picks:
C: Mauer
1B: Prince
2B: Utley
3B: Sandoval
SS: Tulo
LF: Braun
CF: Granderson
RF: Werth
DH: Ortiz
PS: Lee

My Load:
C: Suzuki (a)
1B: Howard
2B: Ellis (a)
3B: Kennedy (a)
SS: Pennington (a)
LF: Braun
CF: Hairston (a)
RF: Sweeney (a)
DH: Cust (a)
PS: Yoga

TOMORROW

Weather:
Dodgers/Rocks scattered t-storms
Mets?Marlins scattered

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Rays, Chisox, Marlins, Mets, Twins, Cards, Rocks, Angels, Mariners, A's

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Braves vs. Latos (4-3 4.82 in 7 starts)
Twins vs. Matusz (2-2 6.75 in 4)
Orioles vs. Gabino (MLB Debut)

Possible Load-ups:
Red Sox vs. Garcia (0-1 10.80 in 1 start this season)
Orioles vs. Gabino (Debut)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Posada (2-12)
Benji (4-21, HR)
Uggla (1-17, HR)
Ross (3-16)
Hanley (2-15)
N Johnson (2-14, HR)
Phillips (5-28)
Pujols (3-25)
Ryan (2-12)
C Lee (1-17)
Tulo (1-10)
Figgins (4-32)
Kendrick (5-26, HR)
Abreu (3-24)
Rowand (2-15)
Huff (2-30)
Laird (3-30)

Pitchers:
Jurrjens (10-8 2.99, 5-5 2.81 home, 1-1 4.84 August, vs. SD)
Millwood (9-8 3.48, 2-6 4.28 road, 0-1 4.15 August, 0-0 4.77 at NYY)
Joba (8-3 3.98, 3-2 4.73 home, 1-1 6.75 August, 0-0 6.75 vs. Tex)
Blanton (8-6 3.86, 1-2 2.83 August, 1-0 1.23 at Pitt)
Shields (7-10 3.81, 3-4 4.46 road, 1-4 4.95 post break, 0-2 4.03 at Tor)
Lester (10-7 3.58, 181 K in 161 IP, 1-0 2.00 August, vs. CWS)
Johan (13-9 3.13, 5-6 4.10 road, 0-1 1.29 at FLA)
Z (7-4 3.35, 2-0 2.49 post break, 1-0 0.00 vs. Was)
Greinke (11-8 2.44, 1.14 WHIP, 182 K in 173 IP, 7-3 1.94 home, 1-2 4.50 August, 1-0 2.46 vs. Cle)
Wandy (12-7 2.89, 5-5 4.21 road, 2-1 4.30 August, 1-2 2.65 at StL)
Wainwright (14-7 2.61, 5-6 2.02 home, 2-1 1.63 Aug, 1-1 1.50 vs. Hou)
Kershaw (8-7 2.96, 147 K in 139 IP, 5-4 4.12 road, 0-2 4.26 August, 1-1 6.89 at Col)
Washburn (8-7 3.18, 1.09 WHIP, 0-1 6.04 August, 1-2 7.71 at LAA)
Haren (12-8 2.74, 0.93 WHIP, 167 K in 174 IP, 2-2 5.89 August, 0-1 1.50 at SF)
Cain (12-4 2.43, 1.15 WHIP, 6-2 2.37 home, 2-2 2.53 post break, 1-0 3.38 vs. Zona)
My God, there is a lot of good pitching tomorrow. In my opinion, Jurrjens, Lester, Greinke, Haren and Cain are the best of the bunch. If I were playing normal, I would probably go with Cain at home.

First:
Swisher (10-26, 3HR vs. Millwood)
Tex (4-11, HR vs. Millwood)
RyHo (2-2)
Overbay (9-30, 3HR vs. Shields)
Prince (9-31, 3HR)
Votto (6-16, 2HR)
D Lee and Pena are also worth a look.

Second:
Cano (5-15 vs. Millwood)
Kinsler (3-6 vs. Joba)
Counsell (11-27)
Barmes (3-8, HR vs. Kershaw)
Roberts and Utley are also worth a look.

Third:
ARod (7-18, HR vs. Millwood)
Young (3-8, HR vs. Joba)
Longoria (2-2)
Aybar (5-15 vs. Washburn)
Sandoval (3-10 vs. Haren)
Lowell and Aramis are also worth a look.

Short:
F Lopez (10-25, HR)
A Cabrera (7-13 vs. Greinke)
Tejada (5-15 vs. Wainwright)
Drew (4-12, 2HR vs. Cain)
Hanley and Escobar are also worth a look.

Left:
Melky (4-11 vs. Millwood)
Nix (3-6, HR)
Fonzie (2-2, HR)
Holliday (5-13, 2HR vs. Wandy)
Spilborghs (4-8, 2HR vs. Kershaw)
Rivera (9-25, 3HR vs. Washburn)
Braun (4-7, 3HR)
Bay is also worth a look.

Center:
Byrd (2-5 vs. Joba)
Cameron (8-24)
Morgan (6-15 vs. Blanton)
Sizemore (11-36, 2HR vs. Greinke)
Fowler (3-8 vs. Kershaw)
Victorino, Fukudome and Span are also worth a look.

Right:
Willingham (5-10 vs. Blanton)
Choo (6-16, HR vs. Greinke)
Pence (9-23, HR vs. Wainwright)
Hawpe (3-6, HR vs. Kershaw)
Mags (4-11, 2HR)
Ichiro (3-3 vs. lefty)
Ethier, Cake and Werth are also worth a look.

DH:
Matsui (3-9 vs. Millwood)
Thome (2-3 vs. Lester)
Jacobs (1-1, HR)
Vlad (12-33, 3HR vs. Washburn)
Cust (3-9 vs. lefty)
Ortiz is also worth a look.

Catcher:
Ianetta (2-6 vs. Kershaw)
Johjima (2-3, HR vs. lefty)
Suzuki (5-9 vs. lefty)
Mauer and McCann are also worth a look.

FINAL LINEUP (Journey Day 5)

There are obviously many pitchers that we can make good arguments for, but I have to choose wisely. Teams with scheduled double headers are out, remember, and since I can only choose each team once, I want to make sure I save them for the best possible time. In this case, I think it is a good time to go with Zack Greinke. It gets him out of the way, for one thing, but he has also handled the Tribe well this season. There are a fewdecent loadup options with the bats tomorrow, including the Red Sox and the Twins, but I am going to take the O's against GGabino of the Twinkies. He is making his major league debut and hopefully the Balty bats will toast him up. Yhe only position I struggled with here is at first, where sunce the Huff trade, they have no one listed. I will fill this spot with Prince against Arroyo. I would take Ryho, but he already went deep twice today and the bum rule may be in effect. Here it is...

C: Weiters
1B: Prince
2B: Roberts
3B: Mora
SS: Izturis
LF: Reimold
CF: Jones
RF: Cake
DH: Scott
PS: Greinke

JOURNEY STATS

Beginning Rankings:
#29 overall and #596 in the half

Current Rankings:
#30 and #825

Change:
-1 and -129

Bats Used:
Mariners, Royals, White Sox, A's, Orioles

Staffs Used:
Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Brewers, Royals

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, and pass the word if you will.

FU HALL OF FAME

Kerry MF'n Wood (Founder, -14, -11, -7, -6)
Nick MF'n Blackburn (record holder at -43)
Jake MF'n Peavy (2 time offender at -8 and -2)
Houston MF'n Astros Staff(-4)
Los Angeles MF'n Dodgers Staff (-11)
Zach MF'n Greinke (-4)