Saturday, the 1st

Good morning, everyone. As a word of advice, I would strongly suggest you double check the starters before you go to bed for the next day or two. With all the trades that have gone down, there may be some late changes. For example, last night it looked like OZ was going for Houston on Sunday and this morning, some rookie is listed. This happened to me with Lee yesterday, unfortunately, and do not always have the time to go back over this once it's posted. For some reason, the wife thinks that being a husband and a father should come first. Silly women...

YESTERDAY

If only I had known about Lee, it could bave been a decent day. Alas, I didn't and Carlos Marmol sealed my fate, taking a good day and tossing it back into the mediocre pile. Harden did ok, until the pen took over and finished with 9 points, while Lee and his Phills put up 29. Mauer and Zo led the bats to a 31 and my 40 total points dropped me to #32 overall and #2185 in the second half. All in all, it was not too bad, and my first drop this week is salvageable.

TODAY

I have not seen the summary yet, but my guess is that we will see a good variety of pitchers today. Strong cases could be made for many including Lince, Wandy, Carp, Beckett, Burnett and Felix. It could be a major moving day. Here's the final again...(the more I look at it, the shittier it looks).

C: Napoli
1B: Miggy
2B: Cano
3B: Longoria
SS: Tulo
LF: Soriano
CF: Morgan
RF: Hawpe
DH: Thames
PS: Lince

TOMORROW

Weather:
Dodgers/Braves scattered t-storms
Bosox/Orioles scattered t-storms
Nats/Pirates scattered t-storms
Mariners/Rangers isolated t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Nats, White Sox, Angels, A's, Giants, Phills

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Cards vs. Norris (0-0 3.00 in 1 appearence)

Possible Load-ups:
Bosox vs. Berken (1-8 6.21)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Peralta (3-20 vs. starter)
A Cabrera (3-18)
Dunn (3-28)
Willingham (1-14)
Bartlett (2-13)
Crisp (2-14)
Guillen (2-12, HR)
Konerko (12-63, 2HR)
AJ (4-24, HR)
Thome (3-21, 3HR)
Posada (3-18)
Morneau (2-13)
Cuddyer (1-12)
Greene (2-17)
Yadi (3-16)
C Lee (1-14)
Ibanez (8-47, HR)
Griff (3-19)
Hannahan (2-11)

Pitchers:
Marquis (12-7 3.47, Low K's, 2-2 1.93 July, at Cin)
CC (10-7 3.83, 1.19 WHIP, 3-3 4.62 July, at CWS)
Buehrle (11-4 3.45, 1.09 WHIP, 7-1 2.50 home, vs. NYY)
Weaver (10-3 3.71, 3-2 5.19 road, 2-0 6.88 July, 0-0 5.14 at Min)
Wainwright (12-6 2.80, 4-5 2.14 home, 4-1 1.17 July, 1-0 0.00 vs. Hou)
Romero (9-4 3.59, 4-1 4.26 July, 1-0 0.00 at Oak)
Bills (10-6 3.96, 131 K in 138 IP, 3-2 3.86 road, 1-2 7.52 July, at Atl)
Jurrjens (9-7 2.69, 5-4 2.51 home, 4-1 2.09 July, vs. LAD)
Millwood (9-7 3.39, 7-1 2.53 home, 1-2 6.75 July, 1-1 6.08 vs. Sea)
This is once again a tough call. Everyone of these guys has a good reason NOT to take them. My gut tells me to go with Wainwright again. He is an innings eater and since Berkman is out and he has owned Carlos, that's my call. He should also get the win over the 'Stros rookie. I'm not too happy about it, though.

First:
Helton (5-11, 2HR)
Tex (10-32, HR vs. good lefty)
AGonz (1-3)
Lee (1-3, HR)
I'm having trouble choosing between AGonz and Lee. Pujols is also a good choise vs. the rook. Fudge it, Pujols it is.

Second:
Roberts (4-9)
Pedroia (1-2 vs. rook)
Utley (3-5 vs. lefty)
Zobrist (2-4, HR vs. good starter)
Castillo (5-12)
I will go with Zo vs. Bannister over Hill vs. Mazzaro although either should be a safe pick.

Third:
Inge (2-6)
Atkins (3-6)
Longoria (4-8 vs. good starter)
ARam (2-4, HR)
DeRosa is on fire, as is Reynolds, but ARam should have a big day against Nolasco.

Short:
Tulo (1-2)
Alexei (3-8 vs. good lefty)
Jeter (10-25 vs. good lefty)
Rollins (4-10 vs. good lefty)
Theriot (2-4)
It's Hanley of Tulo for me and Hanley simply has the better bat.

Left:
Crawford (5-14 vs. good starter)
Braun (3-7, HR)
Fonzie (4-10, 2HR)
I see no other option but to stay with the Fobz here.

Center:
Sizemore (9-19, 3HR)
Ellsbury (1-2 vs. rook)
Upton (5-13 vs. good starter)
Cameron (2-5, HR)
Victorino (1-3 vs. lefty)
Gutierrez (3-8, HR vs. good starter)
The numbers are too good to pass on the last decent Indian.

Right:
Choo (6-16, HR)
Dye (13-43, 4HR vs. good lefty)
Abreu (6-10 vs. lefty)
Pence (7-20, HR vs. good starter)
Ichiro (26-65 vs. good starter)
I'm going away from this list, here, and to Justin Upton, who is 1-2 vs. Pelphry and hitting well.

DH:
Ortiz (1-2 vs. rook)
Kubel (3-8, HR vs. good starter)
Have to have Papi again.

Catcher:
Mauer (5-12 vs. good starter)
Buck (3-9, 2HR vs. good starter)
Olivo (5-11, 2HR vs. good starter)
Welcome to Boston, VMart.

LATE UPDATE!!! Hanley Ramirez left today's game with an injury. Not knowing how bad it is, I will drop him for Tulo at short.

LATE UPDATE#2!!! Thanks to an anonymous comment, I see that ARam left the game tonight after being plunked. I will change to Reynolds, who is on absolute fire right now. Thanks, pal.

FINAL LINEUP

C: VMart
1B: Pujols
2B: Zo
3B: Reynolds
SS: Tulo
LF: Fonzie
CF: Grady
RF: Upton
DH: Papi
PS: Wainwright

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