Saturday, the 8th

Good morning, everyone. Let's get straight to the action today, as I assume many of you were up late last night with all the after hours action we had in the Majors and your patience may be wearing a little thin.

YESTERDAY

If you were wise/lucky enough to have the Bosox or Yanks staff, I am sure you are all smiles this morning. Good call if you did it. However, I know that most of us had no idea that the Giants' gloves would find five holes in them and that Lince and the boys would give up 10 on the day. Fortunately, half of them were unearned. Didn't I predict 3 runs or more against him? Anyway, 5 pitching points was fairly meaningless as most of us had him, bvut mybats were stellar for a change. Mauer (12), Wells (8), and Willingham (7) led the pack as I tallied 45 offensive points for a cool 50 onthe day. This bumped me up a little to #30 overall and #1374 on the half.

TODAY

The pitching is as divers as I expected today and is, really, about as diverse as it can get. Wainwright and Haren both get about 30% of the take, Greinke is at about 20% and Verlander has maybe 12%. It will certainly be an interesting day, as I would be surprised if none of these four leave some of us disappointed. Good luck to you all and here is my final, along with the top picks...

C: Napoli (Mauer*)
1B: Pujols*
2B: Hill*
3B: Longoria (Reynolds*)
SS: Rollins*
LF: Braun*
CF: Sizemore (Granderson*)
RF: Werth*
DH: Vlad (Lind*)
PS: Greinke (Wainwright*)

TOMORROW

Weather:
Bosox/Yanks - scattered t-storms
Marlins/Phils - scattered t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Twins, Jays, Marlins, Cards, Chisox, Brewers, Royals, Angels, Padres, Mariners, Rays, Bosox, Yanks

Teamse Facing Rookie Starters:
Jays vs. Matusz (1-0 1.80 in 1 start)
DBacks vs. Martin (0-2 7.16 in 4)

Possible Load-ups:
Cards vs. Duke (.313 team BAA)
Chisox vs. Huff (5-6 6.81, .366 team BAA)
Bosox vs. Pettite (9-6 4.35, .345 team BAA)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Polanco (4-27 vs. starter)
Morneau (4-21)
Cuddyer (3-17)
Punto (2-13)
Mauer (2-13)
Spam (1-10)
Victorino (3-16)
N Johnson (1-18)
Ryan (1-10)
Hafner (4-30)
Hall (5-29)
F Lopez (1-13)
Sanchez (7-41, HR)
Phillips (1-10)
Cano (3-17)
ARod (1-10)
Swisher (2-11)

Pitchers:
Washburn (8-7 2.93, 1.08 WHIP, 2-1 2.77 post break, 1-0 0.64 vs. Minn)
Halliday (11-5 2.75, 1.08 WHIP, 7-3 2.71 home, 1-2 2.38 post break, 1-0 3.60 vs. Bal)
Johnson (10-2 2.98, 1.11 WHIP, 2-0 4.05 post break, 0-00.00 at Phi)
Piniero (9-9 3.18, 1.11 WHIP, Low K's, 0-1 7.50 at Pitt)
Gallardo (10-8 3.59, 154 K's n 140 IP, 4-3 4.15 road, 2-1 5.26 post break, 1-1 5.14 at Hou)
Wandy (10-6 2.63, 128 K in 136 IP, 5-2 2.12 home, 2-0 1.13 post break, 1-0 1.29 vs. Mil)
Johan (12-8 3.10, 134 K in 145 IP, 4-6 4.48 road, .184 BAA at SD)
Cain (12-3 2.25, 1.16 WHIP, 6-1 1.98 home, 2-1 1.74 post break, vs. Cin)
Vazquez (9-7 2.99, 1.05 WHIP, 164 K in 147 IP, at LAD)
Lester (9-7 3.78, 158 K in 140 IP, 4-4 4.26 road, 1-0 3.46 at NYY)
Sure, there are alot of them to choose from tomorrow, but for me it simply comes down to Johan vs. Cain. Johan has been average on the road, but I really think that the Padres bats are that much worse than what the Reds have to offer and therefore will go with Santana.

First:
Howard (7-19, 2HR vs. good starter)
Pujols (15-32, 3HR vs. lefty)
Konerko (2-4 vs. lefty)
Blalock (22-64, 2HR vs. good starter)
Votto (4-6 vs. good starter)
Youk (9-22, HR vs. lefty)
Youker is a good possibility, as I definately want some Sox bats today, but I have to go with Pujols here.

Second:
B Harris (6-13 vs. good lefty)
Utley (5-16 vs. good starter)
Zo (1-3 vs. lefty)
I think Aaron Hill has the best chance to go off vs. the O's rookie. Zo has me thinking a little, but if anyone goes off at second, I would expect it to be Hill.

Third:
Zimm (3-5)
DeRo (8-23 vs. lefty)
Young (30-79, 2HR vs. good starter)
Lowell (8-34 vs. lefty)
Chipper (2-6)
Figgins (1-3 vs. lefty)
Again, none of this impresses me too much and Reynolds is the hottest bat in the league. Going up against a rookie, he is an easy pick.

Short:
Hanley (12-39, 4HR vs. lefty)
Alexei (2-6, HR vs. lefty)
Tejada (2-6, HR vs. good starter)
Furcal (14-46 vs. good starter)
Jeter (7-20 vs. good lefty)
How can I not take Hanley here? Yean, I know that Moyer has had some decent starts, but the numbers are in my favor on this one.

Left:
Dunn (2-4, HR)
Holliday (5-11, HR vs. lefty)
Lee (4-12, HR vs. good starter)
Manny (6-19, 2HR vs. good starter)
Damon 7-19, 2HR vs. good lefty)
Bay (11-24, HR vs. lefty)
With Bay banged up, its either Dunn or Holliday for me. In this case, I think I will go with Holliday, as I expect a very long day for Zack Duke.

Center:
Ankiel (5-8, HR vs. lefty)
Hamilton (6-17, 3HR vs. good starter)
Gutierrez (2-6, HR vs. lefty)
Melky (6-13 vs. good lefty)
Ellsbury (5-10 vs. good lefty)
This is a very tough call. I think I will go outside the box and take Vernon Wells again against the O's rookie. Hamilton can't hit right now and everyone else faces decent pitching.

Right:
Mags (13-31, 2HR)
Ludwick (6-15, HR vs. lefty)
Hart (11-27 vs. good lefty)
Abreu (2-3 vs. lefty)
Church (3-8, 2HR)
Drew (10-29, 3HR vs. lefty)
Again, I will go outside the norm and pass on Abreu (my favorite of those listed above). Josh Willingham has gone widely unnoticed, but is putting up impressive numbers. He should do the same tomorrow.

DH:
Thames (5-18, 3HR)
Scott (6-12, 3HR vs. good starter)
Thome (1-2 vs. lefty)
A Jones (2-5, HR vs. good starter)
Ortiz (17-47, HR vs. lefty)
If Papi was doing anything at all right now, I'd take him. Instead,I will reluctantly take Adam Lind, again going against the O's rookie.

Catcher:
Doumit (2-5 vs. good starter)
AJ (2-3, HR vs. lefty)
Napoli (1-1 vs. lefty)
Benji (2-5)
Varitek (17-52, 2HR vs. lefty)
VMart (3-10 vs. lefty)
Somehow, I've made it all the way through the lineup with no RedSox. Let's prevent that from happening with VMart.

FINAL LINEUP

C: VMart
1B: Pujols
2B: Hill
3B: Reynolds
SS: Hanley
LF: Holliday
CF: Wells
RF: Willingham
DH: Lind
PS: Johan

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)