Thursday, the 13th

Good morning, everyone. It's funny to me that as much as we bitch and moan about how poor pitching is and then we have a day like tomorrow where more than half of the starters have ERA's under 4.00. I try to keep my list to no more than ten starters, but really had trouble deciding which ones today, as you will see below. I think the reality is that pitching is actually pretty good. The problem is that it has become overly trendy to have specialty pitchers and "set up men" and there is an overemphasis on closers in the game today. If the managers would just let these guys who can pitch do what they are good at and not worry so damn much about pitch count and set-up men, we would all find ERA's and runs will drop dramatically. That's just my two cents.

YESTERDAY

What a day for pitching! I felt really good about the 35 Lince and company gave me until I saw this morning that King Felix got 47 in a 14 inning marathon. Damn! Even if you had Carp, you came away with a pretty decent 27. Days like that are pretty hard to come by. I certainly hope you all benefitted from it. My bats were exceptional as well last night led by Rollins (12), Pujols (8), Hamilton (8), and Longoria (6). They gave me 46 more and my total of 81 puts me at #26 overall and a second half high of #612. Wow! What a night!

TODAY

Lee and CC are clearly the top pitchers with Lee gathering 52% of the play, while CC gets another 37%. I really don't know what to expect here, except for less than we all had last night. We shall see. The bats appear to be all over the place today, which has been pretty rare lately. I think the values are just now beginning to rise to the point where we are starting to see some diversity instead of everyone loading up with all-stars. It's about damn time, too. Here's my final again, along with the top picks...

C: Mauer*
1B: Prince (Morneau*)
2B: Phillips (Utley*)
3B: Zimm*
SS: Tulo (Hanley*)
LF: Dunn (Braun*)
CF: Cameron (Ross*)
RF: Willingham (Cuddyer*)
DH: Venable*
PS: Lee*

TOMORROW

Weather:
Rocks/Nats isolated t-storms

Teams Facing Lefty Starters:
Royals, Mets, Brewers, Rangers, DBacks

Teams Facing Rookie Starters:
Angels vs. Tillman (0-0 5.19 in 3 starts)
Cards vs. Latos (4-1 2.45 in 5)

Possible Load-ups:
(Angels vs. Tillman (see above)

Bats You May Want to Avoid:
Mags (5-35 vs. starter)
Granderson (4-31, HR)
Buck (3-17)
Teahen (3-17)
J Guillen (2-16)
Gordon (2-13)
Bard (1-10)
Rollins (3-17)
Utley (3-16, HR)
Zo (2-15)
Burrell (1-10)
Barajas (3-18)
F Lopez (2-16)
Pedroia (1-12)
Martin (3-16)
Hudson (2-12)

Pitchers: (Leaving out Gallardo, Zito, Shields, Millwood, Weaver, and Jurrjens)
Wells (8-5 3.01, 1.18 WHIP, 1-1 4.26 August, 1-0 1.29 vs. Pitt)
Kershaw (8-6 2.73, 133 K in 131 IP, 1-1 1.41 post break, at Zona)
Greinke (11-7 2.43, 1.15 WHIP, 167 K in 159 IP, 1-1 6.75 August, 2-1 1.50 at Det)
Washburn (8-7 3.12, 1.12 WHIP, 0-1 8.74 August, 0-1 1.29, .301 BAA vs. KC)
Wandy (11-6 2.51, 3-0 0.87 post break, 2-0 0.64 at Mil)
Johnson (11-2 2.92, 1.10 WHIP, 5-1 2.18 home, 1-0 1.13 vs. Col)
Haren (11-7 2.57, 0.89 WHIP, 153 K in 161 IP, 5-5 2.17 home, 1-1 6.92 August, 0-1 2.08 vs. LAD)
Halladay (12-5 2.73, 1.08 WHIP, 4-2 2.81 road, 2-2 2.36 post break, 0-2 2.46 at TAM)
Lester (9-7 3.67, 165 k in 147 IP, 0-0 1.39 August, 1-0 1.00, .188 BAA at Tex)
Wainwright (13-7 2.73, 4-6 2.18 home, 1-1 1.98 August, vs. SD)
So, Wells, Kershaw, Wandy, Johnson, Lester, or Wainwright? This is just plain rediculous. I think I will drop Wandy simply because of the Brewers bats. Wells goes becausehe has struggled this month. With this many to choose from, AL teams on the road have to go, eliminating Lester. Kershaw ison the road, so he has to go. The Rocks are better than the Pads, so I have to go with Wainwright and hope it works out. Damn, that was painful.

First:
Miggy (6-18 vs. good starter)
Tatis (3-5 vs. lefty)
Johnson (2-2)
Nothing stands out here, so I'll take Pujols at home. He's probably the safest pick, although I did give some consideration to Morneau.

Second:
Polanco (13-35, HR vs. good starter)
Prado (2-3, HR)
Hill (6-19, HR vs. good starter)
Again, none of this impresses me. Give me Phillips again over that no-name dude for the Nats.

Third:
Wright (3-8 vs. lefty)
Young (7-14 vs. good lefty)
Lowell (20-59, 2HR vs. good starter)
Reynolds (2-5 vs. good lefty)
Blake (10-29 vs. good starter)
Cantu (2-4)
Zimm (2-5)
With Youk out, I am fairly confident that Lowell will play. I really like the Sox in this one, so let's do it. I may revisit taking Chipper later, though.

Short:
Guzman (3-7)
Hanley (3-4, HR)
Tulo (2-4 vs. good starter)
Escobar (4-8, HR)
Bartlett (7-22 vs. good starter)
Hanley is the first clear pick I have seen today.

Left:
Sheff (8-21, 2HR vs. lefty)
Crawford (23-74, 2HR vs. good starter)
Blalock (3-6 vs. good lefty)
Bay 4-13 vs. good starter)
Manny (10-20,2HR vs. good starter)
I like Holliday, but I really think Millwood is going to get toasted tomorrow. Let's go with Bay.

Center:
McClutcheon (2-3 vs. good starter)
Morgan (3-6)
Bourn (3-8 vs. good starter)
Sizemore (12-34)
Kemp (4-13, HR vs. good starter)
Again, it's a tough call. I'm thinking Grady, mainly because of the cheap salary.

Right:
Willingham (3-9, HR)
Hawpe (2-3 vs. good starter)
Hart (11-27 vs. good lefty)
Pence (4-13 vs. good starter)
Drew (9-28, HR vs. good starter)
Ethier (9-20, 2HR vs. good starter)
I like Willingham, but think I will go with Cuddyer instead. There is no good reason behind this, other than the fact that he is hitting well and very few at this position are.

DH:
Lind (5-17, 2HR vs. good starter)
Ortiz (9-25, 3HR vs. good starter)
Hafner (11-24, 4HR)
I have to take Papi on this one, the numbers are just too impressive to let pass.

Catcher:
Laird (6-14 vs. good starter)
McCann (6-10, 2HR)
Varitek (12-29 vs. good starter)
MVart (6-14 vs. good starter)
Just like Papi, the numbers on NcCann are too good to pass up. By the same token, I think Chipper will get some good pitches tomorrow because of these numbers. I will drop Lowell for Chip.

FINAL LINEUP (with 2.7 left over)

C: McCann
1B: Pujols
2B: Phillips
3B: Chipper
SS: Hanley
LF: Bay
CF: Grady
RF: Cuddyer
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 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)