by Todd Lammi
Andre Ethier hit two solo home runs, including a walk-off home run in the 12th inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Ethier has seen his average drop 54 points coming into Saturday’s game since Manny Ramirez was suspended. Rafael Furcal sent the game into extra innings with his second home run of the year in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge, who blew his sixth save of the season. In his second start back from the disabled list, Hiroki Kuroda tossed six shutout innings with five strikeouts. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Saturday night…
Hitters:
Ben Zorbist went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and connected on his 11th home run of the season. Zorbist has homered three times in his last four games.
Mark Teixeira went 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and smacked his 17th home run of the season. I think with Alex Rodriguez protecting him in the line up and the way the New York Yankees new stadium is playing, Teixeira could easily be the second best first basemen in fantasy baseball behind Albert Pujols the remainder of the season.
Teammate Alex Rodriguez hit his 8th home run of the season and also stole his first base of the year. The home run was A-Rod’s first in his last 12 games.
Prince Fielder hit two solo home runs giving him 15 total on the season to go with 54 RBI. Fielder has heated up in his last 10 games, boosting his batting average 34 points and hitting five home runs with 11 RBI.
Nick Johnson went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and stroked his fifth home run of the season. Johnson is now batting .332 on the year with 30 RBI.
Ian Stewart banged out two home runs and drove in five while going 3 for 4 at the plate. Stewart has homered four times in his last four games with 12 RBI.
Josh Fields got the start over recent call up Gordon Beckham and went 2 for 4 with his third home run of the year. It was weird time to start Fields given that Beckham had only six at bats so far before sitting and Fields was hitting under .200 against left-handed pitching.
Pitchers:
Edwin Jackson picked up a complete game victory, allowing one run with five strikeouts. Jackson improved to 6-3 on the season and now ranks second in the American League in both ERA (2.16) and whip ratio (0.98).
Gavin Floyd allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts to up his mark to 4-5 on the year. Floyd has turned it around in his last four starts with six runs allowed in 29 2/3 innings and 31 strikeouts.
Jarrod Washburn allowed one run in six innings with six strikeouts in a no decision. Washburn has allowed two runs in his last 19 innings even though he does not have any wins to show for it. He is currently on pace to set a career high in strikeouts with 145 which would be his highest total since 2002.
Jon Lester pitched a complete game two-hitter to even his record at 5-5. Lester allowed one run and struck out 11 to give him double digit strikeouts in his second straight start.
Ryan Dempster threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in a no decision. He could be finally past his blister problems, as he has not allowed a run in two straight contests.
Rookie Trevor Cahill allowed two runs in six innings with five strikeouts to notch his third win of the season. Cahill has allowed two runs in each of his last four starts.
Cincinnati Reds rookie Matt Maloney in his first major league start allowed two runs in six innings with four strikeouts in a no decision. He will face the Kansas City Royals in his next start.
John Lannan hurled a complete game shutout with two strikeouts to earn his third win of the season.
Making his first start since 2007, Kelvim Escobar allowed two runs in five innings with five strikeouts.
John Smoltz allowed one hit and one run in six innings in his rehab start in Triple-A on Saturday, while throwing 74 pitches. His next start in Triple-A will come on Thursday.
Closers:
Marian Rivera took a loss, allowing three runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Tampa Bay Rays. Rivera has suffered both of his losses against the Rays this season.
Randy Choate picked up his third save of the season for the Rays when Dan Wheeler was unable to close out the game in the ninth inning.
Leo Nunez picked up his second save of the year in relief of Matt Lindstrom. Lindstrom was charged with two runs in the ninth inning before being removed.
