Juan Pierre stole three bases giving him six on the season. Again a reminder of why it is hard to justify spending a high fantasy baseball draft pick on a one dimensional player high in the draft when speed options lurk late, such as Scott Podsednik and Brett Gardner who each stole their 7th base of the year today. In other fantasy baseball news from around the diamond on Sunday…
Hitters:
Shin-Soo Choo is still a one-man force for the Cleveland Indians offense as he went 2-for-3 with his fourth home run of the season and five RBI. Outside of him and Asdrubal Cabrera, there was no other hitter in the Indians line up with an average above .231 on Sunday.
Dan Uggla went 3-for-4 with two RBI and hit his third home run of the season. Uggla is now hitting .346 on the season.
Jay Bruce doubled his RBI output for the season, hitting two solo home runs in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Alberto Callaspo went 3-for-5 with two home runs and drove in six runs as the Kansas City Royals celebrated Alex Gordon’s return from the disabled list with a 10-5 win over the Minnesota Twins. Gordon went 1-for-4 hitting eighth in the line up.
Mark Reynolds went 3-for-4 with two RBI and knocked out his 4th home run of the season.
Ty Wigginton, filling in for Miguel Tejada who is day-to-day, went 2-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI, including his fourth home run of the season. Despite being ninth on the team in number of at bats, Wigginton leads the Baltimore Orioles with 10 RBI.
Pitchers:
As much as the New York Yankees have players considered long in the tooth, they all keep producing. Andy Pettitte allowed two runs in eight innings with four strikeouts to gain his second win of the season.
Ervin Santana picked up a complete game win, allowing one run in nine innings with six strikeouts over the Toronto Blue Jays. His counterpart Ricky Romero coming was stellar once again, working eight innings while allowing one run with six strikeouts.
Matt Garza was dominant again in his third start of the season, tossing eight shutout innings with five strikeouts to move to 3-0 on the season. He now has a 0.75 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP on the season.
Nate Robertson is making a bid to become a mixed league option after holding the explosive Philadelphia Phillies offense scoreless at home for 6 1/3 innings. Robertson struck out four in picking up his second win of the season, while lowering his ERA to 2.20.
Ryan Dempster allowed one run in 7 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts in a no decision against the Houston Astros. Dempster was in line for the win until Carlos Marmol allowed a run in the ninth inning.
Brian Matusz notched his second win of the season, allowing three runs in 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight. Matusz now has 23 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings on the season.
As I wrote about in the fantasy baseball waiver wire report for week 3, Wade LeBlanc should have some decent value while filling in for Chris Young. LeBlanc got the start on Sunday and allowed one run in five innings with seven strikeouts.
Ian Kennedy had a much better second start this week, working five shutout innings with seven strikeouts. Of course he had the aid of facing the San Diego Padres line up at Petco park, but still it was encouraging.
Barry Zito and Clayton Kershaw were locked in a pitchers duel Sunday, as neither player factored in the decision. Zito allowed one run in seven innings with three strikeouts, while Kershaw allowed one run in seven innings with nine strikeouts.
Closers:
Franklin Morales blew his second save of the season, allowing two hits, two walks and two runs in the ninth inning to the Atlanta Braves. It would not be a surprise to see Rafael Betancourt possibly get a save chance the next time the Colorado Rockies have the lead in the ninth inning.
