by Todd Lammi
Ian Kinsler continues to justify his first round status from fantasy baseball drafts, hitting his 4th home run and steal his 5th and 6th bases of the season in the Texas Rangers 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Michael Young chipped in with his 3rd home run and second stole base of the year. Kyle Davies of the Royals did not factor in the decision, allowing three runs in six innings with eight strikeouts. Davies should be a consideration in mixed league formats with 21 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings and a 2.89 ERA. In other fantasy baseball news from around the diamond on Sunday…
American League:
The New York Yankees rallied for three runs in both the 7th and 8th inning to defeat the Cleveland Indians 7-3. Jorge Posada hit his 3rd home run of the season for the Yankees. Shin-Soo Choo hit home run number three for the Indians. It is going to be tough for Kerry Wood of the Indians to get saves this year if the key relievers in front of him continue to struggle. All three relievers that entered the game after starter Carl Pavano currently have an ERA over six…..Ricky Romero of the Toronto Blue Jays held the Oakland A’s scoreless for seven innings and struck out six in a 1-0 victory. Dallas Braden allowed one run for the Athletics in seven innings and now sports a 2.79 ERA. It is going to be hard to get wins if you own Oakland starting pitchers. The A’s are last or next to last in multiple offensive categories. Currently they are last in home runs, batting average, slugging percentage and second last in runs scored and RBI…..Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox picked up his first win of the season, pitching seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts to give the Red Sox a 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Koji Uehara allowed two runs in seven innings with five strikeouts in the loss…..Carlos Quentin homered in his third consecutive game to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 12-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Jim Thome added his third home run for the White Sox. Gavin Floyd allowed two runs in seven innings with seven strikeouts. B.J. Upton stole his third base of the year for the Rays…..Glen Perkins allowed one run in eight innings with four k’s to pitch the Minnesota Twins past the Los Angeles Angels 3-1. Bobby Abreu stole a base for his fourth consecutive game, giving him seven on the season for the Angels…..Rookie Rick Porcello pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run in the Detroit Tigers 8-2 win over the Seattle Mariners. Shortstop Ramon Santiago continued his big week for the Tigers, driving in five runs. Santiago has been filling in for Adam Everett and should continue to start while he is hot at the plate.
National League:
The Florida Marlins rallied in the ninth inning for four runs off of Saul Rivera in a 7-4 win over the Washington Nationals. Cody Ross hit his 3rd home run of the season and drove in five runs, including the winning three runs in the ninth inning on a double…..Raul Ibanez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres. Chase Utley hit his 4th home run and Jimmy Rollins his first, in a pinch hit appearance. Fantasy baseball owners have to hope that the home run by Rollins gets him going on a hot streak. Josh Greer starting in place of Walter Silva, who was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained forearm, tossed seven scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Adrian Gonzalez hit his 5th home run for the Padres…..Javier Vazquez pitched six shutout innings with eight strikeouts in the Atlanta Braves 11-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Chipper Jones returned to the lineup for the Braves and went 1 for 3…..Edison Volquez picked up his first win of the season for the Cincinnati Reds in a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros. Felipe Paulino starting in place of the injured Brian Moehler hurled six scoreless innings with six strikeouts…..Randy Johnson allowed one hit in seven shutout innings to give the San Francisco Giants a 2-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Max Scherzer allowed one run in five innings for the D-Backs with six strikeouts. Until Scherzer is able to command the strike zone better, he is a five to six inning pitcher at best at this point…..Matt Kemp hit two home runs and drove in five runs in the Los Angeles Dodgers 14-2 thumping of the Colorado Rockies. Orlando Hudson went 3 for 4 and drove in three runs.
