Posts Tagged ‘Joey Votto’

2010 Lineup Planner – Week 9

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 30th, 2010

Here is a look at the latest news and notes from around the diamond to help you set your fantasy baseball lineup for week 9.

American League:

Max Scherzer returned to the major leagues after two starts in Triple-A and proceeded to strike out 14 of 17 hitters on Sunday, while working 5 2/3 shutout innings against the Oakland A’s. His next start will come against Kansas City next weekend so I would have him active in a mixed league format.

Outfielder Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers is headed back to the 15-day disabled list again, meaning David Murphy will see more at bats over the next two weeks. Craig Gentry was recalled from Triple-A in a corresponding roster move but he is nothing more than a backup outfielder.

Third basemen Mark Teahen of the Chicago White Sox possibly suffered a broken finger on Sunday and will have X-Rays on Monday, making it unlikely he will see action next week. Jayson Nix took over Sunday and hit a pinch-hit grand slam and should see additional starts in week nine.

With Kendry Morales likely lost for the remainder of the fantasy baseball season after getting injured Saturday in the winning celebration, Mike Napoli got the start at first base on Sunday. Robb Quinlan was recalled from the minor leagues and could see time there as well, although neither of those options is necessarily long term. With Lyle Overbay heating up the last few weeks and Brett Wallace ready in the minor leagues, Overbay could be a possible trade target for the Los Angeles Angels.

National League:

Buster Posey was called up by the San Francisco Giants and got starts at first base over the weekend. He should see five to six starts per week between first base and catcher so he should be active in all formats going forward.

Carlos Zambrano and Tom Gorzelanny are flip-flopping roles between the starting rotation and bullpen this week with Zambrano getting the start on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. With Randy Wells also struggling, I would still hold onto Gorzelanny for another week or two to see how that shakes out.

With Joey Votto missing another game this week due to a stiff neck, his status is questionable for next week. It seems a long period of time to miss for a stiff neck and with some of the personal issues he went through last season, hopefully there is nothing more to the situation that is not being reported at this time. Miguel Cairo has done a good job filling in for him this week and is a decent option in NL only leagues for next week.

Andre Ethier is expected to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, sending Xavier Paul back to the bench.

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2010 Cincinnati Reds Team Preview

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 20th, 2010

This is the fourth part our series of 2010 fantasy baseball team previews looking at the National League Central. The team previews will include the projected batting order, projected rotation, rookies that could make an impact in 2010 as well as each players current ADP for a 15 team mixed fantasy baseball league.

2010 Cincinnati Reds Projected Batting Order:

1.  CF Drew Stubbs (ADP 277)
2.  SS Orlando Cabrera  (ADP 182)
3.  1B Joey Votto (ADP 26)
4.  2B Brandon Phillips (ADP 37)
5.  3B Scott Rolen (ADP 341)
6.  RF Jay Bruce (ADP 114)
7.  LF Jonny Gomes (ADP ND)
8.  C Ramon Hernandez (ADP 267)

2010 Cincinnati Reds Projected Rotation & Bullpen:

1.  Aaron Harang (ADP 235)
2.  Bronson Arroyo (ADP 310)
3.  Homer Bailey (ADP 263)
4.  Johnny Cueto (ADP 227)
5.  Aroldis Chapman / Matt Maloney (ADP 242 / ND)

Closer – Francisco Cordero (ADP 107)
Handcuff – Jared Burton

2010 Cincinnati Reds prospects with potential impact this year:

1.  Aroldis Chapman – SP
2.  Mike Leake – SP
3.  Chris Heisey – LF


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2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Leagues – Draft Position

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 1st, 2010

Now that we have been looking at fantasy baseball mock drafts, it is time to look at draft position and how that impacts your fantasy baseball team. For the purpose of this discussion, we will be using a 15 team mixed league format.

Usually there are several positions I want to grab in the early rounds of the draft based on the depth or lack of depth at a position. Some places in the draft order mean you will not have a shot at any of these positions. If you are not comfortable with having either a weak shortstop of second basemen or whatever position you value, than you might need to adjust your strategy or grab a player a round earlier than you wanted to because he will not make it back to your pick in the next round.

Some fantasy baseball leagues offer you the chance to list a preference for your draft order. If that is case, it pays to have made sure you have done several mock drafts from multiple positions before the real event. Every year I feel there is a stronger part of the draft order where an owner might have a slight advantage for drafting. Knowing where this spot is in your draft can make a huge difference in you winning or losing you fantasy baseball league.

Let’s take a look at some of the sections of the draft and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each group.

Picks 1-5: If you value a shortstop, unless you get Hanley Ramirez, you are most likely in trouble. From the previous fantasy baseball mock draft article we know it is likely that Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins are not going to make it back in the second round. Derek Jeter is there in the third round but it is probably a little early to take him based on other value on the board.

Also at risk picking in these slots are your team stolen base totals. I usually try to set a goal of getting 40% of my teams stolen bases from my first three picks of the draft. Unless you grab Matt Kemp in the top five, chances are you are getting 15-20 steals from your first round pick. On the way back in the second round unless Justin Upton or Grady Sizemore slide to you, the only real stolen base numbers come from second basemen like Brandon Phillips, Dustin Pedroia or Brian Roberts. Chances are though that if you took Chase Utley in the first round, you are not going to grab another second basemen in round two so you have to look elsewhere for steals.

In the third round, stolen base options would be a second basemen if you did not grab one in round two, Jayson Werth or reaching for Ichiro Suzuki or Derek Jeter. So if your goal for stolen bases is 170, and we are aiming for 40%, then we want to try and get 68 steals from the first three picks. Picking in the top 5 spots assuming no Kemp and unless Upton or Sizemore slide, you are most likely only going to be at around 40 to 50 steals so you need to keep that in mind as you prepare for the draft.

Picks 6-10: This is not a bad spot to be in as after the top five, the opinions widely vary on the next group of players so sitting at 10, there is a good chance that you could get one of the top players on your draft board.

Same potential problems with missing out on a shortstop lie in this draft range. Also at issue is possibly second base assuming Utley does not slide. There is a very good chance that Phillips, Pedroia and Roberts are all gone by the time the third round pick comes. That leaves possible options of Robinson Cano, Aaron Hill, or Ben Zobrist coming back in the fourth round.

Third base could be an issue as well as you miss out on A-Rod in the first round and on David Wright in the second round. Mark Reynolds might slide to this group, but if you take Ryan Howard in the first round, it would be hard to take Reynolds here because you would start in a huge hole from a batting average perspective. Ryan Zimmerman and Kevin Youkilis are gone by the end of round two / start of round three so you miss them in the third round which leaves possibly Pablo Sandoval or Aramis Ramirez in the third round or else take the risk of hoping Ramirez slides back to your spot in the fourth round.

If you like to take catchers early, this spot could work to your advantage as you would like have a shot at Joe Mauer in the first, Victor Martinez in the second and Brian McCann in the third.

Picks 11-15: If you are a fan of position scarcity, this spot of the draft will give you some great draft selections with David Wright, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, Troy Tulowitzki and Ian Kinsler all in this range. It is also a good spot to grab stolen bases with the above listed players as well as Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury in the mix as well.

Downside to this spot is you miss out on a top tier first basemen most likely. Five first basemen are off the board if the current average draft position (ADP) numbers hold up, as well as missing out on Joey Votto, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis and Justin Morneau in the second round on the way back. Possible options in the third or fourth round would be Kendry Morales, Lance Berkman or Pablo Sandoval if he slid. If you pass on all of the above players, the last shot at an upper tier first basemen is Derek Lee or Billy Butler in the fifth round but there is no guarantee they make it back to your turn.

That would leave one power hitting first basemen left on the draft board in Carlos Pena. The power would help but depending on what you do in the first few rounds would impact whether you can afford to pick him or not. If you happened to grab Ian Kinsler and Jimmy Rollins in rounds 1 and 2, two guys that hit around .280 or lower, adding Pena to the mix would put at risk your points in the batting average category.


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2010 Fantasy Baseball ADP – First Base

Posted by Todd Lammi on February 11th, 2010

by Todd Lammi

This is the second article in the series looking at the current 2010 fantasy baseball ADP (average draft position) for players at first base. The data uses ADP numbers from Mock Draft Central using the NFBC scoring system.

The chart below lists players arranged by my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings with the current ADP broken down by where that player would fall in a 12 or 15 team league by round and pick. The one caveat being that the 12 team numbers may be skewed slightly as some players may go later than others due to the larger player pool to pick from.

You can see from the grid below where the value drops off at first base, right after Billy Butler in round six or eight depending on the size of your league. There is then a seven to nine round gap before the next first basemen, Chris Davis, is selected. As mentioned in my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings for first base, based on the current ADP I see Joey Votto and Chris Davis currently as overvalued with the players still left on the draft board where they are being selected.

Billy Butler keeps moving up in mock drafts to a point that he is almost overrated as well because you are now paying for last seasons numbers plus some improvement. People are discounting Lance Berkman because of his age and his injury in 2009, but to be able to get him at the end of the fourth round in a 15 team league gives him great value.

12 Teams 15 Teams
Rank Name ADP Round Pick Round Pick
1 Albert Pujols 1 1 1 1 1
2 Ryan Howard 11 1 11 1 11
3 Mark Teixeira 7 1 7 1 7
4 Prince Fielder 9 1 9 1 9
5 Miguel Cabrera 10 1 10 1 10
6 Lance Berkman 57 5 9 4 12
7 Joey Votto 29 3 5 2 14
8 Kevin Youkilis 33 3 9 3 3
9 Justin Morneau 44 4 8 3 14
10 Adrian Gonzalez 32 3 8 3 2
11 Carlos Pena 75 7 3 5 15
12 Kendry Morales 54 5 6 4 9
13 Derrek Lee 85 8 1 6 10
14 Billy Butler 86 8 2 6 11
15 James Loney 205 18 1 14 10
16 Paul Konerko 201 17 9 14 6
17 Chris Davis 145 13 1 10 10
18 Adam LaRoche 194 17 2 13 14
19 Todd Helton 195 17 3 13 15
20 Aubrey Huff 287 24 11 20 2

The FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide is now available for purchase for just $9.99. You can view a sample here to see the template for the top 10 catchers and top 10 starting pitchers.

The Draft Guide includes the following:

  • Projections in Excel for 480 players using the standard 5 x 5 fantasy baseball categories
  • Cheat sheets already set up to be printed out
  • Expanded player rankings for all positions
  • Ages for all players as of opening day
  • Word / PDF document that explains how to use the projections and some tips for some neat things to do in Excel.
  • The first article that will be only available to subscribers (and not posted on the website) for “how to win your fantasy baseball draft league”. This is a seven page document with 3,500 words of fantasy baseball goodness based on my 20 years of playing in fantasy baseball leagues.
  • You will also receive weekly reports every Monday that feature updates to rankings and a new article all the way up to opening day.
  • Support for any questions you have in regards to Excel to ensure you get the most out of the data.

Order now to get the information you need to dominate the competition!!!

Next up in the 2010 Fantasy Baseball ADP rankings will be second basemen.

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2010 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – First Base

Posted by Todd Lammi on January 27th, 2010

by Todd Lammi

This is the second in our series of fantasy baseball rankings looking at the position of first base. There is some good depth at this position with the added flexibility of guys like Victor Martinez, Kevin Youkilis, Pablo Sandoval, Jorge Cantu and Garrett Jones.

There are really two clusters or tiers of players in the first six rounds or so of mixed league drafts. The key will be picking out the player that performs above the others in that group to give you the best chance of winning your fantasy baseball league.

With that said, let’s take a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings for first base in 2010.

1) Albert Pujols – owners that picked Pujols first last season got an extra bonus with an additional 10 home runs and nine stolen bases compared to the previous year. Pujols has been chosen as the number one pick in all 33 NFBC scoring fantasy baseball drafts at Mock Draft Central so far this year.

2) Ryan Howard – this is great in two cases for people picking at the end of the first round in fantasy baseball drafts. One is you will most likely get the chance to draft Howard if you want him, as the current ADP has him as the fifth first basemen. Secondly, if you get him, you are getting a player with more value than the players drafted in front of him.

3) Mark Teixeira – should put up similar numbers to 2009 as he enjoyed the benefit of the new Yankees’ stadium, hitting 24 home runs vs. 15 on the road and a healthy Alex Rodriguez in the lineup for the entire season.

4) Prince Fielder – had a monster 2009 season that puts him in the first round of fantasy baseball drafts this season. Has not been distracted by his big potential pay day looming after 2011 or the possibility of the Milwaukee Brewers potentially trading him this season or next.

5) Miguel Cabrera – he turns the fantasy baseball magical age of 27 in April. Whether he continues his consistent numbers of years past is in some question after recently admitting to undergoing alcohol abuse treatment.

6) Lance Berkman – Berkman is much in the same boat as Howard. Berkman’s ADP is lower than several players below him, yet I expect him to have more value. People are discounting Berkman because of his injury and age, but he is one of the few first baseman than can get you .300-90-30-100-10 and last year was his first year on the disabled list since 2005.

7) Joey Votto – lots of people are on the Votto bandwagon this season as his current ADP has him as the 6th best first basemen and going in the second round in most mixed league fantasy baseball drafts. The only problem with  owners picking him as high as the second round means people are projecting him at around .290-30-100-8 which is somewhat of a leap of faith. If he falls short of those numbers, you have now lost in terms of value with your pick in the second round.

8.) Kevin Youkilis – offers the added flexibility of qualifying at third base in 2010. I have him ranked just ahead of Justin Morneau due to the injury concerns and the fact Youkilis hits in a better lineup.

9) Justin Morneau – carries a little risk coming off two injuries that can affect power hitters, with wrist surgery and a stress fracture in his vertebrae occurring at the end of the season.

10) Adrian Gonzalez – had 64 less at bats last season due to a huge increase in walks and still managed to hit more home runs. Only negatives are the lineup he plays in limits his RBI total and he has hit over .300 only one time in his career. He gets a bump in value once / if he is traded by the San Diego Padres. Gonzalez hit 28 home runs on the road last season and only 12 at home.

11) Carlos Pena – depends on how bad you want the power and if your team can absorb the batting average when choosing between Pena and Kendry Morales. Hurt by a 44 point drop in batting average against right-handed pitching last year. Expect a slight rebound and that his overall batting average is back in the .240 range.

12) Kendry Morales – had a fantasy baseball breakout year in 2009, finally get a full season of at bats. If you are a big believer in second-half stats providing growth for the following year, go the extra dollar on him in an auction format. Morales hit .330 after the break vs. 284 with four more home runs and 10 more RBI in 32 less at bats.

13) Derrek Lee -  entered the time machine and went back to his 2005 levels in 2009. Now at age 34, don’t expect a repeat this year, there will be some regression likely. Take note that although the power came back, the stolen bases did not so keep the projections realistic.

14) Billy Butler – it seems like he has been around for quite a few years without fulfilling the high expectations from his minor league numbers, but the fact is he turns just 24 in April of this year. Turned up the power in a big way in 2009 with 21 home runs and 51 doubles!. If you have played fantasy baseball before, you know that eventually some of those doubles will turn into home runs as he continues to fill out. This might be the last year you can get him cheap.

15) James Loney – improved at the plate in 2009, taking an additional 25 walks while cutting his strikeouts by 17. But unless your fantasy baseball league uses on base percentage as a category, he isn’t as valuable.  His 15 home runs in only 344 at bats in 2007 are now the outlier.

16) Paul Konerko – another fork in the road during the fantasy baseball draft, whether you want Konerko, Chris Davis or Adam LaRoche who I have grouped in the same tier. Approaching his mid 30’s now, you pretty much know what you are going to get with Konerko. His 2009 stats were in line with his 2007 numbers.

17) Chris Davis – really depends on how much risk you like to take in your fantasy baseball drafts whether you want to roll the dice on him. People that want him will look at his 93 at bats in September when he hit .290 after his demotion to the minor leagues. People that stay away will look at his 38% strikeout rate and say there is no way he keeps a job. The power is legit; whether he can hold on to the job is another question, especially with top prospect Justin Smoak already in AAA.

18) Adam LaRoche – you can pencil him in for 70 runs scored, 25 home runs and 85 RBI every year it seems. If you draft him, understand the history. He is a slow starter and puts up much better numbers in the second half every season. If you own him, don’t dump him cheap at the All-Star break.

19) Todd Helton – was able to control his back condition last season and got 544 at bats. Still carries a little bit of risk to miss time, but is a decent corner infielder to own to help boost your fantasy baseball team’s batting average.

20) Aubrey Huff – should be good for 15-20 home runs and 80+ RBI as the clean up hitter for the San Francisco Giants.

The FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide is now available for purchase for just $9.99. You can view a sample here to see the template for the top 10 catchers and top 10 starting pitchers.

The Draft Guide includes the following:

  • Projections in Excel for 480 players using the standard 5 x 5 fantasy baseball categories
  • Cheat sheets already set up to be printed out
  • Expanded player rankings for all positions
  • Ages for all players as of opening day
  • Word / PDF document that explains how to use the projections and some tips for some neat things to do in Excel.
  • The first article that will be only available to subscribers (and not posted on the website) for “how to win your fantasy baseball draft league”. This is a seven page document with 3,500 words of fantasy baseball goodness based on my 20 years of playing in fantasy baseball leagues.
  • You will also receive weekly reports every Monday that feature updates to rankings and a new article all the way up to opening day.
  • Support for any questions you have in regards to Excel to ensure you get the most out of the data.

Order now to get the information you need to dominate the competition!!!

Next up in the series for 2010 fantasy baseball rankings will be second basemen.

Read More »

Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Tuesday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 27th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

There is rejoicing in fantasy baseball land Tuesday night as top prospect Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles is expected to be recalled from Triple-A on Friday.  It should not take long for Wieters to ascend to the top tier of the catching ranks, based on his expected performance. With injuries to Ryan Doumit and Chris Ianetta and Geovany Soto off to a slow start, it is not inconceivable for Wieters to be a top 5 catcher the rest of the season, behind Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Brian McCann and Bengie Molina.

To give you an idea of the landscape at catcher from a fantasy baseball statistical purpose, Jorge Posada ranks six among catchers in RBI with 20 despite missing the last three weeks of action. Russell Martin still is stuck on zero home runs, although he does has six stolen bases and Mike Napoli should start to lose at bats with Vladimir Guerrero returning to action as Napoli was seeing time at designated hitter when not catching.

Wieters, who was the fifth overall selection in the 2007 June draft, will take over immediately as the Orioles starting catcher upon his arrival. Wieters is currently hitting .305 with 5 home runs and 30 RBI in 141 at bats with a 2o to 30 walk to strikeout ratio in Triple-A. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Tuesday…

Hitters:

Orioles hitters responded to the news of Wieters impending arrival by collecting 14 hits in a 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Adam Jones (11), Aubrey Huff (8) and Nolan Reimold (3) all hit home runs in the victory. With the young bats the Orioles have and the pitching in their farm system, they are probably 1 1/2 years away from competing for the division.

The Cleveland Indians used four home runs to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1. Mark DeRosa starting in left field hit his 8th home run of the year and is now up to 32 RBI on the season. It is nice the Indians are show casing DeRosa’s versatility in the outfield to boost his trade value, but that comes at the expense of playing time for Matt LaPorta who was sent back to Triple-A. LaPorta never got untracked with the Indians, batting .190 with one home run in 13 games.

Carlos Pena hit his 16th home run and knocked in his 40th RBI to provide the lone run of offense for the Rays.

Joey Votto hit a two-run home in the seventh inning to propel the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 win over the Houston Astros. The long ball was Votto’s 8th of the season to go along with his 33 RBI.

Gary Sheffield continues to pick up the slack offensively for the New York Mets with Jose Reyes, Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado all missing from the lineup due to injuries. Sheffield went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and belted his fifth home run of the year to lead Mets to a 6-1 win over the Washington Nationals. He has now driven in nine runs in his last five games.

Also for the Mets, rookie Fernando Martinez was recalled from Triple-A with Church going on the disabled list. Martinez got the start in right field batting sixth and went 0 for 3 with an RBI. Martinez was hitting .291 with 8 home runs and 28 RBI in 165 at bats in Triple-A with two stolen bases.

Chris Davis hit two home runs to power the Texas Rangers to a 7-3 win over the New York Yankees. Davis now has 12 home runs on the season, but is only batting .208 on the year.

Justin Morneau went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI including his 14th home run of the season in a 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. Morneau has driven in 11 runs in his last five games.

Mark Reynolds hit his 13th home run of the year and knocked in two in a 6-5 win over the San Diego Padres. Reynolds is currently 5th in the National League in home runs and 7th in stolen bases with 10.

Jayson Nix hit two solo home runs to give the Chicago White Sox a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

Pitchers:

Zack Greinke continued his amazing 2009 season, tossing a complete game against the Detroit Tigers in a 6-1 win. Greinke struck out eight while lowering his ERA to 0.84. He has still yet to allow more than two runs in any start this year and also has not given up a home run through 75 innings.

Joe Blanton tossed seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts in a 5-3 win over the Florida Marlins. The victory evened Blanton’s record at 3-3  and easily surpassed his previous season high of six strikeouts.

Carl Pavano allowed one run in seven innings with six strikeouts to pick up his fifth win of the season. Pavano has now won 5 of his last 6 starts, while allowing four runs or less in all of them.

Livan Hernandez picked up a complete game win, allowing one run with six strikeouts. Hernandez has now allowed two runs or less in four of his last five starts.

Adam Wainwright allowed one run in seven innings with nine strikeouts in a 8-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Wainwright improved to 5-2 and has allowed one run in each of his last three starts, covering a total of 23 2/3 innings.

Nick Blackburn allowed one earned run in seven innings with seven strikeouts to move to 4-2 on the season. Blackburn has shaved 1 1/2 runs off his ERA in his last five starts to his current mark of 3.55

Eric Milton picked up his first win in almost three years, tossing five innings of one run ball in a 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. Milton allowed seven hits and struck out three in his second start since being recalled from Triple-A.

Sean Marshall allowed one run in five innings with six strikeouts to pick up a rain-shortened 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marshall continues to keep pace with Randy Wells to see who will become the 5th starter once Rich Harden returns from the disabled list.

Max Scherzer allowed two runs in seven innings with 10 strikeouts to earn his second win of the season. Scherzer has had back-to-back 10 strikeout performances and will face the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Jarrod Washburn hurled six scoreless innings with four strikeouts in a 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Tim Lincecum pitched eight shutout innings and fanned eight in a 4-0 defeat of the Atlanta Braves.  Lincecum lowered his ERA to 3.03 and has struck out eight or more in 7 of his last 8 starts.

Closers:

Brad Lidge was supposed to get the day off, but after the Marlins cut the lead to two in the ninth innings, he came in to record two outs for his ninth save of the season. Manager Charlie Manuel’s use of the bullpen on Tuesday night signifies he has little faith in Ryan Madson as the closer and why he continues to stick with Lidge in spite of Lidge’s recent blown saves. Instead of using Madson in the ninth inning and a different set up man in the eighth, he still pitched Madson in the eighth and had Chad Durbin come in to close the door in the ninth, which Durbin failed to do.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Saturday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 23rd, 2009

by Todd Lammi

Eleven was the magic number for the Texas Rangers on Saturday, as they defeated the Houston Astros 6-3. The Rangers banged out 11 hits, including two home runs from Nelson Cruz, giving him 11 on the season. Cruz drove in four runs and now has 30 RBI on the year. Hank Blalock went 3 for 4 and added his 11th home run of the season. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Saturday…

Hitters:

Joe Mauer went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBI including his 9th home run of the year. Mauer is now hitting .429 on the season and has driven in 12 runs in his last six games.

Joey Votto went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI and swatted two home runs. Votto is now batting .371 with 31 RBI on the season.

Recent Philadelphia Phillies call up John Mayberry Jr. went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and his first major league home run. He should see some time in the outfield or designated hitter during interleague games.

Under the category “why do teams keep pitching to him”, Raul Ibanez slugged his 17th home run of the season, giving him a home run in four consecutvie games.

Recently promoted Jonny Gomes got the start in left field for the Cincinnati Reds and went 1 for 4 with a stolen base. Gomes should see starts against left-handed pitching as long as he is in the majors.

Adam Kennedy went 3 for 4 and hit his second home run of the season. Kennedy has been on a roll at the plate with three 3-hit games in his last eight games. Kennedy has raiased his batting average by almost 120 points in the last 10 days, to his current mark of .400

Jason Bartlett went 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and stole his 13th base of the season. His current pace of a 22 home runs, 108 RBI, 48 steal season would put him in the company of Hanley Ramirez / Jimmy Rollins (back when he had power) in the first round of fantasy baseball drafts next year.

Pitchers:

The New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on a two-run home run from Omir Santos in the ninth inning. Mike Pelfrey allowed two runs in seven innings for the Mets with six strikeouts. Josh Beckett hurled eight scoreless innings for the Red Sox while fanning five.

Kyle Lohse tossed eight innings of shut out ball and struck out six to improve to 4-3 on the season. The win for Lohse ended his personal three game losing streak.

Derek Lowe allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings to move to 6-2 on the year. Lowe has allowed two runs in three consecutive starts.

Matt Cain picked up a complete game victory, moving to 5-1 on the season. Cain allowed one run against the Seattle Mariners and struck out seven to lower his ERA to 2.40.

Clayton Richard, mentioned earlier in the week as a possible player in the Jake Peavy trade, tossed six shutout innings with eight strikeouts versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ross Detwiler allowed one run in six innings and struck out four in a no decision.

In his first start of the season, J.A. Happ allowed two runs in six innings with four strikeouts in a no decision. Happ is a good fantasy baseball play in National League only formats.

Rookie Anthony Swarzak of the Minnesota Twins pitched seven shutout innings with three strikeouts to earn his first major league win.

Josh Geer allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year for the San Diego Padres.

Rookie Sean West called up from AA by the Florida Marlins allowed two runs in five innings with five strikeouts in a no decision.

Casey Janssen returned to the Toronto Blue Jays rotation, making his first start since 2006, allowed three runs in six innings but did not register a strikeout.

Closers:

Brad Lidge blew his third save of the year, allowing three runs in 1/3 of an inning.

J.J. Putz picked up his second save of the season for the Mets in place of an ailing Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod is out of action due to back spasms and could be faced with a stint on the disabled list.

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