Two-start pitchers week 9: remember again that the list below is more focused on mixed leagues since in AL or NL only leagues in most cases you do not have the option to rotate too many starting pitchers with the smaller player pool. The pitchers below are listed in alphabetical order by team name per category.

American League:

Start them:

John Lackey (BOS) ~ OAK (Gonzalez), at BAL (Matusz)
Justin Verlander (DET) ~ at OAK (Cahill), at KC (Hochevar)
Jeremy Bonderman (DET) ~ CLE (Westbrook), at KC (Bannister)
Ervin Santana (LAA) ~ at KC (Hochevar), at SEA (Fister)
Francisco Liriano (MIN) ~ at SEA (Fister), at OAK (Cahill)
Andy Pettitte (NYY) ~ CLE (Talbot), at TOR (Morrow)
Doug Fister (SEA) ~ MIN (Liriano), LAA (Santana)
Matt Garza (TB) ~ at TOR (Marcum), at TEX (Harden)
Shaun Marcum (TOR) ~ TB (Garza), NYY (Vazquez)

Roll the Dice:

Mark Buehrle (CHW) ~ TEX (Harden), CLE (Westbrook)
Brian Bannister (KC) ~ LAA (Pineiro), DET (Bonderman)
Luke Hochevar (KC) ~ LAA (Santana), DET (Verlander)
Joel Pineiro (LAA) ~ at KC (Bannister), at SEA (Vargas)
Nick Blackburn (MIN) ~ at SEA (Vargas), at OAK (Gonzalez)
Gio Gonzalez (OAK) ~ at BOS (Lackey), MIN (Blackburn)
Trevor Cahill (OAK) ~ at DET (Verlander), MIN (Liriano)
Jason Vargas (SEA) ~ BAL (Blackburn), at TOR (Pineiro)

Bannister has run off three good starts, allowing eight runs in 18 1/3 innings. He has faced Detroit already twice this year, allowing three runs in 12 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts. Blackburn has run off five straight wins, but if you look at the numbers, there is nothing especially impressive to see, with a 4.28 ERA, a 1.41 WHIP and a .305 batting average against. Add to it only 17 strikeouts in 61 innings and it makes his win streak all the more amazing.This will be Buehrle’s 4th start of the year against Cleveland already. He has allowed three earned runs in 15 1/3 innings against them. In an earlier start against Texas, he allowed four runs in seven innings.As I mentioned in an article several weeks ago, Pineiro has been good in all of his starts against a team for the first time this season, except for St. Louis who knew him since he pitched there last season. He gets KC and SEA each for the first time this year. Hochevar gets two home starts where he has a 3.45 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP this season.

Sit Them:

Brian Matusz (BAL) ~ at NYY (Vazquez), BOS (Lackey)
Jake Westbrook (CLE) ~ at DET (Bonderman), at CHW (Buehrle)
Mitch Talbot (CLE) ~ at NYY (Pettitte), at CHW (Peavy)
Javier Vazquez (NYY) ~ BLA (Matusz), at TOR (Marcum)
Rich Harden (TEX) ~ at CHW (Buehrle), TB (Garza)

Matusz has a 7.50 ERA in May and has allowed 38 hits in 24 innings. Westbrook has faced Chicago three times this year already and got hit hard in two of those starts.

National League:

Start them:

Tim Hudson (ATL) ~ PHI (Hamels), at LAD (Ely)
Tommy Hanson (ATL) ~ PHI (Blanton), at LAD (Billingsley)
Ubaldo Jimenez (COL) ~ at SF  (Lincecum), at ARI (Lopez)
Ricky Nolasco (FLA) ~ MIL (Bush), at NYM (Pelfrey)
Roy Oswalt (HOU) ~ WAS (Atilano), CHC (Dempster)
Chad Billingsley (LAD) ~ ARI (Lopez), ATL (Hanson)
John Ely (LAD) ~ ARI (Haren), ATL (Hudson)
Mike Pelfrey (NYM) ~ at SD (LeBlanc), FLA (Nolasco)
Hisanori Takahashi (NYM) ~ at SD (Correia), FLA (Robertson)
Tim Lincecum (SF) ~ COL (Jimenez), at PIT (Ohlendorf)
Jaime Garcia (STL) ~ CIN (Arroyo), MIL (Bush)

Roll the Dice:

Carlos Zambrano (CHC) ~ at PIT (Ohlendorf), at HOU (Myers)
Bronson Arroyo (CIN) ~ at STL (Garcia), at WAS (Stammen)
Brett Myers (HOU) ~ WAS (Stammen), CHC (Zambrano)
Joe Blanton (PHI) ~ at ATL (Hanson), SD (Correia)
Kevin Correia (SD) ~ NYM (Takahashi), at PHI (Blanton)

Arroyo has picked up wins in 5 of his last 6 starts and has cut his ERA by a full run over his last four outings. Despite losing three of his past four starts, Correia has not pitched that badly. Tossed six shutout innings in his last start against St. Louis.

Sit Them:

Rodrigo Lopez (ARI) ~ at LAD (Billingsley), COL (Jimenez)
Nate Robertson (FLA) ~ MIL (Narveson), at NYM (Takahashi)
Dave Bush (MIL) ~ at FLA (Nolasco), at STL (Garcia)
Chris Narveson (MIL) ~ at FLA (Robertson), at STL (Wainwright)
Ross Ohlendorf (PIT) ~ CHC (Zambrano), SF (Lincecum)
Craig Stammen (WAS) ~ at HOU (Myers), CIN (Arroyo)
Luis Atilano (WAS) ~ at HOU (Oswalt), CIN (Leake)

Hopefully if you are in a mixed league you don’t have any of these pitchers on your team so you don’t even have to think about starting any of them.

After a slow start to the month of June, interleague play has lit a fire under Albert Pujols. Pujols went 4-for-5 on Sunday and smacked two home runs while driving in six runs. Pujols has hit eight home runs in his last 10 games with 17 RBI. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Sunday…

Hitters:

B.J. Upton went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and four RBI. Upton, who hit his fifth home run of the season, has really started to pick up his offense the last 10 days. In that span, Upton has raised his batting average 28 points, drove in nine runs and stole eight bases.

Brandon Inge went 2-for-3  with three RBI and slugged his 16th home run of the season. Inge has homered three times in his last nine games while driving in seven runs. Currently at 47 RBI, Inge is on pace for his first 100 RBI season.

Lyle Overbay went 3-for-5 with five RBI, including his ninth home run of the season. Like Inge, Overbay is also on pace for his first 100 RBI season plus a potential career high in home runs. Part of the reason for Overbay’s improvement this year has been an increase in his walk rate, going from a walk every 8.4 plate appearances in 2008 to a rate of 5.8 this season, as well as a reduction in his strikeout rate, going from a strikeout rate of 5.3 in 2008 to 6.9 this year.

Clint Barmes went 2-for-4 with two RBI and connected for his eighth home run of the season. Barmes has driven in eight runs in his last eight games and is currently on pace for a 19 home run, 88 RBI, 12 steal season.

Hanley Ramirez homered for the first time since May 22nd, going deep for a two-run home run off of Brett Tomko. Despite the lack of power, he has surpassed his RBI total of 11 for the month of May with several games left to play in June.

Pitchers:

CC Sabathia left his start against the Florida Marlins in the second inning with bicep tightness. Sabathia was removed after 1 1/3 innings and 28 pitches thrown. It would be best to bench him in fantasy baseball leagues until the severity of his injury is determined.

Justin Verlander allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts to pick up his 8th win of the season. The win at home for Verlander continued a season long trend. He entered Sunday’s game with a 0.82 ERA in five home starts, compared to a 4.87 ERA on in nine road starts.

Ricky Romero allowed two runs in seven innings with six strikeouts. Romero has a 2.59 ERA in his last 31 1/3 innings with 31 strikeouts.

Mark Buehrle tossed seven shutout innings with three strikeouts to notch his 7th win of the year. The win for Buehrle was his first since May 19th.

Cole Hamels allowed two runs in eight innings with 10 strikeouts in a hard-luck loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Hamels has allowed two runs in each of his last two starts with 16 strikeouts in 14 innings. Hamels is still getting hit at too high of a rate for a pitcher of his caliber. After limiting batters to a .227 average in 2008, Hamels batting average against is currently .297.

Wandy Rodriguez allowed one run in seven innings with eight strikeouts to even his mark at 6-6. The win stopped his losing streak at four, giving him his first win since May 20th.

Randy Wells allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings with three strikeouts to get his first win of the season. The win was well deserved for Wells who has allowed three runs or less in seven of his eight starts this season.

Kevin Correia allowed one run in 6 2/3 inning with seven strikeouts. Correia is 3-1 in his last four starts with a 2.03 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings.

Closers:

Brian Wilson picked up his 19th save of the season, giving him 12 consecutive scoreless appearances. Since May 21st, Wilson has lowered his ERA from 4.87 to 2.94, while picking up 10 saves.