5/14 Cheering, Venting, & Votto Does the Unpossible

[bigh0rt]

News, Notes, & Nonsense...

- Joey Votto became the 3rd player this season to [i]not not hit 3 Home Runs in a single game. Rumors are circulating that ESPN is simply airing the same Home Run from three separate angles as a very late April Fools joke. Votto leads all Major Leaguers with 16 doubles on the season.

- Lost in the Hamiltonmania that was last week was Carlos Beltran's .360, 6 HR, 13 RBI, 8 R outburst. Sure, it wasn't the 9 HR and 18 RBI that Josh posted, but it was nearly equally impressive. Beltran sits at 13 HR on the season, and if he can manage to avoid the injury bug, could find himself a Top 5 OF come season's end.

- Speaking of Beltran, for somebody who is labeled as an injury prone maniac, I was surprised to see the following GP totals since 2005 (the year he joined the Mets): 151, 140, 144, 161, 81, 64, 142. Only two really rough years in there, and from what I recall, it was due to the same injury. Maybe I'm just justifying that I traded for him yesterday... yes, probably that.

- Carlos Zambrano's brand of crazy apparently meshes well with Ozzie Guillen's, as C-Zam has looked better than he has in years. Allowing just 1 ER in 2 starts last week totaling 16 innings of work with equally as many strikeouts, Zambrano is handsomely rewarding the owners who took a long shot chance on a change of scenery for him.

- Who the hell is Scott Diamond? Through his first 2 starts he's yet to surrender a single Earned Run, possesses a 2 - 0 record, with 10 Ks to just a single BB in 14 innings. The next big breakout FAAB pitcher, or a guy who will be < 10% owned by June?

- Does anybody even know who's closing for what teams anymore? What are there like five or six 'solid' closers in the entire league at this point? The WW is a carousel of relievers being added, dropped, speculated on, and generally sucking.[/i]

Today's Match Ups:

NYY: Nova (4-1, 5.02 ERA)
BAL: Hammel (4-1, 2.09 ERA)

MIL: Gallardo (2-3, 5.35 ERA)
NYM: Batista (0-1, 5.89 ERA)

TB: Niemann (2-3, 3.48 ERA)
TOR: Morrow (4-1, 2.27 ERA)

CHC: Dempster (0-1, 1.02 ERA)
STL: Westbrook (4-2, 1.76 ERA)

SEA: Vargas (4-2, 2.79 ERA)
BOS: Lester (1-3, 4.29 ERA)

SD: Stauffer (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
WSH: Detwiler (3-2, 2.10 ERA)

KC: Chen (1-4, 4.83 ERA)
TEX: Feldman (0-0, 4.35 ERA)

HOU: Harrell (2-2, 4.58 ERA)
PHI: Blanton (3-3, 3.24 ERA)

DET: Smyly (1-0, 1.59 ERA)
CHW: Danks (2-4, 5.89 ERA)

CIN: Bailey (1-3, 4.93 ERA)
ATL: Delgado (2-3, 4.54 ERA)

CLE: Gomez (2-2, 4.66 ERA)
MIN: Pavano (2-3, 5.02 ERA)

PIT: Lincoln (2-0, 0.63 ERA)
MIA: Sanchez (2-0, 2.01 ERA)

OAK: Ross (1-3, 7.71 ERA)
LAA: Haren (1-3, 4.19 ERA)

ARI: Kennedy (3-2, 3.91 ERA)
LAD: Kershaw (2-1, 2.56 ERA)

COL: Friedrich (1-0, 1.50 ERA)
SF: Vogelsong (1-2, 2.94 ERA)

[bigh0rt]

Two rough match ups for me today, but starting them both (maybe against my better judgment). Trotting Morrow vsTB as well as Dempster @STL. Consequently, it's each of their final starts on my team, as I've traded them away in the same deal. Beyond that, I have nobody I care to drop right now, so Stauffer remains on my DL -- I imagine I'll be swapping him for Jennings soon enough.

[Skin Blues]

Jennings

"We didn't think it was a DL thing, so we used him as an insignificant pinch hitter a couple times and now we're screwed with regards to DL time."

Maybe they should give him a knock on the head so they can put him on the 7-day DL??

[RedHopeful]

Fingers crossed in a couple of deeper leagues that Friedrich isn't a flash in the pan.

[saemick]

planning to spot start Friedrich as well... sure hope he keeps it up

[hondo4mvp]

Don't count on the SD @Nats or Yanks @O's being played, 90% chance of rain in the B-W region.

[SpecialFNK]

the last 4 games Bonifacio has been batting 7th compared to batting 2nd in most of his other games. can he get back to batting 2nd again? I would like his potential numbers better if he can get back to batting 2nd.

[bigh0rt]

the last 4 games Bonifacio has been batting 7th compared to batting 2nd in most of his other games. can he get back to batting 2nd again? I would like his potential numbers better if he can get back to batting 2nd.

Prior to yesterday he had 1 XBH on the entire season. However, his 17 SB to 0 CS mark skews that to a slight degree in his favor. Infante and Bonifacio have similar OBPs, so maybe they just prefer Omar's pop?

[Padsin05]

the last 4 games Bonifacio has been batting 7th compared to batting 2nd in most of his other games. can he get back to batting 2nd again? I would like his potential numbers better if he can get back to batting 2nd.

bonaficio sucked hitting 2nd, now hes actually getting hits hitting 7th, leave him there

[BChinly]

Rolling out Morrow v. TB, Vogelsong v. COL, and Smyly @CWS

All three of my SP are starting on the same day!