Start a pitcher today? WHIR!

[yankees25]

ok, so I'm in a H2H Category (Runs,HR,RBI,SB,AVG,Strikeouts,Wins,Saves,ERA, and WHIP) league. I'm winning 5-4-1 and today is the last day of the match up. I'm winning 49 to 40 in K's, 2.893 to 3.589 in ERA, and .921 to 1.424 in WHIP. I have R.A. Dickey starting and my opponent has Justin Verlander starting. I'd like to win in all 3 of those categories, but I'm not sure if Verander will get 9+ K's or not and if R.A. Dickey will have his first bad game in a while or not. Please let me know if I should start him or not, thanks!

[acertijo]

I deal with this fairly often on Sundays. Here's what you need to do. Look at your innings pitched for the week, for your whole staff. Once you know your total IP, you can figure out fairly easily how many earned runs and how many walks+hits that Dickey would have to give up to really bring down your ERA and WHIP numbers. The more IP you have for the week, the more horrible the game he'd have to have to affect your ERA and WHIP badly enough to lose it for you.

I'd probably start Dickey in this instance (unless you have very few IP for the week) but I'd sit your closers (they have a much higher ability to screw your ratios with one bad appearance because a bad appearance for a reliever usually means several runs in one inning or less - just look at Castilla the other night) unless you really need saves.

Thanks for the input on mine.

[WaCougMBS]

I think your leads are big enough that you should definitely go for it. Verlander could have double-digit Ks in him any time out, and he could also get bullpen guys to rack up some sneaky Ks, and with an enormous lead in WHIP I think it's OK to protect your lead in Ks and just hope Dickey gets a QS, which should be more than enough to protect your lead in ERA as well. Hope this helps

[LightItUp95]

Dickey's been on fire lately and he dominates the Yankees (They just don't hit knucklers in general). Can you expect a shutout? No, but a win and QS aren't out of the question. I'd start him. Pirates have been hot lately, so there's a chance Verlander maybe has a worse start than you think.

Help:

http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=449458

http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=449429

Thanks!