Yesterday tried my patience, perhaps the most all season long. It wasn't that it was the worst day all year (2-3 is not good, but palatable), it's that 4 of our 5 teams actually WON their games! The Twins scored 4 times in the 6th inning, 1 inning AFTER our first-5 wager expired. If that wasn't enough to have me yanking out every remaining hair in my head, the Rockies blew their Run Line victory by allowing a seemingly inconsequential solo home run in the 9th inning. So, a 4-unit swing took place, and there's no one to blame but me. I spent a restless night beating myself up for not just taking the Money Line on Colorado, and not playing Minnesota for the full 9 innings.
But, focusing more on the positives, I continued to pick the right TEAM, and if I didn't get fancy with it, we'd have gone 4-1. The Fantasy Roundup is still up approximately 13 units overall, as always, playing 1 unit on every game.
NL
Eugenio Velez - Velez is 4-for-9 off Aaron Harang, though the Giants got worked over by Harang a couple weeks ago.
Ryan Howard - Howard has homered twice in only 6 AB against Doug Davis, still.......
Doug Davis - Comfortably with the D'backs for the remainder of the season, Davis turns his attention to the scary Phils, against whom he has had some success...some of the Phils regulars' numbers: Pedro Feliz (3-for-25), Jimmy Rollins (3-for-19), Chase Utley (2-for-11), Shane Victorino (1-for-8).
Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham - These two gNats are a combined 3-for-7 off Jason Hammel with 2 homers and 4 RBI.
Matt Diaz - "Ownage Alert" Diaz is a beastly 11-for-20 off ace Johan Santana with a homer and 3 RBI.
Kelly Johnson, Yunel Escobar and Martin Prado - Diaz got his own place on the list because of the ownage alert, but these three Braves have done a respectable job off Johan as well, with Johnson going 7-for-18, Escobar 5-for-15 and Prado 3-for-10.
Hanley Ramirez, Ronny Paulino and Cody Ross - The Marlins haven't seen much of Wandy Rodriguez, but Hanley is 4-for-8, Paulino is 5-for-8 with a homer and 4 RBI, and Ross is 3-for-5.
David Eckstein - The Eckz Factor is 6-for-15 off Joel Pineiro, though, expressing personal opinion, this guy has outlived his usefulness in the MLB.
Aaron Miles - The little goateed Cubbie is a career 6-for-15 off Jeff Weaver, another Dodgers spot-starter.
AL
Ichiro Suzuki - A reasonable 6-for-18 off Washburn, very much near his career numbers against, well, everyone.
Jhonny Peralta - Peralta is batting .391 lifetime off John Lackey in 23 AB, and has driven in 4.
Shin-Soo Choo - The same Cleveland names keep popping up, as Choo is 4-for-9 off Lackey with a pair of "ribbies".
John Lackey - Need to counterbalance the Peralta/Choo notes with one on Lackey - Travis Hafner is 2-for-20 against him, Sizemore 3-for-18, Asdrubal Cabrera 1-for-11, and the trio Jamey Carroll, Chris Gimenez and Luis Valbuena are a combined 0-for-9.
The Angels - As a team, they are batting .360 against Justin Masterson this year, led by Jeff Mathis's 3-for-4 this season.
Rod Barajas and Marco Scutaro - Barajas is 3-for-8 off Lester with 4 RBI, so he's been batting with men on base, while Scutaro, having a career year, is 4-for-10 off Lester this year, and batting .316 against him overall.
The Boston Red Sox - Let's see, a .500 batting average as a team against Brett Cecil, scoring 8 runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings against him.
Nick Markakis - Batting a shade over .300 off James Shields in 40 career AB, though Shields shut the Orioles down earlier this year with 7 scoreless frames.
TOP PLAYS
1)
Cincinnati Reds (+128) vs. San Francisco Giants - The Roundup is pointing to an awful lot of doggies today, so we'll get things started with an afternoon underdog, that continues to see the line worsen despite money coming in on the Giants. It is very difficult to sweep a team on the road, especially for a Giants club that struggled away from home all season long (until 3 days ago, apparently). Matt Cain had issues with the Reds 2 weeks ago, and while he'll probably pitch better this time around, it looks like another duel in the making with Aaron Harang. The Giants are due for a letdown at the tail end of this road trip, getting ready to tackle the Dodgers and Rockies and potentially looking ahead to the flight and big series.
***WINNER***
2) Toronto Blue Jays vs.
Boston Red Sox (-160) - Boston has been thoroughly dominant this series, and suddenly again look like the team that can run off 10-15 wins in a row without ever playing a close game. A lot of that has to do with having a Big Papi that can actually strike a little fear into opposing pitchers. Ortiz has homered in 3 straight games, and today faces Brett Cecil, who is making his first start since suffering a knee injury a few weeks back. It seems unlikely he'll go terribly deep in the game, and after Romero and Halladay had rough outings the last two nights, this does not shape up well for Toronto (a team at 11-17 since the A.S. Break). The Sox will run Jon Lester out to the mound, 2-1 against the Jays this year with an ERA in the low 2's. After getting burned on Run Lines the last 2 nights, we'll play this one on the Money Line in case it somehow ends up close, which seems highly unlikely.
***WINNER***
3) Cleveland Indians vs.
Los Angeles Angels (-153) - Same logic as above, playing the Money Line in case the game ends up close. This one has a greater shot at being a close game, since the Indians have a starter on the hill that can, every so often, man up and get guys out, in Justin Masterson. Still, Masterson has a high ERA against the Angels, who also hit .360 against him as a team, and John Lackey, the Angels' starter, has held the Indians to a team BAA of .136 this year. And in an effort not to jinx Lackey, allow me to note that the current Indians have a combined home run total against him of less than one, so they'll have to string together a formidable rally to put up any kind of numbers. The Angels are rolling on the road again, and with a win today, can take 6 straight on their current 10-game roadie. LOSER
4) New York Mets vs.
Atlanta Braves (+110) - The Braves, against Johan, are due. I realize that's strange logic, but you can see in the Roundup there are a handful of Braves with good numbers against Santana, and Atlanta has been hitting the ball very well lately. Kenshin Kawakami should be able to hold this makeshift Mets lineup to a run or two, so if the Braves can put up even 2-3 runs on Santana and the Mets pen, this should be a victory. Also worth noting is that Johan Santana is a home favorite of only a few cents, which really feels like the books are trying to get more money on NY any way possible.
***WINNER***
5) San Diego Padres vs.
St Louis Cardinals (-151) - The Cards have knocked off the Pads 8 consecutive times, and there's very little reason to think that will change now. St Louis has already been on the west coast for a few days, and took 2 of 3 from the reeling Dodgers in a well-pitched series. Today, Joel Pineiro looks for win #12 on the season, and the Cards look to win for the 9th straight time when Pineiro starts the game. Those are some pretty overwhelming numbers for the Padres to overcome, who took the first 2 from the Cubbies before getting absolutely steamrolled last night, courtesy of the suddenly studly Rich Harden. I expect the Padres to have trouble getting their ship righted after last night's loss, while the Cards just keep rolling along.
***WINNER***
6)
1/2-unit Play -
Washington Nationals(+130) vs. Colorado Rockies - This one was one simple fact away from a full unit, and that is the Nationals complete and utter lack of success against the Rockies. That being said, they have the much hotter starting pitcher going (Mock is coming off 6 shutout innings, while Hammel has given up 3 runs or more in a few consecutive starts), and Hammel pitched poorly against the Rockies earlier this year. Nats Manager Jim Riggleman has stated that he sees Mock getting better with every start, and with confidence snowballing and the Rockies seeing that the Giants lost (their closest competitor in the Wild Card race), my guess is that Colorado "takes it easy" a little bit tonight, gearing up for some showdowns with the NL West coming up. Wager 0.5 units to win 0.64. LOSER