Jose Bautista hit his 39th and 40th home runs last night. As frequent commenter, VinWins, pointed out yesterday, in the Blue Kays last 162 games, Bautista has 50 homers. Okay, I was way off with this guy, but Jose Bautista didn’t see this year coming. His own mother doesn’t recognize him. Every morning he wakes up wondering if the last five months were a dream. This is the craziest home run year since Scooter McGillicuddy blasted 6 homers in 1901 while battling scurvy. Bautista hadn’t hit 30 homers in the past two years combined in twice as many games. His HR/FB% is nearly double his career mark. His fly balls are through the roof, literally. His Isolated Power is near Babe Ruth’s career mark. The HR department thinks Bautista lied on his resume. A mouth enters on the left side of the screen and says, “Im,” a mouth enters on the right side and says, “Probable.” Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Brandon Morrow – 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 12 Ks. Hello, beautiful. I hate AL East pitchers, but I might just own Morrow on all of my teams next year. Right after, I draft Daniel Hudson.
Ivan Nova – 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks. In the minors, he had a 2.86 ERA in 145 IP and around a 7 K/9 rate. He’s not guaranteed another start, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him face the A’s next week. It’s not a terrible spot starter for the Yankees or for your fantasy team. And he would’ve made a great pitcher-catcher combination with Mike Scioscia.
Jeremy Bonderman – 6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks. Decent enough start, but he’s coming off 3 atrocious games and has a 5.27 ERA on the year. You want an ulcer? Ask your girlfriend which friend of yours she would sleep with if you weren’t dating her. Don’t pickup Bonderman.
Brett Myers – 7 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 10 baserunners, 9 Ks. Gets the win in his first start against his old team. When asked how it felt to beat the Phillies, he said, “I’ll always love the Phillies but sometimes you have to beat the ones you love.”
Joe Blanton – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 9 Ks. Actually outpitched Myers and has 3 decent starts in his last four and goes to Petco next.
James Shields – 6 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 10 Ks. Now has back-to-back quality starts, but has a 4.76 ERA on the year and gets the Sawx next. I’d look elsewhere if you can.
Michael Bourn – 3-for-4, 2 SBs. That’s now a robust .252 with 1 HR and 27 RBIs to go with the 42 SBs. Someone is running for presidency of the SAGNOF Foundation when Juan Pierre’s term expires.
Blake DeWitt – 3-for-5 with his 4th homer. His power and speed are very limited, but he’s hitting over .350 in the last week.
Casey Coleman – 6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 3 Ks. He had an under 5 K/9 in the minor leagues this year. That’s longhand for blech.
Stephen Strasburg – Headed to the DL with a strained flexor tendon but the Nats’ GM Rizzo wouldn’t rule out Strasburg from pitching again this year. If I may read between the lines, Ratso is saying, “Please continue to buy tickets with the hope Strasburg will pitch again even though he’s not. Thank you for your patronage.”
Jordan Zimmerman – J. Z’s coming back again. He’s got 99 problems but a pitch ain’t one. This Thursday he returns after putting up a 1.59 ERA in the minors with nearly a K/IP. Last year, 92 Ks in 91 1/3 IP. I’d absolutely grab him in all leagues.
Edinson Volquez – 2/3 IP, 5 ER, 8 baserunners. This is only his 2nd bad start out of 7 this year but his lack of control (more than 6 BB/9 IP) makes him a very risky mixed-league start. I wouldn’t play Volquez unless it was MLB-sponsored Scrabble.
Alberto Callaspo – 2-for-4 and batting over .400 in the last week. Also, batting near-.350 in August. Not going to give you much power or speed, but he’s hitting for average and batting third.
Andres Torres – 1-for-3 with his 13th homer. Still not clear how Cody Ross is working into the picture, but I’m guessing Torres’ playing time should be relatively safe. Guillen and Burrell might have some splainin’ to do.
Rich Harden – Came off the DL to throw 6 2/3 hitless innings. It seems like he always has a great start coming off the DL. Unfortunately, those have been his only good 5 starts all season.
Jeff Mathis – 0-for-3 with 2 Ks. Batting .197 on the year. Has played 5 of the last six games. Napoli leads the Angels in homers. Napoli leads the major leagues in homers by catchers. Napoli sat yesterday.
Jim Edmonds – Pulled from the game with a strained oblique that he injured while swinging. Same thing once happened to a creepy guy at Hedonism. Stubbs could see more playing time as a result. That’s a pretty lukewarm endorsement of Stubbs.
Todd Helton – 4-for-4 as he answers the question, “Is Helton retired?”
Carlos Gonzalez – 2-for-3 with his 20th steal. Good to see him run since he just returned from a knee injury.
Ross Ohlendorf – After giving up a walk and a single, he left with a shoulder injury. Call him Ailindorf.
Jose Tabata – 3-for-4 with his 13th steal as he bats .381 in his last 7 games. I’m still on the fence with how much I’m going to like Tabata next year. Feel free to push me one way or the other.
John Lackey/Kyle Lohse – Both have had painful seasons but had great starts. Of course, it was against Seattle and Pittsburgh respectively. Those two teams score less than the Chess Club.
