The Chicago White Sox started a three game series with the Yankees last night and came up with a huge win. Jose Quintana pitched 6.0 innings, gave up 8 hits, 6 ER, 5 Ks, and got the win. As far as starts at Yankee Stadium go, this one could have been a lot worse. If you had the cajones to start him at least you got a win and 5 Ks. I still like Quintana a lot, but I’d steer clear of his start vs. Texas next week. Quintana aside, it was the White Sox offense that were the real stars last night and got Jose the win. A.J. Pierzynski went 3-for-5 with 2 HRs as the White Sox tallied 14 runs on 19 hits against Sabathia’s replacement, errr….whatshisname. The multi-homer game was A.J.’s fifth in his career, and Pierzynski is having his best season to date. He’s making a strong case to be the AL All Star starting catcher. It wasn’t just A.J.; the entire White Sox offense were on tonight, too. Alex Rios had his 5th multi-hit game in a row and is having himself quite a respectable season to date. Alexei Ramirez, in his best game of the season, added 4 hits and a home run, and Paul Konerko had a homer and 3 hits as well. Every starter in the line up had a hit last night except Kevin Youkilis. Way to haze the new guy! He finished 0-for-3 with an RBI, and left the game with an upset stomach. I wish they’d put it more simply: Youk had to puke. The Chicago White Sox have now won 6 of their last 7 games and are showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, they seem to just be hitting their stride with a scary good pitching staff, solid bullpen and (sometimes) explosive offense. Unless Detroit or Cleveland are willing to make some noise at the trade deadline, Chicago looks like the clear favorite at the moment to run away with the AL Central.
Here’s what else happened in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Paul Maholm — 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 6 Ks and his 5th win. My brother wrote me back in May claiming Maholm would be 100% owned by the All Star break. I am saving this e-mail, but this start was a start! Maholm’s quality start has actually soured me a bit on what Andrew Cashner did against Houston Thursday. Literally every fantasy ‘pert I read today instructed me to pick him up ASAPOMG!!!! So much for Trevor Bauer. I’m ready to pick him up and ride him to the playoffs, but let’s see Cashner do it against a team that’s not Houston and then I’ll rush to grab him everywhere.
Bud Norris — 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 1 K in his first start back from the DL. If you started him in his first game back, this Bud was not for you. Norris gets Pittsburgh next week and Grey told you to buy him, so if he’s out there on the waiver wire I’d grab him. And tune in next week as the Ks will return!
Ervin Santana — 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 hits. SAN-TAN-NAAAAAAAH! I can’t do it. I can’t own Ervin anymore, my cardiologist has instructed me to exercise, eat more kale and drop Ervin Santana. He has stretches where he pitches like a Cy Young candidate, then he goes and drops these stinkers on your ERA and WHIP. Owners in standard 10 team mixed leagues should find their headaches elsewhere.
Adam Lind — 2-for-3 with 2 HRs. The first shot was an FU-home run to the management for the recent demotion. The second home run was because he’s back!
Edwin Encarnacion — 2-for-3 with 2 runs, an RBI, and 2 SBs as Edwin does his best to upstage Mike Trout. Has there been a better value pick this year than Encarnacion? The Jays have talked about the possibility of trading him, but I don’t see that affecting his value at all. He’s an Edwin-ner wherever he winds up (he sure has looked good at the Rogers Centre though).
Mike Trout — 1-for-5 with a SB. Just one? Even Edwin Encarnacion stole two.
Torii Hunter — 3-for-4 with an RBI. Now has 8 eights in his last 4 games. Hunter should see decent value all year batting in the two-hole in front of the Pujols and in back of the Trout hole.
David Price — 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks for his 11th win. Outdueled Justin Verlander in a matchup of top AL ptichers. Price left the game in the eighth with lower back tightness. Uh oh. I’m sure he will be fine, but the injury worries me a bit as we know the Rays will take every precaution with their Ace. He also doesn’t pitch in the most forgiving division. I am a huge DP fan but if you can get a great deal for David now, or should I say if you can get a great price, I might be looking to sell.
Desmond Jennings — 2-for-4 with 2 HRs from the long lost Upton brother. He was the top BUY for Grey this week, “What does seem way off is Jennings’s HR/FB%. No way he’s hitting more fly balls and none of them are going deep.” That’s me quoting Grey! And after two bombs off Verlander tonight, maybe we should be thanking Grey.
Cliff Lee — 4.2 IP, 10 Hs, 6 ER. Still winless, consider this your opportunity to buy, because Cliff Lee ain’t going out like that. I would absolutely, definitely, quickly try to buy low on The Adverb.
Josh Johnson — 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Ks. I’m not joshin’ you when I tell you Johnson hasn’t given up more than 3 ER in a game since May 4. As bad as the Marlins have played lately, nothing at the moment seems to keep Johnson down. (Which can be embarrassing in a public place — but the Ks are nice).
Asdrubal Cabrera — 2-for-6 with a HR, his second in as many games. Cabrera has kind of flown under the radar so far this year, but if you told me I could have 11 HRs and a .292 AVG from my shortstop by the end of June, I would have told you Tulo was already taken.
Matt Wieters — 1-for-3 with a 3-run homer. Matt Wieters Fact: Matt Wieters will never be as good as you once thought he would be. (But he’s still pretty damn good).
Wilin Rosario – 2-for-4 with his 12th HR. Speaking of catchers…ALL HE DOES IS HIT HOME RUNS! Grey told you to pick him up if you need a catcher, and if you’re Wilin to listen to advice, seems like a no-brainer.
Salvador Perez – 2-for-4 with a HR. Keeping with the theme of 2-for-4 catchers with home runs and not to be upstaged by Rosario, Perez has now had a hit in every game his played since being called up. He may not be seeing the playing time that Wieters and Rosario are at the moment, but he could be just as good an option going forward if he gets the ABs.
Adam Wainwright — 5.0 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 7 Ks. My cardiologist also advised me to drop/trade Waino, but I’m not ready to go there just yet.
Allen Craig — 2-for-4 with a 3-run HR. The Wrench really screwed Kevin Correia with the bomb, but Correia got the win anyway. Call it luck of the Pirates.
Andrew McCutchen — 4-for-5 with a HR and 3 RBIs. Lead by the Dread Pirate, the Bucs collected 14 runs on 19 hits. Andrew’s homer came in the ninth inning. More like Andrew McCLUTCHen *crickets*, right?
Aaron Hill — 4-for-5 with the slam and legs and a side of 3 RBIs with the cycle! Nothing like some exercise after breakfast. His second cycle in two weeks, he now has twenty hits and four home runs in his past ten games. Who’s your second basemen?
Paul Goldschmidt — 4-for-4 with a 3-run HR. Probably Goldy’s best game in the major leagues. Now batting .299 with 11 home runs. The average may get a bit schmidtier, but if you like power Paul should be golden.
Ian Kennedy — 7.0, 1 ER, 7 Ks with his 6th win. Has yet to match his stellar 2011 season skills, but he seems to be coming around. He gets the Padres next week in Ian’s “Juicy Match Up of the Week.”
Matt Harrison — 8.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks and his 11th win. Hasn’t lost since May 12th; Matty is one of the hottest arms in baseball. He’s been Harassing hitters all month long!
Michael Morse — 4-for-4 with a HR. Now has four straight multi-hit games with 6 RBIs and 2 HRs during that span. He’s breaking out of his funk in a big way and it’s the power that’s especially exciting (3 home runs in the past 10 days). If he can come close to equaling his production from last season, MiMo could be a serious addition to any team.
Aaron Cook — Complete game shut out, 2 H, 2 Ks. Aaron cooked up a gem and needed just 81 pitches against the sad sack Mariners to grab the shut out! The 2008 Rockies called, they want their pitcher back. I really can’t recommend Cook as a long term option; with all the options the Red Sox have as soon as they get healthier (albeit not very solid options, but options nonetheless), I don’t see Cook’s role as starter as permanent.
Will Middlebrooks — 2-for-4 with his 10th HR. Cody Ross and Middlebrooks hit back to back HRs in the 5th and Daniel Nava added one later in the inning. Jarrod Saltalamacchia went deep in the 6th. Yeah, you can tell they’re really missing Kevin Youkilis right now.
Jay Bruce — 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Now if only he could replace all those 0-for-4 days with 4-for-4 days he’d be batting over…(/calculating) .600! I should be a hitting coach.
Mike Leake — 9.0 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 4 Ks. Leake’s first complete game of the year, and he’s been pitching exceptionally well the past two weeks. He gets the Dodger’s next week, I might take a flier if you need a starter.
Pablo Sandoval — 2-for-3 with a HR. Panda bamboozled Mike Leake out of the shutout with his first HR since coming off the DL.
R.A. Dickey – 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 10 Ks and his 12th win. Man oh man, I’ve been waiting weeks now to be able to cover Dickey in the recap. So many phallic jokes to make, so few Friday starts for me to enjoy. Let’s see now…oh no, I’m blanking! Nothing worse than a Dickey blurb that fires blanks. Unless those blanks are shutouts! Okay I got it. How about, after a rough start against New York on Sunday, Dickey got a rise in Los Angeles? R.A. remains stiff competition as Dickey was certainly standing at attention last night, resulting in a happy ending for the knuckleballer. There is no way this will ever get old.
Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap, as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
