How did baseball survive over two months without a Boston/New York match-up? It’s barely a rivalry these days as the Yankees took an 8 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox with the big win last night. It was your typical NY/BOS game, i.e., nearly 4 hours long, 18 runs scored, 28 hits, and plenty of dirty looks and “bad calls.” One thing we can always count on in these match-ups is plenty of fantasy implications; in fact, I was debating even covering the other games. Last night was no exception, so here goes: both pitchers were lit up early with Josh Beckett going 5.0 and Hiroki Kuroda lasting 5.2 innings, each surrendering 6 ER. David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez chipped in three hits apiece for the Sox, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 17th home run, but the Yankees’ offense was too much for the Sox pitching staff this time. Mark Teixera (2-for-4, 4 RBIs, SB) hit a 2-run go-ahead triple in the 7th. I imagine this is a preview of what the All Star game will be like (with fewer Red Sox).
AL East aside, here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
Brian McCann — 1-for-4 with the grand salami, has now homered in back to back games. Big Mac put his special sauce all over this one (special home run sauce!)
Kyle Kendrick — 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks. Antonio Bastardo replaced Kendrick and gave up 5 ER in 0.2 IP. Oh my God, you blew Kennydrick’s game! You Bastardo! (Ten years ago this joke would have killed.) Timmmmah! Hudson threw 7.0 scoreless in to grab his 7th win.
Ryan Howard — 2-for-4 in his return from the DL. I ain’t buyin’ Ryan just yet, but if Howard’s still out there on the waiver wire, I’d grab him.
Andrew McCutchen — 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. The Dread Pirate continues to pillage opposing pitchers and now has 11 hits in the past 5 games. McCutchen has been this year’s Jacoby Ellsbury, except with much better hair and much worse teammates.
Melky Cabrera — 2-for-4 with his 8th home run, now batting an insane .358! Remember that clueless guy in your league that showed up late to your online draft only to grab M. Cabrera thinking he was Miggy? You hate that guy right now.
Sergio Romo — 1.0 IP with his 5th save. Got the save with Santiago Casilla unavailable with a callous. Unlike Tony, this Romo doesn’t choke.
Tyler Colvin — 3-for-4 with 2 home runs! This is now the second week in a row the player Grey has highlighted as top BUY has gone on to hit 2 HRs that night (Dez Jennings hit 2 last Friday). Hey Grey, can I send you a link to my team page? There’s a couple players there I want you to BUY next week.
Ryan Zimmerman — 1-for-4 with his 8th HR. The Zimmer Man has been absolutely on fire since the cortisone shot. See kids, sometimes steroids are a good thing!
Anthony Rizzo — 4-for-5 with a 3-run HR. Yeah, this kid’s gonna be real good…(My original joke before I realized Carlos Lee had been traded Wednesday: My sources tell me the Cubs are looking to make a deal with Houston. A package of prospects and cash for Carlos Lee and Jordan Lyles. They can continue their rebuilding process with a nice core of Rizzo, Lee and Lyles.)
Lucas Duda — 1-for-5 with a HR. Fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of the Duda. Duda continues to abide on Friday nights so I’ll continue to quote Lebowski. OVER THE LINE!
Adam Lind — 2-for-4 with his 7th home run. Don’t pick him up, Grey! But please continue to tell the rest of us to pick him up.
Jake Peavy — 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Ks. Remember that clueless guy from 2007, who woke up from his coma and showed up to your draft late only to draft Jake Peavy? You hate that guy right now, too.
Norichika Aoki — 2-for-4 with his 5th home run. Nori (can I call him, Nori?) now has a 13-game hitting streak and has brought his average up to .303. Grey’s been telling us to buy him, he hits a homer, natch. See what I’m saying?
Francisco Liriano — 6.2 IP, 6 Ks, 6 BBs. The 6 walks are ugly but it was the Mighty Texas Power Rangers, so I’ll cut Francisco some slack. Truth is, since his returned to the starter role he’s been solid, and the strikeouts are there. You have a right to be a bit Leary, I know, but he should get Oakland next week, and I say he’s definitely worth a flier at this point.
Drew Smyly — 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 10 Ks. It was Emoticon’s best start of the year and 4th win of the season. Smyly was all like :XD, while the Royals were all like : ( …but to be fair most of the Royals look like this every day.
Luke Scott — 1-for-5 with a 2-run homer. Broke his 0-for-41 hitless streak with the homer in the 5th. Whew. We can all carry on with our lives now. Ben Zobrist also homered in this one and B.J. Upton added three hits as the Tampa Bay scalped the Indians 10-3. Perhaps they used a Rays-zor?
Tommy Milone — 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 9 Ks. Milone has been awesome lately, last night’s game was his 4th quality start in a row, and the Ks have been a nice bonus. He’s worth an add while he’s hot. Kevin Millwood was just as solid (0 ER, 7 Ks) on the other side as the two worst teams in the AL battled it out for title of second-worst team in the AL. Now that’s what I call a rivalry!
Zack Cozart – 2-for-4 with his 9th home run. You could do a lot worse than Cozart as your shortstop. For example, Brendan Ryan, Cody Ransom, Clint Barmes –all a lot worse than Cozart.
Bronson Arroyo — Complete-game shutout with 8 Ks to get his 4th win. Bronson was ON last night and completely shut down the Pissshaw-dres. I still probably wouldn’t pick him up, and I definitely wouldn’t buy his album.
Clayton Kershaw — 5.1 IP, 5 ER. Ker-shanked! I guess that’s what you get for starting him against that feared Arizona line up, whatchoo know bout Aaron Hill?
Justin Ruggiano — 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 9 games. He is a hot little schmotato right now! And that’s me quoting Mugatu!
Mike Trout — 1-for-4 with a home run. My fantasy hero now has 11 home runs and 26 SBs batting .348. Oooohhh, you know you make me wanna…SHOUT! Kick my heels up and and TROUT! Throw my hands up for TROUT! Stealing bases! TROUT! Hitting home runs, he’s TROUT! Hits high average, it’s TROUT! Come on now! TROUT! A little bit louder now! Mike Trout! HEY-HEY-A-HEY!! HEY-HEY-A-HEY! Enjoy the All Star Break! Enjoy your All Star Break! HEY-A-A-Hey! MIKE TROUT!
“Kevin Millwood was just as solid (0 ER, 7 Ks) on the other side as the two worst teams in the AL battled it out for title of second-worst team in the AL.”
2 worst teams in the AL? Didn’t notice that the A’s are at .500 now? Nothing special but not worst team worthy.
@Kyle, @MrHappyTime, you’re right, let’s go A’s!
j-reddick 4 MVP 2012
jarrod park ROY
Who’s my best streaming option today, Richard vs Reds, Bailey @ Padres, Fister vs Royals, or Holland vs Twins?
@MrHappyTime, The Petco game is tempting but I’d probably go Fister or Holland. All look like good options.
Who u like more ROS- Salvador Perez or Yasmani?
Thanks.
@Random Collmenter, Perez
@Blairtch, Thanks!
Am I crazy for trading Saltymochachino for Carlos Santana straight up?
hey, i have fielder in my 1b spot, lawrie at 3b, sandoval in my utility and goldschmidt and rizzo on my bench. i also have rosario in my c spot and lucroy on the dl. some dude wants to make a trade for rosario and i need pitching pretty bad. should i send him fielder and rosario for verlander or will i be kicking myself in the ass by the end of the year?
@grund king, No that sounds like a good trade for you
Need a bat. Got pitching.
Thoughts on this…..
I give Gallardo/Belt
Get Fielder.
Not official yet, just kicking it around.
Need HR RBIs badly. Tops in pitching across the board..
Thanks for input
@JG_ism, Sounds good to me
Blairtch,
Rajai Davis or Quintin Berry?
Thanks!
@Racehorse, Davis
Good stuff! NL-only league. With Dee Gordon down for 6 weeks… Who should claim to play SS for my squad? (slim pickins) Please rank:
Andrelton “John” Simmons, Alexei Amarista, Ryan Theriot
@HomeRunfromBehindtheMeatballs, I’d play Amarista while he’s hot
@HomeRunfromBehindtheMeatballs,
same thing here, although Speedy Dee was my MI, already grabbed Amarista with Castro my reg SS.
I’d play Amarista while he’s hot
Maybe u didn’t see my above question –
Would u trade Salty for Carlos Santana? Am I retarded for even considering that b/c of how crappy Carlos has been this year?
Thanks!
@Random Collmenter, In a keeper league I want Santana, but ROS I couldn’t blame you for keeping Salty as good as he’s been
Matt Moore vs CLE. Start or Sit?
@bobbo, I am starting Moore if I own him
which side?
Halladay & Vott
@EK, oops… make that Halladay & Votto or Lester & Hanley
@EK, I think I’d want Votto but can’t blame you for taking the two healthy players
Being offered Ethier for Bruce. Seems when Kemp returns, Ethier may put up better numbers than Bruce the rest of the season. Pull the trigger or keep Bruce?
@Chupacabra, I’d keep Bruce
@Chupacabra, Definitely keep Bruce. You can do better if you wanna trade him. 35+ HR
Who you got the rest of the way–Lind or Colvin? OPS league
@Heyward Bound, Lind
“We can all carry on with out lives now.”
Sweet parapraxis.
@Awesomus Maximus, Hey, I edited this post, and I don’t have a life, so it made sense to me.
Drop Jesus Montero for Salty, Perez, or Grandal?
10 team redraft
@Melvin Emanuel, Yeah, probably go Salty
h2h yahoo league with 6×6 scoring.
I am up in K (9) and ERA (.5) , down WHIP (.07) and K/BB (.82), and tied in Wins (4).
Should I start Holland vs Minnesota, Moore @ Clevaland, and Ubaldo vs the Rays?
Lester will be benched tomorrow against the Yankees, which means my last pitcher is Scherzer vs KC.
My opponent has Greinke and Estrada @ Houston and Clayton Richard vs Cincy.
@jack, I’d probably start them all, if I had to bench one it’d be Ubaldo
Better guy to stash on the DL … Chacin or Feliz? Looks like Feliz may rejoin the rotation.
@K!cks, Neftali!
That 2007-coma guy showed up to my draft too…we laughed at the time, but look at this team he drafted….
Mauer
Konerko
D.Wright
Jester
Ortiz
Beltran
Dunn
Rios
Johan Santana
Peavy
Capuano
Burnett
Joe Nathan
Broxton
@The TinDoor, Just goes to show that kind of medical trauma isn’t completely devastating. As we speak Freddy Garcia is in line for a win aided by Andruw Jones’ 2 homers.
*jeter, not jester, obvs
Cashner or Chacin to stash on the DL?
@K!cks, Cashner
NL Only 4×4 12-Team (2catcher keeper league) trade my LaRoche ($10) for Grandal ($5) . Building for next yr.
@elwood blues, Not the greatest value for Grandal at $5, but in a two catcher league it might be worthwhile
@Blairtch, $5 for 2yrs (minor league contract) — after that we can add more years for $5 each additional year
@elwood blues, Sure, if you’re out of contention I’d want Grandal over Laroche for 2013
Keep Michael Young as a permanent bench warmer, or pick up Ruggiano, Garrett Jones or Starling Marte?
@El_Hombre, Keep Michael Young
Love the TROUT song! I’m on the verge of writing songs about Mike Trout too!
This blog cracked me up, especially the Mike Trout song.
Nice column. Thats all I have. No questions, and no answers either.
rank the who would take of the following:
Josh Collmenter
Marco Estrada
Homer Bailey
Joe Kelly
Jeff Samargija
NL 4×4
rank the following for replacement pitchers in my fantansy leagure
Josh Collmenter
Marco Estrada
HOmer Bailey
Jeff Samargija
Joe Kelley
NL 4×4
I just wanted to say I loved your Mike Trout finish. Keep up the good work, you’re my first stop on Saturday mornings.