Have you ever enraged a Canadian? Well I hadn’t yet (except that one time when I was ten and heckled a hockey player, pretty sure he was Canadian) until Nick got so angry he wasn’t mentioned as part of our Razzball exclusive DraftKings contests that he charged me with a hockey stick and broken glass bottle of maple syrup.
Not only are you playing to beat Rudy in our Play with Rudy [and Nick] Contests from our friends at DraftKings, you’re also playing against podcast host Nick Capozzi (@nickcapozzi). This Friday, our awesome RAZZBALL EXCLUSIVE Ticket For The $100,000 MLB Spring Fling is back where you have a shot to win $20,000! That’s about $20,500 CAD for our players up north hoping to knock off big Nick. It’s only $5 to play and you can enter twice, with spots 2-10 winning $5.00. The contest is limited to only 40 entries so you have to hurry! We only had 20 entries last week, so there was a 50% win rate. That’s making it too easy to let Nick win!
Looking at last week’s picks, it was another solid showing, but still striving to beat the first week’s mark:
SP – Matt Harvey 7.0 IP W 4 H 3 BB 7 Ks (28 Pts)
CI – Ike Davis 2-4 2 HRs 3 RBIs 2 R (30 Pts)
MI – Jhonny Peralta 1-4 1 2B (5 Pts)
OF1 – Jay Bruce 1-3 1 BB (5 Pts)
OF2 – Nick Swisher 1-3 1 2B 1 BB (7 Pts)
UTIL – Pablo Sandoval 0-4 (0 Pts)
TOTAL – 75 Pts (Previous week’s finishes- 83, 96)
A strong week with big support from the Mets, but my scores are going the wrong direction. Stupid Panda unable to hit Edison Volquez! As always, I’m going to stick with a CI, MI, 2 OF, SP, UTIL as my picks and try to top my previous weeks’ scores (while also picking some lower-priced players) in hopes of getting you that best line-up to beat Rudy AND NICK. Although the latter shouldn’t be too difficult. “I pick Jaromir Jagr!”
Here’s who I like for the Friday Night contest in DraftKings (prices are based off of today – Wednesday’s – data, so prices are subject to slightly change):
SP – Tim Lincecum ($9,700) – The starters going Friday night don’t include virtually any aces (wait, Lincecum isn’t an ace anymore!?), but I think Lincecum has his second consecutive solid outing in his second consecutive start against the Padres. Lincecum tossed 6.2 shutout innings on them in SF, and still gets a great park in Petco to blank them again. After a whopping 11 walks in his first two games, he has only given up three free passes in his last two with 12 Ks. He’s my pick for a starter Friday.
CI – Albert Pujols ($5,200) – I’m spending a little big on Pujols, who gets to face the ghost of Aaron Harang on Friday night. Pujols has roughed up Harang for a .315 average in a whopping 73 ABs against, with 5 homers and 14 RBIs. With that amount of experience against a scrub like Harang who currently has an ERA in the double-digits, I like Pujols for a big one here.
MI – Alcides Escobar ($4,400) – No big stats to back this one up, just a great matchup against Scott Kazmir at home. Escobar does hit lefties about .10 batting average points better in his career and he has shown he can hit a few homers here and there. I’m more interested in the speed and hopeful multiple runs hitting atop a lineup that should feast off Kazmir. Love him at MI.
OF1 – Carlos Beltran ($4,800) – Not to single out Kazmir, because there is another terrible lefty going Friday by the name of Jonathan Sanchez. Beltran has got only 4 hits in 15 ABs against him, but two of those were homers and Sanchez A) isn’t as good as he used to be and B) has to pitch in Busch stadium, a much better ballpark for hitters than AT&T Park where he’s pitched most of his innings in matchups against Beltran.
OF2 – Melky Cabrera ($4,800) – Another pitcher who has struggled mightily so far this year is Yanks righty Ivan Nova, with a 7+ ERA. Former teammate Melky Cabrera has crushed Nova with a career 5-8 1 2B and 2 HR line against him. Not to mention this game will played in Yankee Stadium, so the prospects for a big game look great.
UTIL – Yuniesky Betancourt ($3,300) – As a Brewers fan I’ve watched a lot of Yuni B’s at bats in both 2011 and this year, and the guy looks like a much better hitter. He’s been crushing the ball as of late, and gets a great start against Josh Beckett, who he is a career .438 batter against in 16 ABs with a homer, double, triple and 3 RBIs in there. I love Yuni B’s prospects for a big game as a cheap option.
If you have any questions about anyone else or for other DraftKings contests before Friday, shoot them below, thanks for checking them out!
