So you’re in the fantasy dumps. Maybe your team is finally a lost cause, maybe you just couldn’t keep up with it (yeah – I hate Head-to-Head fantasy baseball – you know who you are) or maybe your winnings are still too far down the road for you to put down the money to pre-order Call of Duty Ghosts. I definitely fall into all three of that, score one for vanity! So how do you recover from these horrible fantasy injuries to keep your winning ways going?
Luckily we’ve still got our RAZZBALL EXCLUSIVE CAN YOU BEAT RUDY GAMBLE contest, getting you one step closer to the $100,000 Sweet Spot for a shot at a $20,000 top prize. Tickets to the Sweet Spot are $100 otherwise, so you’re winning a huge value if you can stomp on the Razzball players. It’s the usual game, $5.00 an entry, up to two per person, and you can only get in through our exclusive link. Spots 2-10 double up, and get you on the road to recovery to keep you on the fantasy playing field. Oh camon Mark McGwire with your “I woulda been just as good without steroids – it just kept me on the field.” Tell that to Matt Kemp, the Samuel L. Jackson to MLB’s Unbreakable. Carlos Gomez would be Bruce Willis. He’s my hero.
Being kind and rewinding to last week’s picks:
SP – Chris Archer 7 IP 7 H 3 BB 4 ER 4 Ks (9.8 Pts)
CI – Garrett Jones 0-3
MI – J.J. Hardy 1-4 R (5 Pts)
OF1 – Carlos Beltran 3-3 2 2B 4 R 1 BB (23 Pts)
OF1 – Josh Reddick 0-1 R 3 BB (8 Pts)
UTIL – Adrian Beltre 2-4 1 RBI R (10 Pts)
TOTAL – 55.8 (Previous three weeks: 60.4, 67.2, 77.65,)
Not a terrible week, but we had very similar pitchers with 61% of teams in the Razzball contest nabbing Archer and 71% going with Jose Fernandez who put up a 42 burger. Luckily I was in that 71% as well and secured a 9th place finish doubling up. Nice work CramIt taking home the hardware! Make us proud in the Sweet Spot (that didn’t sound weird…) Here’s who I like for this week’s contest (prices subject to adjustments):
SP – Matt Garza ($9.300) – It’s hard to have a better matchup than pitching in Houston and against Houston, where Garza has great K-upside against the free swinging ‘Stros. Have you seen how many punchouts Chris Carter has? Yikes! I could see Garza going 8 innings with double-digit Ks and this he’s a lock as one of your pitchers.
CI – Billy Butler ($4,800) – Even though his price is a little high for the kind of season he’s having, I love Butler this week who is a career 12-30 (.400) off Jake Peavy with 3 homers and 8 ribbies. Cut to Butler who just did a double take after hearing “ribbies.” “What I’m supposed to only have a half-rack and be full?!”
MI – Troy Tulowitzki ($4,300) – First of all, expect this price to jump with the Rockies returning to Colorado, but I’m going big with my SS this week and nabbing Tulo. I’m calling it – this Friday at Coors is when the rails finally start falling off for Francisco Liriano. He relies so much on that slider, and in that thin air he’s not going to get that same sink and movement. Charlie Sheen is gonna be like, “Did you not put snot on the ball?” Tulo hasn’t seen much of Liriano, but he’s 1-3 with 3 walks and no strikeouts for an OBP of .6666666667. Look at me with the mental math!
OF1 – Jayson Werth ($4,200) – Rumored to be offering beard rides at 25 cents, Werth is where I’m starting my outfield. He’s 10-29 (.345) off the ghost of John Lannan who I can’t believe is still pitching. Add into those numbers 4 homers, 7 RBIs and 5 walks and I’m ready to watch Lannan get toasted before having to exit before 5 innings. Plus Werth walks up to the Walking Dead theme song… Don’t fear the beard… Well, unless you’re Lannan…
OF2 – Carlos Gomez ($3,700) – Well, I struggled with this one and decided to with the hooded figure who goes out at night and saves people. Just don’t fall into the pool! If his price stays within a few hundred of where it is now, he’ll be an absolute steal going against Joe Saunders who might as well be throwing slow-pitch softballs out there. Gomez is 4-13 career off Saunders, nabbed a couple bases, and hits 20 batting average points better off lefties this year. Tape on the paint cans, he’s gonna be heavy lifting me to another top 10 finish.
UTIL – A.J. Pierzynski ($3,700) – I’m a little off the rails this week going catcher as my UTIL article pick, but for $3,700 he’s a no-brainer as your backstop. He’s 7-16 (.438) off Erik Bedard with a couple homers, and Bedard, Saunders Lannan are going to have a “who can hit 85 MPH first” contest. A.J. is just happy he doesn’t have to catch for these guys, or else instead of smack talking the hitters he would smack talk his own pitcher…
Shoot your DraftKings questions below or tweet me @jbgilpin. I’ll be in the air until late tonight, so I’ll be a little behind getting to comments but will catch up when back on the ground. Good luck this week!
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