It’s not the Year of the Tiger, but don’t tell Doug Fister that. And don’t ask Mr. Fister to sing Kyrie, because that song kills kittens. Fact! He just followed up a strong start @BAL with a dominating performance against the T & T Angels: 8 IP, 10K, 1 ER, 4 baserunners. It’s like September 2011 all over again. I can’t wait to see that Straw Dogs remake! Ever since Fister’s become a Tiger, he went from a pitcher with great control (generally less than 2 BB/9) and pathetic K-rates to one with great control and very good K-rates. As long as Fister stays healthy and manages anything over a 7 K/9 rate, he’s a top 25 pitcher. Worst case, you can at least make fun puns with his last name. Fister? I told her it was a stool! What, huh? Anyway, here’s what else we saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Cody Ross – Two 3-run HRs giving him 15 HRs for the year in only 219 ABs. Glad it’s still the 2010 Giants playoff run for someone (see Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Brian Wilson). With Ortiz on the DL, looks like the Red Sox should be able to give Ross and Nava enough playing time now that Crawford and Ellsbury are playing again. That said, Ross had only 1 HR in his previous 50 AB so be prepared to drop him in a couple games if you pick him up and he doesn’t immediately make you look smart.
Adrian Gonzalez – 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs and his 2nd HR in 3 games. The 8 HRs are pathetic, but his AVG is now at .296. So at least you used your 1st round pick on Mark Grace instead of Lyle Overbay.
Brett Lawrie – What do you get when you have a crazy gung-ho player and too much Red Bull? Not wings, apparently. Lawrie shot over the camera well, diving for a foul pop, and bruised his calf. Somebody’s got some splainin’ to do to PETA! He should be good to go on Friday. Which is tomorrow. Hey, Friday, say hello to your mother for me.
Francisco Liriano – 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 10 Ks. Whoa. Now has 25 Ks in the last two games. Guess he got the type of Tommy John surgery that takes 46 months to recover from. I hate to go back in on this schmohawk, but 25 Ks in the last 14 innings has my pants looking like the Iwo Jima statue.
Lorenzo Cain – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 2nd homer in as many games. Sure, Butler hit a walk off homer. Yeah, Bruce Chen got picked up by some noobs who thought he was Wei-Yin Chen, but Cain…Sugar! Yeah, that’s where my heart’s at. If you don’t add him now, we might not be able to be friends, even in the most casual definition of the word friend.
Jeff Samardzija – 5 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners, 9 Ks. Now has three solid starts in a row, but if you told me you knew for sure he was going to go out next time and throw another solid start, you’re lying to yourself.
Carlos Santana – 2-for-4, 4 RBIs as he hit his 1st HR since May 15th as he’s spacing out HRs like his namesake sprinkled hit songs (Evil Ways…30 years…Smooth). His FB rate (and obviously HR/FB rate) are down vs. last year, but not significantly and he still has similar K/BB rates. Am I buying? I don’t buy catchers. But if I’ve been holding this long, I’d say you might be rewarded.
Hiroki Kuroda – Threw a rain-shortened shutout against the Bautista-less Blue Jay squad. He now has thrown 30 innings during day games this year and has given up 0 ER. In 92 IP during night games, his ERA is 4.58. Last year, he had a 2.94 night ERA and a 3.49 day ERA. You know what that all means? Really, I’m asking…
Adam Jones – HRs in consecutive games which nearly matches the three he hit in June. Oh, how I long for the April/May gravy days when he was raining HRs. Not sure if his wrist issue has finally subsided (which might be to blame for the power outage in June), but if we hold hands long enough it’ll make it true.
Trevor Bauer – Sent back to AAA for being a roofie. If he relapses further, he’ll have to go to AA.
Ian Kennedy – 8 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks to lower his ERA to 4.33. At a 106 Ks to 25 BBs, things could only get better. BTW, Sirius, you have 10 years to choose from… Stop playing Howard Jones every other song on the 80’s station!
Jason Kubel – 2 HRs off Mat Latos after missing his last 4 games with hamstring tightness. So does that mean Longoria will hit 50 HRs in his first game back?
Mat Latos – 4 2/3 IP, 5 ER. What’s the matter? You’re not so big and bad when you’re not facing the Padres or Giants, are you?
Brandon Belt – 0-for-3, lowering his average to .243. CBS news blurb for him was something like, “Belt having hard time finding rhythm.” I can’t imagine why.
Santiago Casilla – 1 IP, 2 ER as he blew another save (though got the vulture win). Romo can’t close every game, but, guess what? The Giants aren’t leading every game, so Romo should get most of the saves. Will he? Totally different ballgame. Not literally.
Chipper Jones – 1-f0r-3 with a homer, but he didn’t start so…Sonavabench!
Adam Wainwright – 7 IP, 1 ER, 9 Ks, 4 baserunners against a tough matchup (@MIL) but got the loss thanks to 3 unearned runs. He should hire this guy to get justice.
Cliff Lee – 8 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 4 Ks. And a no-decision. That’s now 1 win in 10 Quality Starts. Where’s the brotherly love, Philly?
Mark Teixeira – 2-run HR (#19). Take that, Padilla.
Justin Masterson – 4 1/3 IP and got a WHIPping (7 hits, 7 walks). Lucky to escape with just 4 ER. Thanksfully, this was his last start of the year against the Rays who abused him twice in July.
David Wright – 3-for-4, with his 12th homer as he hits .351. So is he going to sign with the Marlins next year and be crap?
Jason Bay – 2-for-4 with his 5th homer. That one was for ex-teammate, Youkilis. Wrap that, Valentine!
Jordan Zimmermann – Another great start (6 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners) with mediocre K’s (4). His ERA is now down to 2.35, which is better than Strasburg or NatGio. With the sub-7 K rate + low ERA, he’s like Johnny Cueto Jr., but Johnny’s already a kid’s name, so we’ll call him Johnnier Cueto.
Tyler Clippard – Gave up his 2nd and 3rd 9th inning HR in two games to the Mets. Lucky for him, he still managed the save last night. While Storen continues to progress, I’d have to think Clippard will have a long leash given his 2 1/2 years of great relief pitching. Then again, Davey didn’t even go to him the first two months, opting for BB-Rod, so storing Drew may not just be a bad play (on his name).
Luke Scott – 4-for-4, albeit three singles and a double. After going 0-fer in his first 7 games since returning from the DL, he has multiple hits in 4 of the subsequent 8 games. Worth a flyer if you’re in need of power – particularly in Yahoo! leagues where he also has 1B eligibility.
Jesus Montero – 2-for-5, 2 RBIs and hitting .400 over the last week. Good when first called up, then garbage then starts hitting… Wait, don’t tell me who he’s impersonating… I know… Matt Wieters!
Casper Wells – 3-for-5, 3 runs, 2 RBIs and his 2nd homer this week. Casper, the friendly waiver wire pick up, is hitting the sheets out of the ball!
Kyle Seager – 2-for-5 with a HR and 2 RBIs. He’s managed an impressive 58 RBIs despite only 11 HRs and a sub-.250 AVG. That RBI total ranks as 4th among 3Bs and first among 2Bs (he’s eligible in all leagues). He’s hitting .199 with bases empty, .309 with men on base, and .358 with men in scoring position. The success with men in scoring position is thanks to spring training hitting instructor, Alyssa Milano.
Garrett Jones – 3-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 13th homer. He was starting to lag recently, then he went to Colorado and got the Coors Correction (just trying it out).
Matt Kemp – 2-for-6, 3 RBIs and a homer. Hello, old friend.
Yonder Alonso – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and a steal. If he doesn’t make it into tomorrow’s roundup for me to say he’ll be in Friday’s Buy/Sell, he should be. Whether I remember to put Alonso in is another question because he is kinda yawnstipating. Hey, I know Yawnder Alonso. Two snaps, dubya tee eff formation with a side of doing the sprinkler dance.
Chase Headley – 2-for-4, 2 runs as he plays highly motivated…To get the hell off the Padres! Headley’s like a prisoner running for his escape as guards shoot all around him. Serpentine, Headley, serpentine! The Yankees are only another fifty yards away! They only have one bullet left and if you go 3-for-5 in your next game you’ll get out!
