Ian Kennedy loves each and everyone. That’s why he gave you 12 Ks yesterday over 8 innings while only allowing one hit. You say, “No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t even know me. How could he love me?” You remember when you couldn’t find a parking spot at Chick-fil-A last week and you were about to give up when a chicken sandwich fell into the flat bed of your El Camino? That was dropped there by Ian Kennedy. So you tell me he doesn’t love you. You tell me he doesn’t love you when he has a sub-3 ERA over 216 innings. Tell me that. A 1.08 WHIP and 194 Ks, he gives you that too, unconditionally. Tell me he judges you when you try to fashion a belt out of twine. He doesn’t judge you. He loves you. Love him back. I do. As for 2012 fantasy baseball, I’m thinking Kennedy could be a tad overpriced. Yeah, my love just went out the window. His BABIP’s a bit low and his LOB% is a bit high. She says she likes the ocean. I’ll look at him more in-depth over the offseason, but he’s got FIPping problems I need evaluate. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Wily Mo Pena – 1-for-1 with 3 walks. He has a career .303 OBP. That’s like an 80 to 1 shot he can avoid making an out in four at-bats. There must be a kid in a Seattle hospital who really cares about OBP. (BTW, his hometown was the winner of the “Best Town To Substitute Into The Lion King Song” contest.)
Mike Carp – 2-for-4, 5 RBIs and a homer. Now has two homers in the last three games. The one nice thing about playing for a non-contender at this time of year is the collective you has nothing to play for so players can go out and be selfish to prove their worth. Unlike those silly playoff teams saving their players for games that matter.
Alex Liddi – 2-for-4 with a homer and he became the first paisan born in Italy to play in the major leagues in 50 years. That’s a one spicy prospect!
Dustin Ackley – Mariners scored 12 runs and Ackley didn’t play. Holy sit!
Asdrubal Cabrera – 3-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 23rd homer. Has tailed off quite a but after the ASB (.233, 5 steals), but his power numbers have stayed fairly consistent. Definitely peaked in May but 4 homers in August isn’t too shabby.
Chris Parmelee – 2-for-5 with his 2nd homer in three games as he bats .368 through 38 ABs. In related roundup news, Alex Liddi likes to call him Chris Parm.
Ben Revere – 3-for-5 with 2 steals. Now has 32 steals and is getting dangerously close to the point where he’s going to elicit questions next year. “Hey, Grey, magnificent ‘stache. Magnificent! So what do you think of Ben Revere? Obvious bargain, right?” A guy with no power, around 30 steal speed is a dime a dozen in most mixed leagues. Good waiver wire pickup is different than a good draft pick.
Ricky Romero – 9 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks. Similarly to Kennedy, he has some FIPping issues too. We’ll look at in the offseason. We’ll debate, we’ll laugh, we’ll cry, we’ll scratch ourselves, we’ll scratch someone else thinking it’s ourselves.
Craig Kimbrel – 2/3 IP, 2 ER. Bad week to quit closing out games.
Troy Tulowitzki – Getting closer to getting back on the field after taking batting practice and participating in other baseball activities. Ya know, like spitting and grabbing himself.
Cory Luebke – 7 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 9 Ks. Even if this start was in Coors, it was another solid year for Hodgepadres, and next year I’m definitely drafting only Padres pitchers on one team. I gotta try it before the apocalypse.
Octavio Dotel – Got the save yesterday. Motte came in for the ninth, messed around and gave up a triple, double, but it was not a good day. La Russa lifted him with the bases empty and now who knows who’s the closer. My guess is it’s still Motte, but we shall see. Or not. Or probably.
Jarrod Parker – Was officially called up yesterday. I already went over my Jarrod Parker fantasy. I wrote it while waiting in line at the DMV to have them change my height from five-seven to five-eight.
Mariano Rivera – Everyone’s heard by now that he broke Trevor Hoffman’s save record. Surprised there wasn’t more made of this, but another record was broken yesterday. Kerry Wood was deemed “done for the season” before the end of the season for a record 11 of 13 seasons.
Matt Angle – 3-for-8 with 2 steals in the doubleheader. Far from an exciting name, but if you’re desperate for steals, he should get them over the next week-plus. That’s your Angle.
Jed Lowrie – 2-for-5, 4 RBIs, 3 runs and a homer. Hasn’t been playing because of a bum shoulder. Try some soap and getting rid of the shopping cart filled with junk. He’s back now and, if his bat is hot, the Sawx will play him.
Geovany Soto – 3-for-3, 5 RBIs and 2 homers. I’ve been behind the scenes at Razzball HQ preparing the end of the season lists that will come in October and Soto wasn’t even in the top 20 catchers. Though one big night may change that. That was what they call a tease.
Mike Stanton – 2-for-3, 3 runs, 2 RBIs and 2 homers. After the game, he dedicated the 2nd home run to his biggest fan. Me. At least that’s how I cut the interview together with my iMovie.
Omar Infante – 2-for-5 and his 6th homer. Nobody puts Infante in the corner.
Brad Hand – With the innings starting to creep up, the Marlins might shut him down. Right now, the Marlins are talking to the Hand.
