It was about a half year ago that Grey threw all his chips into the pot on Marco Estrada. Man-crushed him onto just about every team we co-manage (along with the deviated septumet) as well as his Razzball Commenter League team. Well, this looked like a lost season for ol’ Marco when he went on the Disgraceful List in early June while sporting a 5.32/1.36 in 69 IP. Combined with Ryan Braun’s suspension and the inevitable 2nd half regressions for Gomez/Segura, Milwaukee has been as relevant to fantasy baseball fans as the city is for travelers intolerant of lactose, cheap domestic beer, and drag queens masquerading as a young Penny Marshall. Under this shroud of yawnonymity, Marco Estrada’s season is beginning to rise from the ashes like Bud Selig’s toupee at that fateful windy hometown barbecue that’s now annually celebrated as Furrywurst Day. Estrada went 7 IP in a tough matchup (@CIN) and gave up 3 baserunners (1 H, 2 BB) and K’d 9 Reds. That’s his 3rd solid start in his last 4 and that includes an @TEX + home vs. STL. He’s definitely worth a pickup for the homestretch if only to see if he can pitch well enough to convince Grey to double down on Estrada in 2014.
In other news…
Miguel Cabrera – He had another great weekend (7-for-14, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 Runs). He’s now sporting a line of .360/93/42/128/3 with a .450 OBP. If you are like me and you have Miggy on none of your teams because you didn’t draft 1st/2nd (or didn’t bid a gazillion at auction), here’s one thing that’ll make you feel better. Imagine how much it would suck if you lost with that stat line on your team? (Apologies to those of you in this camp).
Matt Kemp – Expected back in early September from his ankle injury. Whew – because the Dodgers are sucking without him. I think he’s coming back to stink for 20 games and wrest the Fantasy LVP away from Ryan Braun. One thing’s for sure – if he loses that award to Braun, he’s going to blame PEDs for that too.
Troy Tulowitzki – Missed Sunday with soreness in his side. No news on whether he’ll be fine on Monday or out for the year or somewhere in between. He’s at 99 games so fingers crossed if you bet the under on 100 games for Tulo in 2013. He should come out with a Tulo Whiskey and set the proof at the number of game he played in the previous year. You never know if you’re going to get everclear (2009-2011) or a 6-pack of wine coolers (2012).
Jake Peavy – Threw a complete game, 1 ER, 4 baserunner, 5 K masterpiece @LAD. Jake then slapped around Alyssa Milano until she admitted that the Dodgers were both her “brothers” and her “sons”.
Justin Ruggiano – Went for the slam (#15) and legs (#13) as he shares some sort of blahtoon with Jake Marisnick. Might be worth wheeling this hunk of cheese out there if he’s starting against a weak lefty.
Mike Napoli – 2-for-4 with a 2B, HR, 2 R and 3 RBI as his season kind of yawns on from the 27 RBI April. Too much partying in the North End is what I’m thinking.
Jorge De La Rosa – Won his 14th (?!) of the year against the Marlins and has a 3.28 ERA. There’s definitely some luck there with a 1.35 WHIP and mediocre K-rate (about 6 K/9) but, as fellow Jorge (George Jones) sang, ‘It’s been a good year por de la rosa‘).
AJ Pollock – 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and the slam (#7) and legs (#9) hitting 5th while a bunch of the lineup got the day off after Saturday’s 18 inning marathon. He’s a marginal Hittertron play against lefties at home because he’s generally batting at the top of the lineup. Even if his constant Columbo and Shatner impressions get old quickly.
Tony Campana – Started both Saturday and Sunday @PHI, got on 3 times, and 0 SBs (got picked off once). Did he leave his lucky SAGNOF underwear back in Arizona? Was he afraid Chrissy from Masterchef was going to stop by the locker room, see the SAGNOF boxers and misconstrue what the N stood for?
Patrick Corbin – 5.1 IP, 8 ER, 10 baserunners @PHI against a lineup where Erik Kratz hit cleanup. He’s 33 and has 17 career HRs. He doesn’t hit cleanup at the Kratz family softball picnic. Given Corbin just pitched a complete game @CIN his last start (2 ER, 10 K), I wouldn’t just assume he’s hitting a rookie wall but 177 IP sure seems like a lot…
Roy Halladay – Pitched solid for the win (6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks) and trimmed his ERA from 8.65 to 7.81. Ruben Amaro Jr. signed him to a 5-year extension after the game.
Josh Reddick – Injured his right wrist for the 3rd time this season and likely headed to the DL again. If they have to immobilize his wrist for a significant period of time, he might have to change his name from Reddick to Blueballs.
Travis D’Arnaud – Hit his 1st MLB HR on Sunday night – the first Frenchy HR for the Mets since Francouer in 2010. He has the perfect last name in case he ever gets caught with PEDs – whatever the question, just reply “I D’Arnaud”
Nate McLouth – 2-for-5 with a 2B, HR (#9), 2 RBIs and a CS. The 2 RBIs now gives him 27 RBIs compared to 29 SBs. Juan Pierre approves this stat line.
Nick Markakis – 2-for-4 with a 2B and HR (#9). He broke a tie in HRs with Ryan Flaherty who has 300 less ABs this year than the man formerly known as Sparkakis. Must be tough hitting for power while working for your druglord uncle at nights.
Sonny Gray – 3 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 10 baserunners in a rough matchup @BAL. More gray than sunny but he’s a must start for now when pitching at the big O.
Todd Frazier – 0-for-4 and Frazier goes down to .232/48/13/57/0. Sad to see a fellow New Jerseyan struggle like that – especially one from Point Pleasant where Grey and I used to cruise the boardwalk. Looks doubtful he’ll ever pass the seemingly retired Kirsten Dunst on the ‘most famous person from Point Pleasant‘ list. And Dusty hitting the struggling Frazier #2 in the lineup only dishonors the brilliance of the #2 sub at Jersey Mike’s whose CEO – Peter Cancro – is also from Point Pleasant.
Matt Joyce – 1-for-4 hitting cleanup on Sunday. In his last 4 starts, though, he has 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, and 6 RBIs. Worth streaming against RHPs as you amuse yourself watching MLB Gameday shouting “Joyce, do it!” every time he’s hitting.
Jeff Baker – Feasted on the White Sox weekend diet of LHPs with HRs on Friday and Sunday. He now has 10 HRs in 75 ABs vs. LHPs this year and 2 XBHs in 46 ABs against RHP. Him and David Murphy would’ve made a perfect platoon this year if Murphy hadn’t sucked balls (289 ABs against RHP this year netted .218 AVG, .283 OBP, and 11 HRs).
Chia-Jen Lo – Got the save on Saturday for the Astros but went all Mitch Williams on Sunday (2 ER on 1 H, 3 BB). C-Lo blamed the Sunday loss on a distressing downtown sighting of his girlfriend in, of all places, another man’s car.
Mike Minor – Rebounded from his 1.2 IP start against Washington with a 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunner outing @STL. Maybe Minor earned some redemption against the usually offensive Cardinals but I chalk this start up to bad kozma.
Ryan Vogelsong – 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 5 Ks at home vs. PIT. And you can tell everybody, it’s Vogelsong!
Will Venable – Went 3-for-4 with a HR in both the Friday/Saturday games against CHC (with a SB) but managed only 1-for-6 in the Sunday extra inning affair. Here are the monthly values from his Player Page: $-1.2, $11.7, $-1.1, $-1.9, $40.2 . He’s now on pace for a 20/20 year. Un-frigin-bevenable.
Jered Weaver – Easily handled the Mariners (8 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 8 Ks) as he seems fully recovered from the 9 ER shellacking by the Yanks two starts ago. When interviewed after the game, Weaver said, “One old man (Ibanez) I can handle. But the Yankees just keep attacking you with these old guys who are just chomping their dentures to hit a sub-90 MPH fastball. I was rattled from the second Ichiro garbled, ‘I smell tapioca pudding’ when he got into the batter’s box.”
Omar Infante – Had 7 hits in the weekend series and is hitting almost .400 since returning from injury in early August. All 19 of his hits have been singles and they’ve netted 6 runs and 3 RBI. I hope he’s paying proper royalties to Placido Polanco for this MI empty average. Guess the lack of power is in the names. Placid(o), Infant(e). I’m just glad that Gyork isn’t Icelandic for peaceful baby.
