Tap on the shoulder, now tap on the other shoulder.  Swords and knights yadda, yadda.  Pun joke and title inclusion over.  I could probably draw it out to upmost degree, but I’ll just end it and rip the bandaid off and jump into the welcome back Kotter bullpen of Philadelphia.  If the collective bullpen in Philly isn’t called the Sweathogs, they are doing something wrong.  The Vinnie Babarino that is emerging as the future leader is most definitely Seranthony Dominguez.  Dude set a record with hitless streaks to start the year for a rookie and is now the go to, end all be all holds guy for the Phillies.  His arsenal screams future closer, but Kapler’s fear of commitment and Neris owning pictures of some relative of his.  Dominguez is the guy, for now and for later.  With 5 holds and 1 save in his last 6 appearances, he is involved in almost every winning game the Phillies are.  He checks all the proverbial boxes that we have previously discussed when looking for a reliever to roster.  Plus he has the save appeal, which is similar to curb appeal, minus the fact that you don’t need shrubs or a Chinese maple tree to accent how dominant he has been. Holds for now, saves for later for the Sir of the Cheesesteak. Roster with confidence as his results are great, but be patient as Kapler is a mad scientist with his bullpen decision making skills.  Holds week brings the best out of all of us, because you play in a league with holds.  That’s why we are fake internet friends.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 8/5
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | MIA | OAK

If last week left a lot to be desired (also what women tell me), well this week makes up for it. There are more two start pitchers here than you can shake a stick at. Just try it! Try and shake a stick at all these names, it won’t work. You’ll tire by Tier 4, and Tier 5 alone has TWENTY TWO options. They’re stinky options, but options nevertheless. So leave the stick outside. They’re dirty anyway and you don’t vacuum the carpet nearly often enough to make up for that.

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As Gerrit Cole’s weekly attempts to break the strikeouts per game record continue in Houston, the baseball world is left to wonder, “Wait what exactly did Pittsburgh get for trading this dude again?” Well, Bucs Nation got to see their return on full display Friday night, Joe Musgrove was dominant in his Pirates debut going seven scoreless innings allowing just five hits striking out seven and even added a hit and scored a run for his first win with his new team. Joe only needed 67 pitches to get through seven, throwing 50 of those for strikes and retired 80% of the hitters he faced on three pitches or less. He’s also the first pitcher to go seven innings with under 70 pitches in 10 years or something zzz. Enough with the stats, nerd! Tell me about the KAYS! Sure, Musgrove did not look spectacular in his rehab stint, and sure, the Cardinals offense is not the most menacing assignment, but the 25 year old RHP is formerly highly touted prospect! He had seven wins in 15 starts (109.1 innings) in 2017, but it’s the 98/28 K/BB rate that has got me doing the happy dance. ThasalottaKs! He’ll get a tougher assignment versus the Cubs next week, but could be worth a grab for that sweet, sweet upside alone. Remember, the Pirates traded Gerrit Cole for this kid! What do they know that we don’t!? I’d take a flier on Joe Musgrove anywhere I needed starting pitching help. I can see him becoming a reliable streaming option for me throughout the rest of the year. And that’s honestly one of the highest compliments I can give!

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I watch a lot of baseball.  Most nights, it’s on the TV while we’re puttering around at night and before I’ve plopped myself down for the evening.  Therefore, by osmosis, my wife watches a lot of baseball but admittedly doesn’t pay a lot of attention to the action or the announcers.  The other day though we were watching and an announcer made the comment that a player “got good wood on the ball”. This sent my wife into a 10 minute gigglefest of no recovery.  Yes, I’ve got a keeper. Sticking with the theme of getting wood on the ball, that’s exactly what the Padres do not do. Only Miami has a lower team OPS and only Texas has more team strikeouts.  Hence, I present my top pitching choice of the evening, Alex Wood ($19,700).  Wood may not have the wins to show for it, but he’s been pitching pretty well thus far (3.32 ERA / 1.02 WHIP).  It’s possible Jordan Lyles makes the Dodgers look silly tonight and Wood still doesn’t get a win, but I expect him to have the other stats to make him worth it.  So, get some good Wood on DFS tonight and win all the monies!

New to FantasyDraft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond?  Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.  Just remember to sign up through us before you do.  It’s how we know you care!

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We’re talking a whole lot of pitching this week, as we dive into the top arms in the 2018 MLB draft. We start the show off with a little Juan Soto and Austin Meadows talk, before jumping into this week’s 5×5, where we profile 10 top performers over the last week of minor league play. After that it’s a pitching free for all, breaking down the mechanics and arsenals of Casey Mize, Brady Singer, Shane McClanahan, Carter Stewart, Matt Liberatore, and many more. What could be better than Lance breaking down mechanics? Ice cream, but that’s it. Finally, please make sure to support our sponsor by heading over to RotoWear.com and entering promo code “SAGNOF” for 20% off the highest quality t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast:

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[brid video=”230862″ player=”10951″ title=”FantasyBaseballBuySellHoldWeek9″]

In the spring of 2018, the Catholic Church summoned Father Carmen Sandiego to the Vatican to give him the job to investigate miracles, supernatural signs and apparitions.  Unfortunately, Father Carmen Sandiego, who wasn’t very good with his GPS, got lost for four days in the Steven Avery car lot in Wisconsin, then ended up in Milwaukee.  When he wandered into the parking lot of Miller Park, and Brewers fans tailgating with MGD and cheese curds, everywhere Father Carmen Sandiego turned he heard about the resurrected Jesus Aguilar, so he chose to investigate.  He found a player who had lowered his strikeout rate 8% from last year, upped his walk rate, cut his soft contact and could be a sneaky 25-homer, .275 guy.  Jesus didn’t appear to him in a vision, he was flesh and blood, like the Lenny & Squiggy cosplayers he also encountered.  However, Father Carmen Sandiego didn’t report back to the Vatican, instead he grabbed Jesus for his fantasy team.  Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

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Fantasy baseball is surely a long season, but that has never stopped anyone from overreacting to small sample sizes. Once the stats start rolling in, you can’t help but notice when your star players fall short of your expectations even when it’s a few weeks in. In fantasy baseball, patience truly is a virtue. The vast majority of seasoned fantasy baseballers know you need to give your players some time to see how they gel, but frustrating starts can get the best of us. Especially when it is someone you picked to be an anchor for your team. So this week I decided to look at some studs (top 50 NFBC ADP) that all started off really slow and worried owners, but have been locked in at the plate since.

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While there are many good baseball movies I was thinking this weekend about one more, a comedy based on the real life wife swap of Yankee Pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, who traded wives and kids in March 1973. You can click on the link to read more about it, but Kekich summed it up best: “Unless people know the full details, it could turn out to be a nasty type thing. Don’t say this was wife-swapping, because it wasn’t. We didn’t swap wives, we swapped lives.”

So now we have the plot and in my mind it has to be a period piece occurring in the late 1970s to early 1980s. I want to see baseball players smoking cigarettes and taking amphetamines while guzzling beers and parties of Quaaludes and a George Steinbrenner-like character who orchestrates the swap. I want a Rickey Henderson-like character that only refers to himself in the third person and knows he’s the greatest player ever.

One of the guys has to pitch on acid like Dock Ellis as Hollywood loves doing trippy scenes (that don’t match the actual experience at all). There needs to be many full-on mustaches and afros and mullets and the uniforms should be based off of the Astros rainbow unis or the baby blues of the Cardinals. The White Sox Disco demolition night has to be referenced, and we need a competing owner (and foil for the Steinbrenner character) like Charlie O. Finley of the A’s; I mean, just look at this picture:

We don’t even need MLB’s sign off and with their level of no-fun who even wants it? Who can’t imagine John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell playing the pitchers? Or pick whomever you want; let’s just find some good comedy writers and let them go to town, right?

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Another happy FanDuel Friday you filthy animals! We have a lot of good pitchers out there tonight as this is a full 15-game slate and the weather isn’t going to be much of a concern. Rejoice! Picks and more to follow.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

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Visual Metaphor Alert!  When a boat sinks, you can avoid sinking longer if you scramble to the stern of the boat.  As the boat sinks, you will be out of the water longer.  The Orioles have started playing baseball on that stern of the Titanic.  Of course, then the whole thing snaps in half and drowns you anyway.  “Hey, there’s Machado floating by with six life vests on, and there’s a different team insignia on each life vest!  Hey, Machado, can I get the Yankees’ life vest?  Machado?  Hey, Adam Jones!  Do you need that Nationals’ life vest?  Adam?   Aw geez.”  That’s Dylan Bundy wearing the Orioles’ life vest, as Mancini sinks holding onto Bundy’s ankle.  Yesterday, Bundy went 9 IP, 3 ER, 3 baserunners, 14 Ks, ERA at 4.45, throwing 121 pitches.  *uck Showalter really wanted to get Bundy the complete game, huh?  It’s not like he had a no-hitter going, he surrendered a homer in the 4th inning.  The Orioles also had a six-run lead and were going for win number 16.  Showalter prolly just had a senior moment.  “How do you get this motorized scooter up the dugout steps and to the mound?”  That’s Showalter.  Bundy’s peripherals are actually gorge — 11.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 3.85 xFIP.  Thus far, he’s been unlucky, which goes without saying because he’s on the Orioles.  Hard for me to get excited for that reason, too.  Of course, his numbers say he should be owned everywhere.  Good luck with that!  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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It’s amazing the difference a year makes. Just 12 months ago the Angels had one of the most wretched farms in all of the land. A couple of intriguing talents, a lot of system depth, and tons of minor league fodder. Then came last June’s draft, where the Angels were lucky enough to land a handful of really nice talents, players like Griffin Canning, Jacob Perason, and John Swanda, but none more talented than Jo Adell. Last year’s 10th overall pick out of Ballard High in Kentucky, hit rookie ball like a ton of bricks in 2017 slashing .325/.376/.532, with 5 homers and 8 steals. So it came as no surprise that Adell was assigned to low-A Burlington of the Midwest League out of camp. Through 25 games at the low-A level Adell was once again putting up elite production to the tune of .326/.398/.611 with 6 homers, and 4 steals, while placing amongst the leaders in RBI at 29. That’s more than a steak a game! The Angels brass, having functioning eyes, saw this, and promoted the talented Adell to high A Inland of the California League. If you know anything about the Cal League, it should be this, {power + Cal League parks = Kieboom!} BTW, that’s how we say Kaboom in prospector. Going forward Adell should be viewed as a top tier prospect, a player capable of pushing his way to the Top 10 by season’s end. In my most recent update of my top 25, Adell leapfrogged up to 21. He should be owned in all dynasty formats, and is a player worth targeting in trades for rebuilding teams.

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The value of Pi is unknowable, which makes it an “irrational number.”  3.1415926535897…..Computer scientists have calculated billions of digits of Pi without discerning a recognizable pattern. To infinity and beyond! This concept of irrationality has made many of men mad. On the flip side, Vetta is a Sanskrit term that means “knower” in Hindu philosophy, as in someone who has a deeper or higher spiritual knowledge. The dichotomy and duality of life. It is presented to us everyday. So, it would only make sense that Nick Pivetta (54.8% owned – increase of 24.3%) would be the literal poster boy. Against righties, 30.3% K-BB rate and 2.39 xFIP. Against lefties, 14.3% K-BB rate and 4.29 xFIP. At home, 2.80 xFIP and 26.4% K-BB rate. On the road, 4.33 xFIP and 14.9% K-BB rate. The overall snapshot, though, looks amazing. 10.19 strikeout rate with a 2.04 walk rate. 3.29 xFIP and 0.85 HR/9. The hard contact rate is only 27.1% and the swinging strike rate is 11.3%. Granted, the sample size is small and last season Pivetta was worse against righties. I like Pivetta, as he throws mid-90s, has good control, and can miss bats. Just be aware that there is more under the hood than what the overall numbers are showing. With that said: TREASURE

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