I'll start off on a Father's Day note, the most important day of the year (I'm banking on having mostly male readers here, big time). There's the birthday or Christmas/Hanukkah. This is the one holiday in the summer where you have an excuse to do nothing, watch baseball and drink your favorite beverage which should be brought to you. If you're looking for a present, look no further than the Beer-of-the-Month Club. For $30-$40 a month, you can come home to a nice selection of microbrews (a 12-pack) sitting at your doorstep when you get home from work. Instantly you're happy and not getting anymore golf balls you'll never use despite being a horrible golfer. Anyway…onto today's action.
Notables:
-It's a shocker I waited this long to mention Stephen Strasburg. 10Ks over seven innings and he allowed one run! The shame in that! I can't help but think if he pitched in Petco what his numbers would be. If there was another game in five days, would you rather have him, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Carpenter, Yovani Gallardo, Matt Cain or Dan Haren on the mound – for fantasy purposes only? You know my answer (albeit with a ton of stock in him). Sometime, I'll blog about trades/offers I've received for him in my many leagues that have or have not worked out (so far the latter). I'll give you a taste - in my hometown 22-team |STAR|keeper|STAR| league, I was offered a $3 Marlon Byrd for my $5 Strasburg. Honestly, I can't make this up. If you've worked out a deal either for him or away with him, let me know in the comments and give the specs of your league (i.e. keeper/redraft, how many teams and under what circumstances). I'm very curious.
-Scott Kazmir picked up another win and now has four straight outings with giving up three runs or less. Personally the walk rate is still too high for me when comparing to the strikeout rate; I'd sell him if I could (target a Adam Lind or Carlos Quentin).
-Joe Blanton won his second game but his ERA still stands at 6.96. He has a great offense and is not this bad of a pitcher (I'm not looking at BABIP or FIP before writing this); his ERA will end up in the fours so what will he have to pitch to get to that place? Something pretty solid, take a look at him.
-Gavin Floyd was equal to the Strasburg task, giving up only one run over eight innings. This is now three straight starts (22 innings) where he's given up only one run in each start. I think it's safe to say he's turned the corner. Going forward him or Danks, discuss?
-Hisanori Takahashi held the Yankees scoreless over six innings, striking out three with only four hits and two walks.
-Both Desmond Jennings and Matt Joyce have been raking for the Rays at Triple-A Durham recently and there's some speculation that it will be Joyce and not Jennings called the next time an outfielder is needed. Keep in mind that Jennings is a three-category player right now and offers little in the power department.
Save Chances:
-Fernando Rodney, converted. No sure why Brian Fuentes didn't get the ball but Rodney allowed a homer to Derrek Lee and got his sixth save.
-Kevin Gregg, converted. Went through a rough patch but as I pointed out in Mark Stopa's Barometer a while back, his numbers last year were off, he'll be fine going forward. Although it's not surprising to see it only took five pitches to retire the Giants lineup in the ninth.
-Kerry Wood, converted. Lowered his ERA to 7.43, which is not impressive for a closer. If you're in a keeper league, keep in mind Chris Perez and his 2.73 ERA are the future.
-Bobby Jenks, converted. Two lineouts and a ground ball. I still don't think he's on of the top-3 relievers in the White Sox 'pen.
-Daniel Bard, converted. Number 3 and no, Papelbon is fine. Next year, as I've stated before, is a different story.
-Billy Wagner, converted. This was #13 and his ERA is 1.32. Isn't it odd that Atlanta gave up both their best pitcher and closer last year via trade?
-Jose Valverde, converted. If you had him to have below a 0.62 ERA at this point with 15 saves, let me know what the Powerball numbers are this weekend.
Other Closer Outings:
-Brad Lidge, 0.1 innings. Almost 0.0 (what movie - this is too easy!?). Scott Mathieson had looked shaky so Lidge came on. I'd treat him as a top-10 closer going forward (Lidge, not Mathieson).
Non-Closer Outings:
-Drew Storen got the short end of the stick by picking up the loss when Ryan Zimmerman got an error in the 12th inning.
Tough Days:
-Nick Blackburn gave up eight runs on six hits over 1.2 innings. Obvious statement of this column: not good.
-Matt Garza who had been more than stellar this season, gave up seven runs over 1.1 innings, again, not good. The problem with Garza has always been the mental makeup and tonight it showed. He's got such great stuff yet when things are going bad, he tends to make them worse. This was the worse outing of his career and I'd back him when he get the Padres at home next Thursday.
-Dontrelle Willis goes back to Detroit to exact some revenge for trading him…but it doesn't work out that way. Still the same D-railed train who walks four and gives up five earned over five innings. This isn't going to get better, folks.
-Same game, different pitcher. I'd love for a logical explanation about Chad Qualls, as would A.J. Hinch who is likely to be fired. Qualls has now tanked any team he's on by giving up eight earned runs over the last 1.2 innings. I make many mistakes but that is not a typo. Drop immediately.
-Wandy Rodriguez allowed six runs over three innings. Even the home/away split isn't worth gambling on anymore.
Injuries/Lineup-ology:
-Edinson Volquez is expected to return July 7.
-Gerald Laird was scratched with a stiff neck.
-Jake Peavy has fluid in his shoulder that will need monitoring all season. Not good, sell 50 cents on the dollar if you can get it.
-Jeff Mathis was 1-for-4 in his first start since April 19th. If you need a second catcher, grab him immediately.
Stolen Bases:
-Torii Hunter (6), Rob Quinlan (2), Trevor Crowe (8), Shane Victorino (16), BJ Upton (21), Darnell McDonald (6), Scott Podsednik (20)
Caught Stealing:
-Neil Walker (2), BJ Upton (6), Rajai Davis (5), Albert Pujols (2), Angel Pagan (4), Ian Kinsler (4)
Home Runs:
-Howie Kendrick (6), Torii Hunter (11), Derrek Lee 2 (10-the time to buy-low has passed…), Tyler Colvin (8), Edwin Encarnacion (9), Chase ("And what a grand pursuit"-what movie?) Utley (11), Ryan Howard 2 (13), Nick Punto (1, this doesn't mean he should get playing time!), Mike Stanton (1, in "grand" fashion), David Ortiz (15, if you bought low, a hard back-pat is deserved), J.D. Drew (8), Adrian Beltre (10), Garret Anderson (2, yes that Garret Anderson), Billy Butler (7 – wait there's more to come), Magglio Ordonez (9), Miguel Montero (1, I'd say there's no more injury worries), Matt Holliday (7, nice buy-low here despite his BA with RISP), Justin Smoak (7)
On A Totally Non-Baseball Related Note:
-I wrote last Thursday to bet the USA goal total over .5 goals (for the entire match) at -120. That came in if you were wondering. The horrific refereeing today in their game against Slovenia was worse than the Joyce incident. The USA was tied 2-2 when there was a phantom call on a free-kick which would have put them in front, 3-2. Instead the USA will need a result next Wednesday against Algeria to advance to the final 16. My soccer wager for this weekend? Bet Australia over .5 goals for the game (-155). Of course, this is all just hypothetical.
As Always:
-I'm an east coast guy, I'll hit up some more stuff from the late games in the morning and be around to comment. Did I miss anything, comments, questions, answers to trivia? Hit up the comments my brothers.