Taking a look around the league, here’s a recap of yesterday’s action and suggestions for your fantasy baseball team.
Clutch Performers – Jeremy Guthrie pitched a four-hit shutout against the Minnesota Twins last night and continued his recent dominance with 21 innings pitched and only giving up three earned runs over three starts. Guthrie has been up and down all year and this start lowered his ERA to the sub-four zone. He faces Boston in his next start.
- Jeremy Guthrie — 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W
- Justin Upton — 3-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R
- Alexei Ramirez — 4-for-5, 2 RBI, R
- Alex Rios — 2-for-4, 4 RBI, R, SB
- Eric Hosmer — 3-for-5, 5 RBI, 2 R, 2B
- Brett Oberholtzer — 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W
Surprise, surprise! – R.A. Dickey won his first start in over a month to run his record to 9-11 with a 4.49 ERA. He pitched to a tune of 7.2 innings, one earned run against the Mariners to lower his ERA to 4.49.
- R.A. Dickey — 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W
- Brett Lawrie — 3-for-4, R, 2B, 3B
- Juan Francisco — 2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2B
Left out in the breeze – Chris Perez took a loss and a blown save and never registered an out. He gave up three hits, four earned runs, a walk and a home run against a potent Tigers lineup. Just a minor hiccup as he’s been pitching well.
- Andy Pettitte — 2.2 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 4 K, L
- Kevin Correia — 2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, L
- Chris Carter — 0-for-4, 4 K
Trending developments – Bud Norris, fresh off a trade to Baltimore, is up 28 percent in ESPN fantasy leagues. Norris pitched six innings and struck out eight in his first start with the Orioles for his first victory.
- Brett Oberholtzer — owned in only 0.7 percent of ESPN leagues. Over the last seven days: 14 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 8 K and no earned runs, while winning two games for the Astros.
- Justin Upton — Over the last seven days, he’s connected on four long balls, 10 RBIs and three doubles. He’s hit 14-for-31 in that span.
- Chris Carter — struck out 12 times in his last 24 at-bats while registering only two hits.
Prospect Watch – Kole Calhoun has done well in Albert Pujols‘ absence since his call up. He’s batting .321 with two home runs, a stolen base and three RBIs since July 28. Here’s what RotoWire says about him:
The 25-year-old outfielder was batting an impressive .354/.431/.617 with 12 homers and 10 steals at Salt Lake and could push J.B. Shuck for playing time in left field if he can maintain anything close to the production he showed at triple-A.
Head-2-Head– James Shields will take on the Twins and hopes to follow Guthrie’s last complete game shutout. The Twins are playing awful and the Royals are red-hot, so I’ll take my chances.
Links of the day – It’s link time …
- Fangraphs takes a look at the Bullpen situation and some must have cheap relievers.
- Vigilante takes a look at the top five shortstops that aren’t likely owned in your league.
