If you take one piece of advice from me, let it be this: Listen to Vin Scully as much as possible. He won't be around forever, and he is truly in a league of his own. No one else is even close. I own a grand total of one Dodger in my four fantasy leagues, and my wife is a huge Giants fan, yet I watch more Dodgers baseball than any other team apart from the Yankees. This is solely to listen to Scully's dulcet tones. It's a privilege ...
... Josh Beckett may have gotten the win against the Yankees, but it wasn't pretty. Many people forget that Beckett started off aces last season, and then fell off dramatically. He's the first pitcher to win four games this season (barely beating out Wilfredo Ledezma), and if the Sawx fan in your league thinks this is the year he breaks out and contends for the Cy Young Award, it might not be a bad time to trade him ...
... There are some slumping rookies out there, but Kevin Kouzmanoff may be taking the cake. His latest 0-for-4 effort has him well below the Mendoza line and he faces the very real danger of being benched for Russell Branyan. It doesn't take a major league coach to watch Kouzmanoff at the plate and see that he is swinging defensively. The Pads don't want give up on him this early, but he needs to show something soon ...
... Speaking of underperforming rookies, now is a prime time to trade for any of the Diamondbacks' youngsters. Stephen Drew, Chris Young and Carlos Quentin should all produce this season. And their price might not be lower this season. Remember how high you were on them three weeks ago? Arizona is dedicated to their youth movement, and these guys should all get regular playing time ...
... In light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, it was fitting that the only Hokie in the big leagues, Joe Saunders, pitched six innings of shutout ball to earn the win for the Angels. Credit to Bud Selig for giving Saunders special permission to wear a Hokies hat during the game. Saunders will not, however, be sticking in the rotation. With the return of Bartolo Colon, Dustin Moseley appears to have earned the rotiation spot in Anaheim over Saunders for now ...
... Make sure you have Hideki Matsui activated for this week. He should be back for Monday's game. That Yankee lineup just got a little bit scarier, if that's possible ...
... Don't look now, but Nick Markakis is starting to swing a hot bat. The youngster came into the season with high expectations, but got off to a slow start. He's now up to 3 HR, 11 RBI, and a .271 average. Early worriers can focus on another area of their team off to a slow start ...
... Brett Myers owners have nothing to do but wait. One of two things should happen that will boost Myers' value for your fantasy team. Either Adam Eaton should get lit up time after time until Charlie Manuel is forced to put Myers back in the rotation, or Myers could take over the closer role from the struggling and injury-prone Tom Gordon. In the meanwhile, Myers should be active in most NL-Only leagues, and deep mixed leagues.
And how can you avoid this in the future? Tough to say. Maybe when drafting players in the future, try to take into account their manager's stupidity. This is one humdinger of a managerial decision though. Tough to remember a worse one.