On to the roundup for the week...
It now appears the Seattle Mariners will fail in their quest to make the playoffs as a wild card team. After losing series to the Tigers and Yankees, they appear to be in a free fall. The schedule will not work in their favor either as they have to play games that were either snowed or rained out earlier this season.
Here is an interesting statistic. We all know Alex Rodriguez now has 52 HR's and 140 RBI. The next hitter close to him in Home Runs is Carlos Pena with 39. We have told you how good these guys have been all season. But after these 2 hitters, the next guy is Justin Morneau with 29 Dingers, leaving him 23 behind A-Rod! That is a substantial gap and is further evidence that we will see a decline in Home Runs this year. Hmmm...sure looks to me like Baseball's new testing policies for PED's are having an impact.
Injuries:
Gary Matthews Jr. - He will be out at least a week with a sprained back.
Troy Glaus - He may be shut down for the rest of the year due to his sore left heel.
Jeremy Bonderman - He has an elbow injury that may keep him from starting any more games this season.
Who's Hot:
B.J. Upton - Hitting .309 with 23 HR's, 76 RBI's and 16 SB's.
Curtis Granderson - Has 22 Triples, 36 Doubles, 21 HR's and 22 SB's. Incredible numbers.
Scott Kazmir - Had a strong outing against the Red Sox, leaving him with 209 K's for the season.
Who's Not:
Manny Ramirez - Remains sidelined with only 20 HR's and a .292 average.
Vernon Wells - Batting average is down to .249 and he has only 16 HR's, confirming the rumors he played hurt this year.
Chad Gaudin - ERA is now up to 4.47 as the league has caught up to him.
Fantasy Studs for the Week(Last 7 Days):
Alex Rodriguez - He went 11-19 with 6 HR's and 9 RBI's.
David Ortiz - Smacked 3 Dingers and had 5 RBI's.
Mark Ellis - Hit .650 with 1 HR and 8 RBI's
Fantasy Duds for the Week(Last 7 Days):
Jason Giambi - He is back but only went 1-10.
Jarrod Washburn - Went 0-2 with a 6.17 ERA.
Got a fantasy question you would like answered in my column? Send it to me via
e-mail at mikek@creativesports.com. Until next week, I wish you the best of luck.