A.L. TWO-START STUDS
Josh Beckett
(Mil, @Oak) – He hasn’t been completely dominant, but he’s not giving up too
many homers, and he’s not walking batters. The former should help him against
the Brewers, who have good power but poor patience, and the latter will aid him
against the A’s, who skew the opposite way.
Zach Greinke
(@Flo, @Tor) – Greinke’s only non-quality start of the year was of the 5 IP, 2
ER variety: hardly disastrous. Scarily, I think he still has significant
upside, which if reached could see him strike out around a batter an inning. He
has the stuff.
Cliff Lee
(@Cin, Tex) – Everything’s coming up Cliff!
Chien-Ming Wang (NYM, Sea) – Hard-throwing groundballer just keeps chugging along.
A.L. TWO-START SCRUBS
Boof Bonser (Tex,
@Det) – Did you know: Boof backwards is Foob. Amazing but true!
Kason Gabbard
(Hou, @Cle) – Gabbard is currently rocking a 2.12 ERA and 11/14 K/BB ratio in
29.7 innings. The K/BB is much closer to his real abilities than the ERA.
Nate Robertson
(@Ari, Min) – He had his best start of the year last time out, and still gave
up ten hits. As a groundball pitcher, he relies heavily on his defense, and
Detroit’s is not helping him out: his BABIP is .352, compared to .297 for the
team as a total.
A.L. TWO-START WILDCARD
Edwin Jackson
(@StL, Bal) – Will it hold up? I’m not completely convinced so far, but he
still has first-round talent.
N.L. TWO-START STUDS
John Maine (@Atl,
@Col) – It’s taken me awhile to warm up to Maine’s you-can’t-hit-me magic, but
it appears to be legitimate. Atlanta doesn’t lose many games at home, so they’ll
be a tough test.
Jake Peavy
(StL, Cin) – Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
Edinson Volquez (Cle, @SD) – I keep hearing disbelief that the Reds “gave away” Josh
Hamilton. Uh, have you see Volquez’s stats? Him against the Padres’ “offense”
in Petco just isn’t fair.
N.L. TWO-START SCRUBS
Kyle Lohse
(TB, @LAD) – The Lohse love-fest didn’t last so long, huh? I wonder if Dave
Duncan’s converted-reliever magic works if the guy was originally a starter;
perhaps the Cardinals should move Lohse to the bullpen for awhile and find out.
Jason Marquis (Pit,
@Pit) – The Pirates just beat the Cubs for the first time yesterday, but
getting to face Marquis twice in the next week gives them a great shot at two
more victories. He makes a great pinch runner, though!
Brian Moehler
(ChC, Phi) – I had no idea Moehler was even still active until he was moved
into the Astros’ rotation.
N.L. TWO-START WILDCARD
Oliver Perez (@NYY,
@Col) – Ollie is approaching wildcard emeritus status.
QUICK HITS
Hong-Chih Kuo
picked up a relief win yesterday; the Dodgers are essentially piggybacking him
and Chan Ho Park, A-ball style, which can only work out in Kuo’s favor
as soon as Park’s true talent level reveals its ugly face. He’s still got
strikeout stuff and appears to have gotten his control under, uh, control, posting
a 35/9 K/BB in 30 innings so far. Keep an eye out for him to get moved into LA’s
rotation.
The Cardinals put Jason
Isringhausen, suffering from a lacerated ego, on the DL and called up 2006
first-rounder Chris Perez. Since St. Louis is currently using Ryan
Franklin as their primary closer, it’s easy to foresee a pitcher of Perez’s
ability moving into the closer’s role before long.
Russell Branyan hit three home runs on Friday for Nashville, the Brewers’ AAA affiliate,
and is currently sitting at .368/.449/.706 on the
season. A platoon at third base between him and Bill Hall might be interesting, if only for the amazing amount of strikeouts
it would produce.