A.L. TWO-START STUDS   

C.C. Sabathia (SD, @LAD) – Reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Josh Beckett (@Cin, StL) – Despite owning an ERA north of 4, Beckett has excellent ratios: in 79 innings, he’s allowed 74 hits and 15 walks while striking out 83. He’s allowed a lot of home runs, but some of that appears to be due to bad luck, as his HR/F is a bit high.

Justin Verlander (@SF, @SD) – Verlander has shown signs of coming out of his malaise lately, but he makes the list because of his opponents next week. Not only are the Giants and Padres two of the league’s three worst offenses, but he gets them both in their pitcher-friendly home parks. If a good-hitting lineup is a “murderer’s row”, then these guys are like a row of florists.

A.L. TWO-START SCRUBS

Daniel Cabrera (Pit, Mil) – I told you guys, it’s one of the Ten Commandments of fantasy baseball: thou shalt not trust Daniel Cabrera.

Micah Owings (KC, @Min) – Micah Owings the show is great fun, but Micah Owings the pitcher is pretty ordinary, and when he plays the Twins, he’ll lose one of his better hitters from the lineup: Micah Owings.

Kevin Millwood (@NYM, @Was) – So many hits! He’s been this bad for over a year now. Is he done?

A.L. TWO-START WILDCARD

Chien-Ming Wang (@Hou, Cin) – You go right ahead, but I’m going to wait until he has at least a few consecutive not-godawful starts in a row to use him again.

N.L. TWO-START STUDS

Ted Lilly (@Tor, ChW) – Lilly’s mid-career strike renaissance continues, as he’s bumped his rate up to nearly a batter an inning. Plus, it’s hard to bet against anyone when they’re backed by the Cubs’ offense.

Greg Maddux (@Cle, Det) – Pass.

Seth McClung (Min, Bal) – Seth McClung?! Yes, the big Scotsman himself. Son of Clung has made four starts for the Brewers, with the following K/BB: 4/0, 1/6, 4/0, 5/1, and two of the walks in the bad game were intentional. Yeah, it could just be one of those things, but I’ve watched him pitch, and something legitimate seems to be happening here.

N.L. TWO-START SCRUBS

Homer Bailey (Bos, @NYY) – He’s not ready. The Reds need to just leave him along and let him pitch awhile to see if he can fulfill his immense promise, but facing the Red Sox and Yankees in consecutive starts isn’t going to help him fulfill anything except a masochism fetish.

Kevin Correia (Oak, @KC) – Just ignore everyone on the Giants not named Lincecum.

Brett Myers (@StL, LAA) – He’s been pitching like crap this year AND he beats his wife.

N.L. TWO-START WILDCARD

Clayton Kershaw (@Det, Cle) – Kershaw’s minor league numbers are sick, and he will, someday soon, be a Major League ace, if with a bit of a control problem. However, despite holding his own since being called up, he hasn’t dominated yet. He could break out and have a twelve-strikeout performance at any time, but he could also walk seven guys in four innings, too.

QUICK HITS

I care about as much about RBI as I do about Wins for pitchers (read: only as they pertain to fantasy leagues), but holy crap, Josh Hamilton is leading the AL by nearly 20? I was not aware of this.

I said many hurtful things about Andrew Miller after his frightful start, but it may be time to apologize. After settling down and beginning to allow hits at a reasonable rate, Miller has actually been quite good for the Marlins over the last month and a half, so don’t let his 5+ ERA scare you away.

Milwaukee’s bizarrely anemic offense has many wondering when top prospects Matt LaPorta and Mat Gamel will be called up from AA Huntsville, where they are currently laying waste to Southern League pitching. Unfortunately, the answer appears to be: next year.

With Paul Lo Duca’s return imminent and Johnny Estrada’s not too far off either, it will be interesting to see what Washington does with Jesus Flores, who’s pretty much been the only National outside of Aaron Boone to show any competency at what scouts like to call “the hit tool”.