IF YOU READ ONLY ONE THING…..

Many have questioned the Mets decision to turn to a six-man rotation with the call up of Steven Matz. After Matz’s first start Sunday, Mets fans probably want to see Matz as a part of their batting order every day. The 24-year-old went 3-for-3 while driving in four runs in his major league debut. The kid was pretty stellar on the mound as well with the Mets likely adding another dominant arm to an already phenomenal, young rotation. Matz went seven and two thirds innings while only giving up two runs and striking out six. After dealing with a delay to his start on the back end of a double header following 13 inning first game, the young starter seemed rattled early giving up a first inning home run to Brandon Phillips. Matz settled in after that and only surrendered one more run on a Todd Frazier home run in the fourth inning. The Mets surprisingly allowed Matz to throw 110 pitches in his first major league start. With the six-man rotation in place, it will be interesting how Terry Collins handles the pitching staff late in ball games and how long he allows his staff of young starters to go with an added day of rest.

JUST AS WE EXPECTED…

In an unsuspecting low-scoring affair between the Blue Jays and Rangers, Josh Donaldson broke through once again for the Blue Jays hitting a home run in the fourth inning and led the Blue Jays to a 3-2 victory. After being shut out in their last game, the Blue Jays’ offense turned to Donaldson to get them back on track. Donaldson’s home run was his first since June 10^th and hopefully signals a power resurgence for the all-star third basemen. However, Donaldson’s HR/FB rate still remains at his career high of 18.1% which may signal his home run production to continue to slow down.

Zack Greinke once again was Zack Greinke on Sunday afternoon giving the Dodgers seven and two thirds of solid pitching. Greinke struck out six and only walked one while surrendering four hits. Greinke has now gone at least six innings in every game he has started this year. Greinke’s FIP remains over a full point higher than his ERA currently does which may signal that some regression may come especially considering his incredibly high LOB% of 88.3. Even with these numbers, Greinke will still remain one of the best fantasy options on a weekly basis and owners were rewarded in with a great two-start week.

BUT WE DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING…

Collin McHugh shut down the Yankees offense on Sunday in a return to last year’s form for the Astros starter. McHugh led Houston to a 3-1 victory going eight innings while striking out eight and giving up two walks and two hits. It was a dominant performance for McHugh who desperately needed to turn his first half of 2015 around. The Astros had expected these types of performances more often throughout this year’s campaign but he had yet to pitch consistently. After back-to-back quality starts before Sunday and now this effort, things may be looking up the right-hander.

The Red Sox banged up offense was able to get to Chris Archer this afternoon running him from the game after he gave up five runs over six innings. The Red Sox, without Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia, relied heavily on their middle of the lineup of Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval who combined for five hits, two home runs and four runs batted in. The five runs surrendered by Archer were the most given up by the stud since May 7^th. Archer still managed to strike out 10 batters keeping up with his ridiculous 10.75 K/9. Archer should return to form in his next start but owners should keep an eye on his propensity to give up the long ball in spurts.

THE REST OF THE DETAILS

SAVE CHANCES

–Huston Street, LAA (blown save)

–Drew Storen, WAS (23)

–Jonathan Papelbon, PHI (14)

–Koji Uehara, BOS (16)

–Kenley Jansen, LAD (11)

–Jason Grilli, ATL (21)

-Luke Gregerson, HOU (18)

–Santiago Casilla, SF (21)

–Wade Davis, KC (9)

–Brad Ziegler, ARI (12)

INJURIES

–Giancarlo Stanton underwent successful surgery to repair a broken bone in his left hand. All reports indicate that Stanton is likely to miss 4-6 weeks with the injury.

–Tsuyoshi Wada was placed on the 15-day-DL with left deltoid inflammation retroactive to June 23^rd.

–Hanley Ramirez remains day-to-day with a left hand contusion and traveled back to Boston on Sunday to undergo a MRI.

–Brandon Phillips exited the game early on Sunday with a hand injury.

RUMORS & TRANSACTIONS

-Ken Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers are interested in Mets starter Jon Niese. Just yesterday, Rosenthal also reported that the Cubs have also inquired with the Mets about dealing for the veteran starter.

-On top of being rumored in connection with Cole Hamels, the Houston Astros have also been rumored to have inquired about Reds starter Johnny Cueto. Both aces are likely to be the top players to move teams before next month’s trade deadline.