2012 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix, September 12, 2012: Albert Lang Recaps Monday’s MLB Games
Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles: The O’s made Matt Moore work early and got him out of the game in the fourth. Moore threw 94 pitches. J.J. Hardy did most of the damage, homering twice and collecting five RBIs. Jason Hammel left with what appeared to be an injury to his right knee, the same knee that caused him to miss time. Nate McLouth stole a base and is a darn underrated option ROTW. Pedro Strop pitched a relatively easy ninth in the blow-out….baby steps.
Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays: Brandon Morrow typically owns his former club, but that wasn’t the case last night. He gave up 11 hits and four runs in just 4.2 IPs of work. It was mostly death by a thousand singles, as there weren’t a ton of extra base hits. Young Erasmo Ramirez took the bump for the Mariners and thwarted the Jays offense. Ramirez has shown some impressive control in the minors and is baffling hitters (66.4% first strike rate and 10.1% swinging strike rate). He’s mostly just someone to be on radars in deep leagues.
Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds: Brandon Phillips and Scott Rolen provided the muscle, both notching HRs. Mike Leake didn’t need a ton of help, as he was solid for seven IPs. He did give up two dingers, but only walked one, keeping the Pirates off the bases.
Washington Nationals at New York Mets: R.A. Dickey pitched just “aight” and didn’t strike out many guys. Bryce Harper collected four hits and sure seems to have adjusted to the league’s adjustment to him. Shockingly, Scott Hairston hit his 17th dinger off reliable Tyler Clippard. It wasn’t a squeaky clean outing for Clippard, but he got the job done and added two K’s to his ledger.
New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox: hopefully the Sox will take to their spoiler role…but only against the Yanks. Jacoby Ellsbury was 4/5 with two RBIs, including the game winning base knock in the bottom of the ninth. Derek Jeter also had two RBIs. Both Jon Lester and Hiroki Kuroda allowed a ton of base runners but didn’t figure into the decision. David Robertson took the loss. With that the O’s and Yanks are tied atop the AL East. Weird doings.
Miami Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies: Both Nathan Eovaldi and Roy Halladay allowed five runs, only Halladay did it in 2.1 more innings. Jimmy Rollins hit his 18th HR, taking over the team lead. Mighty Juan Pierre went 3/4 with two runs and an RBI. Giancarlo Stanton did his job, blasting a homer and each of the Marlins 1-6 hitters collected at least one RBI, but it wasn’t enough as Chase Utley also went 3/3 in helping the Phillies to nine runs. Jonathan Papelbon shut the door in the ninth and the Phillies are creeping closer to Wild Card contention.
Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins: The Twins don’t have a ton of good and/or healthy pitchers. The Royals exploited this. Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain both doubled and tripled. Alex Gordon also tripled and Erick Hosmer homered and doubled. Johnny Giavotella also doubled and has been hitting well of late. Will Smith was decent in shutting down a punchless Twins line-up. Darin Mastroianni appears to be getting the starts for the Twins against southpaws. He was 2/2 with a caught stealing. There’s some cheap speed to be had there.
Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers: Marco Estrada continued to pitch phenomenally, striking out six and blanking the Braves over 6.2 IPs. Tim Hudson wasn’t so good, giving up four runs over 6.2 himself. Rickie Weeks tripled and homered. Under-owned Norichika Aoki doubled and collected an RBI. The Braves managed just five hits against eight K’s.
Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox: Doug Fister gave up homers to Gordon Beckham and Dewayne Wise, but those were the only hits he allowed. Jake Peavy K’ed nine batters, but gave up homers to Miguel Cabrera and Austin Jackson, allowing three runs in the process. Francisco Liriano, in relief, also allowed two runs. The usually reliable Joaquin Benoit wasn’t good in the eighth, but he gave up only one run off three hits. Papa Grande was fine in the ninth and things got tighter in the central.
Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros: This game lived up to the boring billing. There were just eight hits through eight innings and one run (via a Justin Maxwell sacrifice fly). Jordan Lyles pitched pretty well as did Justin Germano who allowed the only run (it was unearned). Solid reliever Wilton Lopez allowed two hits, but otherwise shut the door. I would have taken the over on five saves at the start of the year…wonder if he gets there. The real news in this game was a vicious hit Anthony Rizzo took. He left the game, but preliminary reports are that he’ll be fine.
Cleveland Indians at Texas Rangers: Matt Harrison was good and the Indians defense let Ubaldo Jimenez down, who pitched somewhat decently. Jimenez, like the rest of Adrian Beltre’s recent competition, gave up a long ball to the Rangers mighty third baseman. David Murphy went 0/2 but with two walks and a SB. Joe Nathan collected an effortless save.
San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies: Jhoulys Chacin and Madison Bumgarner combined to give up nine runs before the fifth inning was over. The battle of the bullpens was won definitively by the Giants until the ninth. Typically reliable Sergio Romo gave up two runs, but Javier Lopez cleaned up the mess and earned a save. Tyler Colvin did a bulk of the damage with a two-run blast. For the Rockies, Jordan Pacheco had a great night and should be owned more. Brandon Belt doubled and homered to pace the Giants. Pablo Sandoval continued his struggles and probably should be benched in most leagues.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks: Clayton Kershaw was expectedly exceptional. Ian Kennedy matched him pitch for pitch though and this one was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Miguel Montero broke through with a double that scored Paul Goldschmidt. The score held all the way to the fat lady. David Hernandez earned the save as J.J. Putz was unavailable due to a stiff back. If Hernandez is available and you need saves, go get him.
Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Dan Straily took Brandon McCarthy’s rotation spot and pitched well: eight K’s in 6.2 innings. He gave up three runs, the most of which on a Vernon Wells (blech) HR. Jerome Williams was considerably worse, giving up HRs to Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Moss. Moss is a nice guy to own in deeper formats as he has a decent side of the platoon and straight mashes. The big news is Grant Balfour getting into trouble by issuing ball four twice. He threw just half his pitches for strikes, didn’t record an out and allowed two runs. This is nothing but a bump in the road because the A’s don’t really have anyone better and Balfour has been decent.
St. Louis Cardinals at San Diego Padres: A bunch of errors marred this game. Most of the errors were committed by the Padres, yet they went on to win this one. Adam Wainwright did give up three unearned runs, though which was the difference in the contest. Everth Cabrera stole a base and should be owned more. Luke Gregerson pitched 1.2 innings to close this one out. He’s pretty darn good.
What odd thing is Brandon Moss about to do?
Written by Albert Lang exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com
Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays: Brandon Morrow typically owns his former club, but that wasn’t the case last night. He gave up 11 hits and four runs in just 4.2 IPs of work. It was mostly death by a thousand singles, as there weren’t a ton of extra base hits. Young Erasmo Ramirez took the bump for the Mariners and thwarted the Jays offense. Ramirez has shown some impressive control in the minors and is baffling hitters (66.4% first strike rate and 10.1% swinging strike rate). He’s mostly just someone to be on radars in deep leagues.
Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds: Brandon Phillips and Scott Rolen provided the muscle, both notching HRs. Mike Leake didn’t need a ton of help, as he was solid for seven IPs. He did give up two dingers, but only walked one, keeping the Pirates off the bases.
Washington Nationals at New York Mets: R.A. Dickey pitched just “aight” and didn’t strike out many guys. Bryce Harper collected four hits and sure seems to have adjusted to the league’s adjustment to him. Shockingly, Scott Hairston hit his 17th dinger off reliable Tyler Clippard. It wasn’t a squeaky clean outing for Clippard, but he got the job done and added two K’s to his ledger.
New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox: hopefully the Sox will take to their spoiler role…but only against the Yanks. Jacoby Ellsbury was 4/5 with two RBIs, including the game winning base knock in the bottom of the ninth. Derek Jeter also had two RBIs. Both Jon Lester and Hiroki Kuroda allowed a ton of base runners but didn’t figure into the decision. David Robertson took the loss. With that the O’s and Yanks are tied atop the AL East. Weird doings.
Miami Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies: Both Nathan Eovaldi and Roy Halladay allowed five runs, only Halladay did it in 2.1 more innings. Jimmy Rollins hit his 18th HR, taking over the team lead. Mighty Juan Pierre went 3/4 with two runs and an RBI. Giancarlo Stanton did his job, blasting a homer and each of the Marlins 1-6 hitters collected at least one RBI, but it wasn’t enough as Chase Utley also went 3/3 in helping the Phillies to nine runs. Jonathan Papelbon shut the door in the ninth and the Phillies are creeping closer to Wild Card contention.
Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins: The Twins don’t have a ton of good and/or healthy pitchers. The Royals exploited this. Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain both doubled and tripled. Alex Gordon also tripled and Erick Hosmer homered and doubled. Johnny Giavotella also doubled and has been hitting well of late. Will Smith was decent in shutting down a punchless Twins line-up. Darin Mastroianni appears to be getting the starts for the Twins against southpaws. He was 2/2 with a caught stealing. There’s some cheap speed to be had there.
Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers: Marco Estrada continued to pitch phenomenally, striking out six and blanking the Braves over 6.2 IPs. Tim Hudson wasn’t so good, giving up four runs over 6.2 himself. Rickie Weeks tripled and homered. Under-owned Norichika Aoki doubled and collected an RBI. The Braves managed just five hits against eight K’s.
Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox: Doug Fister gave up homers to Gordon Beckham and Dewayne Wise, but those were the only hits he allowed. Jake Peavy K’ed nine batters, but gave up homers to Miguel Cabrera and Austin Jackson, allowing three runs in the process. Francisco Liriano, in relief, also allowed two runs. The usually reliable Joaquin Benoit wasn’t good in the eighth, but he gave up only one run off three hits. Papa Grande was fine in the ninth and things got tighter in the central.
Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros: This game lived up to the boring billing. There were just eight hits through eight innings and one run (via a Justin Maxwell sacrifice fly). Jordan Lyles pitched pretty well as did Justin Germano who allowed the only run (it was unearned). Solid reliever Wilton Lopez allowed two hits, but otherwise shut the door. I would have taken the over on five saves at the start of the year…wonder if he gets there. The real news in this game was a vicious hit Anthony Rizzo took. He left the game, but preliminary reports are that he’ll be fine.
Cleveland Indians at Texas Rangers: Matt Harrison was good and the Indians defense let Ubaldo Jimenez down, who pitched somewhat decently. Jimenez, like the rest of Adrian Beltre’s recent competition, gave up a long ball to the Rangers mighty third baseman. David Murphy went 0/2 but with two walks and a SB. Joe Nathan collected an effortless save.
San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies: Jhoulys Chacin and Madison Bumgarner combined to give up nine runs before the fifth inning was over. The battle of the bullpens was won definitively by the Giants until the ninth. Typically reliable Sergio Romo gave up two runs, but Javier Lopez cleaned up the mess and earned a save. Tyler Colvin did a bulk of the damage with a two-run blast. For the Rockies, Jordan Pacheco had a great night and should be owned more. Brandon Belt doubled and homered to pace the Giants. Pablo Sandoval continued his struggles and probably should be benched in most leagues.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks: Clayton Kershaw was expectedly exceptional. Ian Kennedy matched him pitch for pitch though and this one was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Miguel Montero broke through with a double that scored Paul Goldschmidt. The score held all the way to the fat lady. David Hernandez earned the save as J.J. Putz was unavailable due to a stiff back. If Hernandez is available and you need saves, go get him.
Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Dan Straily took Brandon McCarthy’s rotation spot and pitched well: eight K’s in 6.2 innings. He gave up three runs, the most of which on a Vernon Wells (blech) HR. Jerome Williams was considerably worse, giving up HRs to Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Moss. Moss is a nice guy to own in deeper formats as he has a decent side of the platoon and straight mashes. The big news is Grant Balfour getting into trouble by issuing ball four twice. He threw just half his pitches for strikes, didn’t record an out and allowed two runs. This is nothing but a bump in the road because the A’s don’t really have anyone better and Balfour has been decent.
St. Louis Cardinals at San Diego Padres: A bunch of errors marred this game. Most of the errors were committed by the Padres, yet they went on to win this one. Adam Wainwright did give up three unearned runs, though which was the difference in the contest. Everth Cabrera stole a base and should be owned more. Luke Gregerson pitched 1.2 innings to close this one out. He’s pretty darn good.
What odd thing is Brandon Moss about to do?
Written by Albert Lang exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com
Follow Albert on Twitter @h2h_corner
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