2012 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: Strasburg & Hamilton make it look too easy
This is why you shouldn't worry about an innings cap on Stephen Strasburg. In six innings against the Pirates on Thursday, the Nationals ace struck out 13 (including seven straight), allowed one run, and picked up a victory while throwing 103 pitches. It's proof that even if the Nats limit him to around 175 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, he will produce more in those innings than 90 percent of other starters will in 225 innings.
So don't buy into the fear that you should trade Strasburg before he gets shut down before the end of the season. Hang onto him, don't expect him to go eight or nine innings in a game, and hope the Nationals stay in the pennant race so they are pressured into keeping him on the mound late in the year.
Don't trade Josh Hamilton either. You probably knew that though. He followed up his four-homer night with just one bomb against the Orioles, his 15th of the year.
Two nights after Hamilton hit four homers in one game, Baltimore had five players hit one homer in a game. Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Wilson Betemit all went deep off Colby Lewis, who became the first pitcher in nearly 100 years to give up five homers and strikeout 12. In seven innings, he did not allow a single, double, or triple, just five homers.
Some other highlights from the night:
– Yunel Escobar went 4-for-4 to raise his average from .242 to .265 while Henderson Alvarez continued to look good on the mound for the Blue Jays, allowing one earned run in seven innings.
– Josh Beckett came back from injury, but the Red Sox and his fantasy owners wish he had waited a bit longer. Beckett gave up seven earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. Michael Brantley had four hits for Cleveland.
– C.C. Sabathia threw eight innings with no earned runs against Tampa Bay and when it came to the ninth inning, it was Rafael Soriano, not David Robertson, getting the save. Robertson had pitched two night in a row and gave up four runs in the previous game, so he may have been getting a mental and physical break. For now, assume both Robertson and Soriano will get saves for the Yankees.
– Andy Dirks and Miguel Cabrera both had four hits for the Tigers
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