Monday's Games, Or Lack Of

Tim Hudson - 7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K. Back to the NL, back to weaker offenses, and back on his game. I'm sure Hudson is one of many NL hurlers that enjoy the fact interleague games are a thing of the past for this year.

Jason Bergmann - 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Remember that almost no-hitter? Seems like quite a while ago, but Bergmann became a popular pickup after that when people realized how well he had been pitching. The upside is low pitching in front of the Washington offense, but he's one to keep an eye on.

Brian McCann - 2/4, 1 R, 4 RBI, HR (6). This coming on the heels of 4 hitless games. His power exploded in the 2nd half of last year, when he hit 19 of his 24 HRs in the last 3 months. Owners can hope he'll repeat that sort of performance in the 2nd half of this year.

Felipe Lopez - 1/4, SB (9). He's likely waiver wire fodder in most leagues, but he's stolen a base in 3 consecutive games. I don't really like him as a fantasy property while playing in Washington, but ifhe starts stealing more bases, he could re-emerge as an option.

C.C. Sabathia - 9 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. A great complete game effort from the big lefthander. He's had an impressive season so far, and is the first pitcher to reach 11 wins on the season.

Chad Gaudin - 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. A pretty solid performance against a tough Cleveland lineup. Gaudin had some problems against Houston and Cincinnati, so it's nice to see him get back on track here.

Travis Hafner - 2/4, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (11). Let's hope this is the start of a long hot streak to end that long slump he's been in. Your buy low time might start ticking with this game.

Jeremy Bonderman - 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 9 K. He'd been living dangerous recently, having his offense bail him out with wins despite not pitching well the last 3 times out. He actually pitched better last night, but his own throwing error led to a couple unearned runs, and ultimately his first loss of the year. His ERA stands at 3.90, and he's traditionally been a 1st half pitcher. 2006 Pre AS Break: 3.46 ERA, 1.14 WHIP. 2006 Post AS Break: 4.87 ERA, 1.49 WHIP. 2005 Pre AS Break: 3.99 ERA, 1.24 WHIP. 2005 Post AS Break: 5.61 ERA, 1.56 WHIP. If I had to wager, I'd bet on him putting together the first solid 2nd half of his career this season. I wouldn't sell high on him.

Ian Kinsler - 1/3, 2 R. He's quiet been hitting better recently, racking up 9 hits in his last 7 games. He's been due to bust out of his slump for a while now, so hopefully this is the beginning of that. Nobody expected him to keep up the pace he started in April, but he was rotten in May .174 AVG). June's stats are .269, 4 HR, 8 RBI, and 4 SB. That's more in line with what should be expected from him each month.

Bobby Jenks - 1 IP, SV (19). A pretty good half for Jenks so far. He's posted a 3.03 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 19 saves, and 29 K in 29 2/3 IP. He's not putting up the same gaudy K numbers he had the past two seasons, but his owners will take the improved ratios instead.

Mike Maroth - 7 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. A very impressive NL debut for Maroth. He could become a back-of-the-rotation fantasy option now that he's in the NL, so keep an eye on him. At worst he could prove to be a good spot-starter against weaker offenses, although tonight's performance came against the Mets.

Jorge Sosa - 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Another solid performance from Sosa, who rebounded nicely after getting pounded in 2 straight starts.

Ben Sheets - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. He keeps rolling right along, winning his 5th straight decision, all coming in the last 6 starts. He has definitely risen back to fantasy ace status this year, and he is giving his owners a bit more than what they drafted him for so far. He's already within 3 wins of his career high thanks to the great offense.

Hunter Pence - 1/3, SB (6). Always finding a way to help his owners out.

Prince Fielder - 1/4, solo HR (27). His first HR in 6 games. Pretty good for mere mortals, but that's a long dry spell for a Prince.

Jeff Francis - 5 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. The Cubs were all over him last night. He had turned in two straight stellar starts against the Red Sox and Yankees, so I guess this is just fate catching up with him.

Kaz Matsui - 2/5, 2 R, SB (15). I've been sleeping on this guy, but make sure you aren't. With a .311 AVG, 15 SB, and 32 R, he's proving to be a pretty solid commodity at 2B in mixed leagues.

Troy Tulowitski - 2/5, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (7). He is really on fire with 4 HR in his last 5 games. Maybe he's coming into his own now. I wouldn't want to trust him as my starting SS the rest of the year, but he's worth picking up to see what happens.

Roy Halladay - 7 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Not at his best last night, but still good enough to beat the Twins and pick up his 9th win.

Jeremy Accardo - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, SV (9). Nice to seem him again bounce back after a bad performance in his last outing. This was actually his first save opportunity in almost 2 weeks.

Kevin Slowey - 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Back on his command, but haunted again by the long ball. He's now surrendered at least 1 HR in each start, including mutiple HRs his last 3 outings. He's not much of a fantasy option right now thanks to his HR rate, but he could become one later if he finds a way to keep the ball in the ballpark when it's hit.

Vernon Wells - 3/5, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (9). He's starting to heat up, so this is your last buy-low chance. Go get him.

Alex Rios - 3/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR (17), SB (7). An amazing first half for Rios, who's on pace for 35/15.

Brad Penny - 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Penny became NL's first 10 game winner last night, and with the 2.04 ERA he's sporting, it's no wonder why. His K rate is a bit down from where it was last year at this time, but he's put together even better ratios. It's still very unlikely he can replicate this in the 2nd half, but he's on a serious roll right now with 4 straight starts of at least 7 IP and exactly 1 ER.

Jeff Weaver - 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. 1/3 of an inning more, and it would have been 3 straight quality starts. This one came against Boston. Combine this with Ichiro not getting a hit, and I'm seriously worried about the apocolypse occuring sometime soon.

Kenji Johjima - 1/3, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (8). Thanks to the terrible surrounding offense, he only has 31 RBI and 27 R despite hitting .308. If he were hitting on a better team, he'd be a top fantasy option at catcher. As is, he's a solid late round value.

John Lackey - 8 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. Not a bad fantasy line for someone coming off shoulder tightness. If he's healthy, expect a return to form soon enough.

Howie Kendrick - 1/3, 1 R, 1 RBI. Over the past 3 weeks he's yanked his AVG up from .236 to .299. He's scoring a lot of Rs, but the lack of HR, SB, and RBI is keeping his fantasy value down a bit. He's a mixed league option at 2B while he's hitting so well, but it'd be nice to see some contribution to the HR/SB catagories.

Justin Germano - 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Another great outing, but this is yet another team that hadn't seen him. As I've expressed before, be careful when starting him against teams that have already seen him. He's due for some regression soon, and also remember that the only team that's seen him twice, Seattle, hit him pretty hard the 2nd time around.

Tim Lincecum - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K. Still a bit of a control problem here, but he pitched very well outside of that. Unfortunately the bullpen blew it. Guillermo Rodriguez was his catcher the past two outings, ironically the 2 worst of his young career. Bengie Molina was back behind the plate for this one, and a very good outing ensued. I imagine SF will try to pair Lincecum with Molina as much as possible going forward. I actually started him last night despite standard logic not saying so, but I forgot to post the catcher switch news, not thinking it would be that big of a deal. Arizona has a below average Team BA and OBP, but is fairly strong with BB and K. It's an average matchup up next.

Mike Cameron - 2/5, 3 run HR (9). The reason the Giants bullpen blew it for Lincecum. Since I own him on the same team, no complaints here.