Sunday - Another Week In The Books

Fausto Carmona - 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Another great effort from this youngster as he continues to come into his own this year. His only non-quality start outside of Opening Day was against the Tigers, whom he had faced in his previous start. He's showing an improved K-rate this month as well.

Jeff Francouer - Wake up, man. He's been doing nothing for a while now, and his 8 HRs so far are well off his power pace from last year. He should get hot sooner than later, so now might be a good time to see if his owner is napping on him.

Micah Bowie - 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. Resist the urge. 4 quality starts in 5 tries, but he's a fringe pitcher for a team with a terrible offense.

Ryan Zimmerman - Hit his 12th HR yesterday, his 4th in 8 games. He's on fire now, and showing improved power over last year. He only hit 20 HRs last year, but he's hit 11 in the past month and a half.

Bronson Arroyo - 6 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. This is my last post about him for a while. He's continuing to get hammered and should not be owned at this point.

Kevin Millwood - 6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 10 K. He's given up at least 4 ER in ever start since April 13th, but this is a step in the right direction. He could be a decent fantasy starter in the 2nd half of the year if he's healthy. Don't completely forget about him, but don't pick him up either.

Adam Dunn - 3/4, 2 R, 3 RBI, and 2 HR last night. He has decided to get hot at the right time as trade rumors continue to swirl. Cincinnati's asking price is said to be quite high, so it remains to be seen if they can find a suitor for him, or if they back down from their demands a bit to get a deal done.

Justin Verlander - 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Like I've said before, pitching against the Phillies in their home ballpark is a tough task, but Verlander turned in a quailty start. He's showing an improve K rate, which is what his fantasy owners were hoping for this year given his electric stuff.

Magglio Ordonez - 2/3 and 3 RBI last night, pushing his AVG up to .371. He's a serious sell-high candidate, but aim for elite OFs like Guerrero, Beltran, and Soriano if you're going to trade him. I'm not saying he'll completely collapse, but his AVG is due for a modest collapse.

Brandon Webb - 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Business as usual. He improved his command like I promised, and he's back to his Cy Young form. He's now sporting a 3.14 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.

Eric Byrnes - Hit his 10th HR last night. Add that to his 12 SB and his .307 AVG, and he's been the underrated 25/25 candidate he was viewed as during the spring, including a very nice bonus in the AVG department.

Javier Vazquez - 6 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. Bad Javy makes an appearance. With a struggling offense (not) supporting him, he's only been an asset in Ks and WHIP this year. You're not going to be able to trade him given his 3 W and 4.39 ERA, so you just have to put up with what he is. We expected better against the Pirates.

Roy Oswalt - 5 2/3 IP, 12 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Another rough outing by Oswalt, although he stranded a lot of baserunners to save his ERA for the day. He's been the most overrated ace drafted this year who hasn't gotten hurt. 3.50 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and 77 K in 107 2/3 IP just isn't ace material. After 2 years of sub-3.00 ERAs, his owners are expecting more. Now might be a decent buy-low time on him though given his recent rough stretch.

Ichiro Suzuki - 4/5 yesterday, although he only had 1 RBI to show for all those hits. He's now hitting .356 on the season as his hot streak continues.

Mike Lamb - 2/3 with a HR and 5 RBI last night. He's been on a tear the last 4 games, going 11/15 with 2 HR and 10 RBI. I'll have to see more of this to recommend grabbing him as a UTIL player.

Matt Morris - 4 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. The Red Sox mauled Morris for his first non-quality start since April. He was simply overmatched by a quality offense, and it emphasizes the point that Morris should not be started against great offenses.

Barry Bonds - 2/3 with his 14th HR. He's quietly been hitting better over the past 10 days, indicating that his slump is over.

Manny Ramirez - 2/4, HR, 3 RBI. 2 HRs in 2 games, and hopefully the end of Manny's slumber as well. He's capable of getting as hot as any hitter in baseball, and we can pray that this is the start of one of those streaks.

Kevin Slowey - 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K. A random bad control day for Slowey. On the days he doesn't have his pinpoint control, his stat lines will look like this if he's lucky, and much worse if he's not.

Justin Morneau - 2/2, 3 R, 3 RBI, and his 20th HR. He continues to show bigtime power as he proves himself as one of baseballs best young power hitters.

Prince Fielder - Hit his 25th HR last night...inside-the-park style. Lew Ford completely lost his high flyball in the Metrodome roof, and Prince motored around the bases and easily beat the throw home. Good times.

Corey Hart - 3/6, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, 1 SB. He's turning out to be an amazing waiver wire find as he's now up to 7 HR and 12 SB in limited time this year. It'll be interesting to see where he hits in the lineup once Weeks returns given how great he's hit the ball since he moved to the leadoff spot.

Scott Olsen - 6 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Right back in the trash can after his encouraging start last time out. Considering this was against the Royals, it's extremely frustrating.

Alex Gordon - 2/4, 1 R, 1 RBI. He might have arrived, finally.

Jeremy Hermida -2/4, 2 run HR. Another struggling youngster with big upside that's starting to hit better. Keep an eye on him.

Rich Hill - 3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. 3 HRs killed him. Like I've said before, he's prone to these outings being a flyball pitcher, especially if the wind is kind to hitters at Wrigley the day he pitches.

Greg Maddux - 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. The old man is still pitching well, posting a 3.90 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP on the season. No upside anymore, obviously, but he's pretty steady.

Adrian Gonzalez - 4/5, 4 R, 3 RBI, and a HR. Took advantage of Hill's off day and pounded the ball. His full breakout season has definitely arrived.

Mike Cameron - 3/4, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR. He's been hitting at a .293 clip over the past month as he shakes off his early season slump. He still could be on the waiver wire in your league, and with his power/speed combination, he shouldn't be. If the Padres leave him in the cleanup position, he'll be a great source of RBI as well.

Scott Kazmir - 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K. More of the same from Kazmir, who has clearly reverted to his 2005 lack of command form. Very frustrating for his owners after his breakout year last season in which he finally showed improved command. Like I've said before, I think he's still very capable of turning it around at some point.

Jonny Gomes - 3/4, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR. If you're looking for a quick lineup fix, look no further than Gomes. Many people have forgotten his 11 HR April last year until he hurt his shoulder and then his starting job. With Elijah Dukes in trouble yet again and possibly on the trading block, Gomes could be in store for a fulltime role soon.

Anthony Reyes - 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. He was quietly recalled after 3 straight great outings in AAA, but turned in a disasterous 1 inning allowing all 5 runs. 4 hits, and 2 BB that inning along with a HBP. He settled down nicely after that, throwing 4 scoreless innings and allowing only 4 baserunners after that. He has some upside, so keep an eye on him to see if he figures things out.

Ryan Ludwick - 3/5, 3 R, 5 RBI, 1 HR, 1 SB. A great statline for Ludwick, but this will probably be the only time I write about him. Don't bother.

Kelvim Escobar - 7 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. He picked up his 8th win the process. Another solid outing from Escobar who's really come into his own this year, mainly because he's staying healthy. He was always capable of this, but some injury constantly got in his way. Given his lengthy injury past, I'd consider selling high, but the Angels offense is among the best in baseball and he'll continue to post very good numbers while healthy.

Randy Wolf - 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. Despite 2 wins in 4 appearances, he's really regressed this month, allowing 16 ER in 21 IP, along with a 13:8 K:BB ratio. Be careful with him if you own him now that you know this.

Howie Kendrick - 3/5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB. My favorite preseason 2B sleeper is finally waking back up after a long slump following his injury. Pick him up if he was dropped and you need 2B help.

Gary Matthews Jr. - 1/1, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR, 1 SB. If you didn't bench him despite him being out of the starting lineup, you were rewarded with a great line off the bench. With 10 HR and 11 SB on the year, he's becoming a quiet 25/25 candidate.

Orlando Hernandez - 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Pitchers reliant on offspeed stuff rarely turn in good starts against the AL. This should have been expected from him.

Chien Ming-Wang - 8 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K. He's turning the corner this year, using his quality slider as a K pitch. If he continues to master incorporating that into his arsenal, he'll post some solid K numbers along with quality peripherals and lots of wins. It might be a bit late, but he can go from overrated to underrated if he starts K'ing more hitters. I did not like him at all as a fantasy pitcher heading into this year, but thanks to his improved K rate (3.14 / 9 IP last year, 4.7 / 9 IP this year) and his 1.15 WHIP (1.31 last year), he could turn into the AL's version of Brandon Webb. I don't want to overreact too much to one start, but lets hope he learns from this performance about how to strike hitters out.

Alex Rodriguez - 2/2, 2 R, 3 RBI, and his 27th HR. Myeah.