Tuesday = No Hitter Day

Scott Olsen - 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. Now this is the Scott Olsen we saw for parts of last year. This was a very impressive outing against a strong Cleveland offense, so hopefully this is a step in the right direction. Make sure to keep an eye on him to see if he builds off of this outing.

Fausto Carmona - 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. Unfortunately a HBP and 3 of those hits came in the same inning, the last of which being a bases clearing double which resulted in the only scoring of the game. Still, this was another strong outing for Carmona.

Armando Benitez/Kevin Gregg - Gregg has done nothing to deserve losing the closer's role, and he's continuing to pitch well in it. The bullpen arrangement is still the same with Benitez working the 8th, and Gregg working the 9th. Gregg owners would be smart to acquire Benitez at this point just to be safe.

Justin Verlander - 9 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 12 K. The first no hitter of this youngster's career came against a very good Milwaukee offense, but his stuff was dominant last night and he was making hitters look silly with his big curveball.

Curtis Granderson - Hit his 13th triple last night, which is a ridiculous number for this early in the season. One thing to keep in mind with him that I forgot to mention before. He hits .328 with 37 XBH and all 6 of his SB against righties, and .111 with 3 XBH against lefties. He is one of the ultimate platoon players, so make sure to sit him against all lefties.

Michael Young - He hit his 21st double last night, and his AVG sits at .283, so he's finally recovered. However, with only 4 HR and 6 SB, he's just not that valuable in fantasy baseball. Trade him to someone who thinks otherwise now that his AVG is back up there.

Jason Bay - He's 2/27. Such is the life of us Jason Bay owners. Torrid hot streaks followed by frigid cold streaks. He's very annoying in H2H leagues.

Cole Hamels - 8 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. He likes serving up consecutive HRs, doesn't he? For the 2nd straight game, this time in the first inning, he allowed back-back HRs, but those were the only runs he gave up as he settled down and dominated from there on out. With 16 HRs allowed, he's just not going to make the ERA improvement I thought he would. I think he's a mid 3's ERA pitcher unless he finds a way to stop giving up the long ball.

Jose Contreras - 3 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. His forkball was useless last night, making him a one pitch pitcher, and Philly slammed him for it. With the Sox team as a whole a big steaming turd at the moment, dump him for a hotter pitcher, but don't forget about him. I can't see anyone picking him up after his recent performances.

Jermaine Dye - He hit his 11th HR last night, so his power is alright, but that .221 AVG is very abnormal for him. He's a career .274 hitter, so he'll improve. He's likely to be put on the trading block as the White Sox continue to lose game after game, and he's a pending free agent. I thought he'd be a bit more motivated than this...

Tim Wakefield - 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. He had his knuckler working last night, but don't go picking him up. You just never know when he won't be on top of his game as knuckleball pitchers are as erratic as they come.

Brandon Webb - 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. A solid performance against the hottest lineup in the majors. After an error and a single preceded a 3 run HR, he settled down and dominated for the rest of the game. He's officially back on top of his game now, so owners can relax about the rough start.

Chien-Ming Wang - 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. He won the battle of the game's top sinkerball pitchers last night. He's taken a nice step forward in the WHIP column this year (1.19 so far), and his K rate is up a bit as well, turning him into a quality fantasy starter.

Ryan Zimmerman - Smacked his 10th HR last night as he continues his groove. His AVG is still hovering at .247, but with 3 HR, 11 RBI, and 8 R in his past 10 games, his run production is back on the rise.

Daniel Cabrera - 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 4 K. Me being the genius I am decided to spot start him against the lowly Nationals, seeing that he had made subtle progress recently. Instead, my ERA and WHIP got bitch-slapped. Never again.

Scott Kazmir - 6 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 11 K. The good news? He only walked 2 while K'ing 11. The bad news? He was very hittable and still didn't post good ratios. He's still a decent buy-low guy who's capable of going on a hot streak if he finds his command, if you're willing to take the risk.

Greg Maddux - 6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Not the best outing with the 3 walks, but a quality one nonetheless. His bullpen blew the lead and then some after he left.

Carlos Pena - 2/5 with a GS HR and 5 RBIs total. He's another Curtis Granderson, although Tampa Bay actually platoons him against righties as he only has 25 AB against them so far this year. Thanks to that, his AVG remains over .300 and he has 14 HR and 38 RBI. He's another guy that's best used in a fantasy platoon situation.

Kelvim Escobar - 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 14 K. Yes, 14 Ks in 6 IP. His stuff was flatout nasty last night, but unfortunately one inning where 2 hits, a fielder's choice, and a suicide squeez led to all 3 runs allowed.

Casey Kotchman - Kotchman is finally delivering on the promise this year, hitting .330 with 8 HR and 33 RBI. He's long been a highly touted prospect in the Angels farm system, but it hasn't been until this year that he's stayed healthy and put everything together. He's not a big HR hitting 1B, but makes great contact and should hit over .300 all season long.

Brandon Phillips - Swiped 2 more bases last night, giving him 13 on the season. He continues to deliver in all 5 catagories, and is arguably closing in on being the 2nd best fantasy 2B behind Chase Utley.

Rich Hill - 6 2/3 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Not his best effort, but after a 0.68 in his last 3 outings, he was due to give up a few runs. Still, it was a quality start and he kept his team in the game. His main problem was with holding baserunners on, as a throwing error to first and a balked-in run affected his overall numbers.

Roy Oswalt - 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 10 K. Not a smooth-sailing performance, but owners have to love to 10 Ks. He was in line for the win until Brad Lidge happened...again.

Brad Lidge - Houston is already screwing this up. After saying they wanted to ease him back into the closer's role, he was immediately thrown into the fire in a 1 run ballgame. This was the type of game that Houston needed to show patience with and keep the previous arrangement of Lidge in the 8th and Wheeler in the 9th, then use Lidge in a save situaiton of 2 or 3 runs. That would give him some room for error and allow him to build his confidence closing games again. Predictably, Lidge allowed a solo HR to the first batter he faced for the blown save. He then allowed a ground-rule double, and a wild pitch later that allowed Mark Ellis to advance to 3rd. He then composed himself while striking out Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez, intentionally walked Dan Johnson, then got Bobby Crosby to pop out to preserve the tie. While the blown save is all that fantasy owners care about, he avoided a complete meltdown and re-composed himself. This is a good sign moving forward, and he'll get at least one more chance to close a game. Us owners can hope it's not another 1 run game.

Kevin Slowey - 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Picked up his 2nd win with a strong performance, although the lack of K's so far (6 K in 17 IP) prove that his stuff is not good enough to miss bats consistently like I mentioned when he was called up. He's not going to walk many batters (only 2 so far), but he's going to be hittable when he doesn't have his pinpoint control. I think fantasy owners can do better unless he learns how to K more hitters.

Alex Gordon - 3/4 last night, inching his AVG closer to the Mendoza Line as it current sits at .198. He's again showing some signs of turning things around, so don't completely give up hope that he can't be useful down the stretch this year. Leave him on waiver wires for now though.

John Maine - 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. I wanna be, wanna be, wanna be like...Cole Hamels? Maine became the 2nd pitcher in 6 days to surrender back-to-back-to-back HRs, with the 3rd one being to opposing starting pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo. A very substandard performance for Maine, raising his ERA into the 3s for the first time this season.

Hong-Chih Kuo - 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. A very solid performance for Kuo, who is a good pitcher and a major health risk. After 2 failed attempts as a starter last season, he proved that the third time is indeed a charm, posting a 3.06 ERA with 42 K and 9 BB in only 32 1/3 IP during September. His K potential makes him worth keeping an eye on, but odds are he'll be injured again before posting enough starts to make him worth picking up. Still, he's worth keeping an eye on.

A.J. Burnett - 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. As I posted last night, he left this start early with a shoulder strain. Toronto is downplaying it for now, but we've learned the hard way that their word is worthless. Be ready to put him on the DL.

Alex Rios - 2/4 with a 2 run HR last night. I hate him.

Brad Hennessey - Picked up his first save since the Benitez trade, as San Francisco hasn't generated one since then. He pitched a scoreless 9th, allowing 1 hit while K'ing 2. This proves he's the Giants closer for the time being.