Wednesday: Manny Is Smokin'

Barry Zito - 4 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. I'm glad I stayed away from him this year. 3 starts in a row of 1 ER or less followed by 15 ER in his last 13 1/3 IP. Gotta stick with him and hope he settles into one of his famous grooves.

Francisco Cordero - 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K, SV. Encountered the rough stretch he was due for, but that's now 3 scoreless innings in his last 3 appearances.

Bill Hall - 1/3, GS (8). As productive as one hit can be. 2 HR and 11 RBI in his last 8 games, so let's hope he stays hot for a while. Keeper league owners should beware that he'll only be OF eligibile next year, and that obviously hurts his value quite a bit after this season.

Bengie Molina - 1/4, GS (7). He's been a pretty productive fantasy catcher so far this year with a .294 AVG, 7 HR, and 38 RBI.

Jon Garland - 7 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Nice outing from Garland, again. I guess you can't ignore the 3.61 ERA and 1.17 WHIP so far, but with only 43 K in 97 1/3 IP and 4 wins, he hasn't been a strong fantasy asset.

Sergio Mitre - 6 1/3 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. He's been a very underrated fantasy asset this year with a 2.34 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 45 K in 69 1/3 IP. Make sure he's owned in your league, but don't be afraid to boot him if he puts up 2-3 bad outings in a row. He might have been dumped after the leg injury and his rough last outing.

Paul Konerko - 2/3, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (11). He's still quietly getting better, and can still be owned for a discount thanks to the .246 AVG. Go inquire about him.

Dan Haren - 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. His first start giving up 3 ER since April 13th. What an amazing season so far. Some wonder if he'll fall apart, but his peripherals suggest he's not pitching too far over his head. He's posting the 14th best FIP among qualified starters, and he has a 40.9% GB ratio, 2nd worst among those top 14. He does post the best LD% at 14.3, which means guys aren't hitting the ball very hard off of him. Given all that, it looks like he's due for some regression, but he should still be a top 10 starter from this day on out. If you could use him to get Santana, I would, but other than that he's about as good as anyone else.

Alan Embree - 2 IP, 3 K, SV. Outside of one blown save, he's been flawless in the closer's role. Definitely one of the better waiver wire closers this year, and he has a chance to close all season with the problems surrounding Street's elbow and Duch's hip.

Josh Hamilton - 1/2, 2 run HR (10). He's been close to worthless recently, and my advice to sell high on him earlier was hopefully followed. He's definitely slowed down, and he wasn't helped by the dehydration problems he's had recently either. I'd keep him on the bench until you see him get hot again.

Jack Cust - 1/3, 2 run HR (10). He's been pretty hot over his last 6 games, so I'd throw him back in there until he cools off again. Pitchers obviously adjusted to him, and now he's possibly adjusted back. I still don't see him as much more than a bench OF though.

James Shields - 5 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. More HR problems. He gave up 2 3 run HRs, one in the 3rd and one in the 4th. He still pitched very well outside of those HRs, so this isn't something to worry about yet.

Eric Byrnes - 4/5, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR (11). I'm starting to wonder if he's a sell high guy. His highest AVG in any season in which he's played at least 100 games is .283, so it seems like he's playing over his head with the current .318 AVG. However, he's a .255 lifetime hitter against righties, but he's hitting .342 against them this year. His .348 BA/BIP is a bit high, but I just don't see any signs of him crashing back down.

C.C. Sabathia - 6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Not at his best, but good enough to join John Lackey and Josh Beckett as MLB's 10 game winners. Now that we're about half way through the season, it seems as though this is the breakthrough year the people have been predicting for 2-3 years from Sabathia.

Jeremy Bonderman - 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. He's had a rough stretch recently, giving up 13 ER in his last 17 IP, but thanks to the explosive Tigers offense, he has 3 wins to show for it. I expect him to improve those ratios real soon, and he still has a very solid 1.18 WHIP.

Roy Halladay - 8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. He's still a top 5 fantasy starter when healthy, and he's settled down into a nice groove of 3 straight wins after being shelled by Tampa Bay.

Frank Thomas - 2/4, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (10). Huge bust for those who drafted him this year. He hit .298 after the AS Break last year, but that hasn't carried over to his new team as he's currently hitting .231. I expect some modest improvement, but I wouldn't count on another 2nd half swing like last year. Only 3 more HRs til 500, though.

Oliver Perez - 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 3 K. He needs to settle down quickly. After showing vastly improved command all year long, he's now allowed 16 BB in 24 2/3 IP across his last 4 starts. I'd be a bit worried if I were an owner, so look into potential deals, but don't give him up just to get rid of him. There's a pretty good chance he'll return to early season form since he was so good for the first 2 months.

Scott Baker - 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. Not a fantasy worthy pitcher at this point, but this will quiet the Matt Garza talk down for another start or two. I'd still give him an outside chance that he learns the major league level at some point. He's probably better off in the NL.

Carlos Beltran - 3/4, 1 RBI. He's been dead weight since returning from his bruised knee, so let's hope this gets him going.

Manny Ramirez - 3/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR (11). 5 XBH and 6 RBI in his last 5 games. One of those patented Manny hot streaks is upon us. Us owners really need him to start killing the ball to make up for his horrible start.

Gil Meche - 4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Just didn't have it last night.

Alex Gordon - 4/6, 1 R, SB (7). I think he's arrived. I picked him up in the league that I start Encarnacion at 3B, and you should too now. He's been hot for a while, but thanks to the horrible lineup around him, his fantasy impact will be dulled a bit.

Octavio Dotel - 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, BS. Pujols happened. No worries, especially after 6 straight scoreless appearances. I still say sell high due to the probability he'll be traded.

Jason Marquis - 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. I'm done posting about him as he shouldn't be on anyone's roster at this point. Reality has set in...he's not a good fantasy pitcher, or real pitcher for that matter. Thankfully the Cubs locked him up for a few years. Wonderful.

Sammy Sosa - 1/4, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (12). #600 for Slammin' Sammy. I don't really care for him and the selfish way he carried himself with the Cubs, but congrats to one of the most feared power hitters of the 90s. He's a cheap source of power in fantasy leagues if you can afford the AVG hit.

Jeff Francis - 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. His amazing season continues...that's 8 outings of 2 ER or less in his past 9. I'm disappointed I didn't keep him around as my 5th starter in a league I picked him up in. I have Sean Marshall instead, so that's not all bad.

Andy Pettitte - 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Oh well, a bad start in Colorado is nothing to hang your head about. He wore down and gave up 4 of those runs in the 7 th inning. Nothing to worry about here.

Matt Holliday - 2/4, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (13). Stud. He's still off last year's pace of 34 HRs by a few, but he's hit 3 HRs in 6 games and is hitting .366 on the season now.

Jeff Weaver - 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. The Pittsburgh Pirates franchise has just hit rock bottom.

Ichiro Suzuki - 1/4, 1 R, 2 SB (22). First time in 5 games that he hasn't gathered multiple hits, so obviously upon knowing this would happen in the 3rd inning, Ichiro decided to placate his fantasy owners by stealing both 2nd and 3rd base. What a guy.

Richie Sexson - 2/4, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (12). That's 3 straight games of 2 hits to raise his AVG up to .209. It's been a very ugly season for him so far, but as a career .266 hitter, you have to think things will get better for him.

Jeremy Guthrie - 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. I guess he's good. Make sure he's not unowned, but beware of repeat opponents like I said earlier. He was drafted in the 1st round out of Stanford several years ago, but never met expectations in the minor leagues until last year. Cleveland promoted him to the majors, but he got smacked around (6.98 ERA, 2.02 WHIP). He was looked upon as a reliever instead of a starter thanks to his minor league problems. He's definitely come back from the dead, but I remain doubtful that this is sustainable.

Justin Germano - 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Still pitching great, although he ran into the only better unknown pitching force than him...Jeremy Guthrie. He's still giving you a nice sell-high window if you can find someone that gives a crap about him.

Ervin Santana - 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. He puts up 2 solid road starts, then performs sub-par at home. He's still a great fantasy option when pitching at home.

Hunter Pence - 3/5, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (7). Still on fire, and providing you redrafters with more reason to sell him high.

Vladimir Guerrero - 1/4, 3 run HR (13). He's a bit short of his usually 30-35 HR pace, so expect him to get going again here pretty soon.