Friday: #754

Pat Burrell - 2/3, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (13). Burrell is on fire since the AS Break, hitting .455 with 2 HR and 16 RBI in 15 games. He's well worth using in mixed leagues while he's on fire. He's always been a very talented hitter, but a complete mystery as to why he has long periods of problems at the plate. Don't be afraid to cut bait or bench him if he gets cold. He's mostly a 2 catagory player in HR and RBI, but will score enough runs too.

Andy Pettitte - 7 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Not a bad start, and he dodged baserunners to post a solid ERA for the day. You really have to question his fantasy value this year. He's 6-7 (mostly due to bad luck), 4.11 ERA, a horrible 1.45 WHIP, and only 86 K in 138 IP. If you didn't sell high like I suggested earlier, see if you can use him as throw-in to upgrade a position and get name recognition value for him.

Jeremy Guthrie - 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7). He's skating by keeping his ERA in check so far, but the peripherals tell a different story. Make sure to move him before things start going south for one of this year's fantasy surprises.

Ramon Hernandez - 3/3, 2 RBI. Hernandez had been a huge fantasy bust this year, but he's been playing well below his performace the last couple seasons. He's only 31 years old, so while catchers age faster than most positions, I think he could put together a solid 2nd half for those stuck with a crappy option at catcher. Give him a try.

Jhonny Peralta - 2/5, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR (16). He's been quiet recently as these are his first HR and RBI since the AS Break. Expect him to start producing more runs as he's in a great RBI position, bouncing back and forth between the 5th and 6th spot in the Cleveland lineup.

Kevin Youkilis - 1/5, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (10). Take note, he's only had 1 good fantasy month despite the solid overall numbers. Outside of an explosive May, he's been very pedestrian for a 1B/3B eligible player. Move him at the deadline for an upgrade.

Jorge Sosa - 6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. He seems to be slowly falling apart and is no longer a mixed league option given his current performance. He's likely the first Mets pitcher to be dropped if they upgrade at the deadline, or if Pedro Martinez gets healthy in time to contribute this season.

Rich Hill - 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. Not his best outing, but his quality ERA and Ks made this a fairly positive start. He's been quite unlucky this year with only 6 wins on a strong team, especially with the solid 3.59 ERA. He's settling in as what he'll likely be the next several years...a strong K pitcher with solid ratios and decent win totals. He reminds me a lot of a young Barry Zito given his pitching style.

Bronson Arroyo - 7 2/3 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. Another quality start from Arroyo who's really settled back down as a solid mixed league option. Unfortunately wins will continue to be a problem thanks to a very shallow, shoddy bullpen.

Edwin Encarnacion - 2/5, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (7). Not fantasy worthy thanks to how he's handled, but worth mentioning. What a frustrating season for Encarnacion. For his sake, I hope he's used in a deadline deal so he can be given a true opportunity somewhere else. The Reds have yanked him around enough, and perhaps he'll land in a place where he will provide fantasy value the rest of the way.

Jake Peavy - 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (10). He gave up 3 H and 1 ER in the first inning, and then 1 H and 2 BB the last 6 innings as he settled down and dominated the way we're used to. Perhaps he's finally over the sore biceps that was likely causing him problems the last few starts.

Brian Giles - 2/5, 3 RBI. He's leading off currently for SD. It's amazing how Petco Park has killed his fantasy value. He was a great fantasy OF for Pittsburgh, but his power died once moving to spacious Petco Park.

Bill Hall - 3/5, 2 R, 2 RBI. Huge fantasy bust this year. 9 HR and 41 RBI through 4 months compared to 35 HR and 85 RBI last year. The rest of his rate stats are in line, but his HR are way down from his random outburst last year thanks to his HR/FB% of 9.8%. Given he'll lose his SS eligibility this year, he'll likely not be draftable next year unless he shows more power the last 2 months. He doesn't have more than 1 year of huge power, so it's hard to expect that he will indeed bounceback due to the small sample size.

Corey Hart - 3/6, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR (15). He's crashed to .208 this month, but he's still hit 6 HR. His AVG now is more in line with what's expected from him, so he should be good to go the rest of the way.

Jon Garland - 7 1/3 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (8). Back to the outings he seems to be famous for...numerous baserunners, solid ERA, and few Ks. I look at how he's pitching over the past month, and while the blowup against Minnesota was flukey, I'm not seeing enough here to warrant continued use. The poor offense and bad bullpen hurt his wins, he doesn't K enough hitters, and his WHIP is rising back to normal levels.

Eric Byrnes - 2/5, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (16). A walkoff HR for Byrnes last night as he continues to provide amazing fantasy value. He's never performed at this level before, so while I'm a bit worried about a 2 month fall-off down the stretch, his power/speed combination matches what he did last year, so he should provide enough value in catagories even if his AVG starts to fall.

Stephen Drew - 1/5, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (7). Big things were expected from Drew, but like most rookies in fantasy leagues, he's disappointed with his performance. This will likely turn him into a nice draft day value next season, but not one to use this year.

Felix Hernandez - 7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (7). I didn't like him coming back out to pitch the 7th in a 7-1 game, pushing his pitch total up to 120. However, he continued his success over the A's and turned in a great outing. He's turned himself around this month and his patient owners will likely get a quality mixed league pitcher the rest of the way. Be careful that he might be shut down early again this year, though. Given that, depending on your team situation, give though to moving him.

Jered Weaver - 5 1/3 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (7). He had pitched well in June, and his stats in July had been solid too, prior to this start. He'll likely never pitch like he was last year now that the league has figured him out a bit, but he's here to stay as a quality mixed league starter.

Barry Zito - 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. This is ridiculous. I apologize for recommending him as a buy low, but I still hold out hope that he figures out whatever the hell is causing this. He's not this bad, especially in the NL. He has such a long history of quality pitching to think that he's going to stay bad.

Hanley Ramirez - 3/5, 1 R, 4 RBI, HR (17). I think he feels fine now after a 5 day absence, don't you?

Barry Bonds - 1/1, 2 R, HR (20). #754 for Barry. I'm not going to get going on the whole Barry situation. I don't think there's been a baseball record about to be broken that I could care less about. I know Bonds is far from the only guilty one, and that he would have been a great player regardless, but I just can't get myself to care about this.