Belated Tuesday: Francouer's Power Outage

Jeremy Bonderman - 7 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Owners expecting that breakout year everyone seems to think Bonderman is due for keep getting disappointed. His 10-2 record is stellar, but that's more attributed to the great Detroit offense than his pitching. His ERA is up to 3.69 on the season after this outing. Only a very strong finish can starve off another season of disappointment for those expecting bigger things.

Javier Vazquez - 8 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. Right back on it. Vazquez is enjoying his finest AL season to date, and this is especially impressive coming against the Tigers. He has posted a sparkling 1.09 WHIP so far this year.

Bobby Jenks - 2 IP, 2 SV (28). Jenks has calmed back down with 3 straight scoreless appearances, including two on Tuesday to pick up the save in both games. Hopefully he'll go on a nice streak to even out the ERA damage he's done recently.

Jim Thome - 5/7, 4 R, 3 RBI, HR (17). Thome had a big doubleheader and he continues his most productive month of the season. As the fantasy trading deadline appears, I think Thome is a great sell high candidate given his injury history.

Scott Kazmir - 6 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. He had made such good progress from his last start up until the 7th inning, where he allowed a single and then 3 consecutive walks with 2 outs, chasing him from the game. Another walk from the bullpen tacked on the 3rd run before the inning ended. He's still walked 8 guys over his past 3 outings, but there are some serious signs of improvements in there. He's not a bad buy low guy right now, assuming this progress will continue. He's risky, but if you're looking for a guy to start helping you make a move up the pitching standings, he's a great target.

Daniel Cabrera - 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, W (7). Just imagine what he could do if he threw strikes. He's still nowhere close to mixed league value, though. He's sporting a solid .249 BAA, but thanks to the ridiculous number of 73 walks, it's not getting him anywhere.

Jamie Walker - 1 IP, 1 H, SV (2). From the looks of it, with Ray going on the DL, it's going to be closer by committee. Walker got the nod last night thanks to the lefties due up in the inning, but it sounds like Baez will get the other assignments. I'd bet on Baez if you're going to chase this situation.

Daisuke Matsuzaka - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (12). He scattered his baserunners and threw 7 shutout innings, much to the delight of his recently disappointed owners. This is impressive against Cleveland, so hopefully he's ready to get on a roll again.

C.C. Sabathia - 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K. Much like Matsuzaka, Sabathia had been struggling previously, and this outing against a powerful Red Sox lineup shows that's he ready to start pitching like we expect again.

Aaron Rowand - 3/4, 3 R, 1 RBI, HR (14). Rowand is making himself a lot of money with this offensive performance combined with his stellar defense, and he's making many fantasy owners very happy with a great waiver wire pickup earlier in the season.

Dustin McGowan - 7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (7). He puts together some excellent outings, but he mixes them in with bad outings far too often to be a mixed league option.

Scott Baker - 7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. Another pretty good outing from Baker despite the 4 ER allowed, giving up only 7 baserunners. The Toronto offense is pretty good, so Baker is continuing to look like a fringe mixed league pitcher.

Vernon Wells - 2/4, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR (14). Wells hit 5th last night as the Blue Jays continue to bounce him all over the order. He hasn't really busted out yet, but I still think there's a good chance of that happening before the end of the year.

Yovani Gallardo - 6 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (3). Judging from the walks and strikeouts, this wasn't one of Gallardo's better performances, but he still only allowed 1 run against a pretty good Cincy offense in a great hitters ballpark. He's really been impressive so far, but I'm afraid that a bad start or run of bad starts is upon him given his stellar 2.18 ERA. I'd look to move him in a redraft league immediately if you don't want to take the risk of having a rookie pitcher.

Ian Snell - 4 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Snell's fallen apart his past 3 outings, shooting his ERA from 2.93 to 3.62. I really should have listed him in my AS Break sell high article, although I have been hinting that he might be one to trade. Since he blamed the Rockies for stealing signs in his last outing, I wonder what his deflective excuse is this time.

John Maine - 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (11). He had two bad outings in a row, but settled back down with this one. Nothing like a matchup with the Pirates to cure what ails you.

Jason Bay - 3/4, 2 R, 3 RBI. HE LIVES! Unfortunately this was on my bench, but I can't blame myself too much considering how bad he's been hitting for the last 2 months. Get him back in your lineup immediately. When he gets hot, he gets real hot.

Lastings Milledge - 3/3, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR (2). Milledge is hitting .302 with 2 HR and 11 RBI in 11 games since being recalled. With Alou constantly finding a new ailment to keep him on the DL, he deserves strong consideration in mixed leagues. His talent is for real.

Rafael Furcal - 0/4, SB (11). He's been a massive bust this year. His .280 AVG is alright, but he's scored only 53 runs in 91 games, and most importantly he's only stolen 11 bases. I mentioned earlier this year that Juan Pierre might not allow him to steal as much thanks to him being incredibly impatient, but I never knew it would get this bad. Furcal has stolen 46 and 37 bases the last two years, but is on pace for less than 20 this year. He's not worth starting with these numbers.

Chien Ming-Wang - 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (11). Owners wanted more against the Royals, but he didn't pitch too badly and still picked up the win.

Derek Jeter - 4/6, 1 R. He's actually been disappoiting this year, believe it or not. His .337 AVG is awesome, but his 7 HR, 11 SB, and 66 R are below his usual pace. He's on pace for his lowest totals in those stats since 2003.

Carlos Zambrano - 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (13). Vintage Zambrano as he became the NL's first 13 game winner, quite a feat considering how badly he was pitching up until the fight with Barrett. He's won 8 of his last 10 starts, and thanks to the great Cubs team around him this year, he should set a career high in wins this year.

Derrek Lee - 2/4, 1 R, 1 RBI. A nice return to the lineup after the suspension.

Aramis Ramirez - 4/5, 1 RBI. Don't you hate it when your player puts up 4 hits, only to not produce much in the other catagories? I know I sure do.

Chris Young - 2 IP, 1 K. Uh oh. He left his start early with the dreaded oblique strain. This injury flatout sucks as it's impossible to predict the recovery time. He could make his next start, and he could be out a month. We'll have to see what happens.

Mike Cameron - 1/3, 3 run HR (13). He's hitting a horrible .194 this month, so benching him isn't a bad idea in mixed leagues right now until he heats up again. Hopefully this is a start.

Sergio Mitre - 3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. One more start like this and I'd drop him. Like I said before, his ERA was due to even out at some point, so this shouldn't come as a surprise, other than the fact the usually light hitting Diamondbacks were the ones to do it.

Dan Uggla - 2/4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR (21). Terrific power numbers for a 2B. That .258 AVG is sickly, but he's a big 3 catagory player that plays a weak offensive position. Florida really should move him down to 5th or so...you don't want your #2 hitter with a .332 OBP usually.

Kelvim Escobar - 7 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Not his best outing, even though it was a quality start, and his offense didn't do enough to get him another win. He's still pitching very well right now.

Alan Embree - 1 1/3 IP, SV (11). He was a very nice waiver wire closer while it lasted, but Street is due back soon and he'll go back to a setup role. With as good as Santiago Casilla has been pitching, I'm not sure if he's still 2nd in line for saves. Oakland might want to see what they have in Casilla.

Tim Hudson - 8 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Had a shutout going until the 9th. Hudson walked two, got two outs, and then a soft single plated a run. Wickman came out and proceeded to give up back to back hits, scoring 3 more runs and giving Hudson 2 ER and a no decision to boot. I hate Bob Wickman as I had just traded for Hudson to get some more wins.

Jeff Francoeur - 2/6, 1 R, 1 RBI. He's been surprising this year. His .294 AVG is a very good surprise, but his 10 HR so far is a very bad surprise. After hitting a customary 5 HR in April, he's hit 5 HR in the past 3 months. All his rate stats look fine, but his HR/FB is a miserable 8.6%. I don't see any reason why he's not hitting more HRs. I think us fantasy owners would prefer the .265 / 30 HR Francoeur come back.