Thursday: Dice-K? More Like Dice-BB.

Kelvim Escobar - 7 2/3 IP, 9 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (11). He allowed more baserunners than usual, but he did a good job pitching his way out of jams in another fine performance. He lowered his ERA to a sparkling 2.85, and with the Angels playing as well as any team in baseball this year, don't be surprised to see him in the Cy Young race as long as he stays healthy.

Carl Crawford - 3/4, 2 SB (30). He hadn't been caught stealing since May 28th until getting caught in his 3rd attempt last night, so he's been doing exactly what owners expected of him so far this year. His 6 HR, however, have been a bit disappointing after the power surge he displayed in the first half of last year. Unfortunately that seems to be a fluke rather than a precursor of more power.

Chien Ming-Wang - 7 1/3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. He was crusing until the the top of the 7th, where he allowed all 3 runs and 4 hits, costing him a chance for the win. That's 4 straight quality starts for Wang, who continues to exceed expectations this year.

Jeremy Accardo - 1 IP, 1 H, SV (14). He's been giving up runs, including 4 times in his last 10 outings, but with a 2.72 ERA, he's been pitching very well on the season and remains very secure in his role as the closer for this season. His 1.26 WHIP indicates some more ERA regression might be on the horizon, though.

Jeremy Bonderman - 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Bonderman had a rough June, posting a 4.99 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP, but he's right back at it in July with a 2.43 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP so far this month. He's had troubles the past two years closing his seasons, posting much worse stats after the AS break. However, as many sites predicted in the spring, this should be the season he bucks that trend and closes strong. I agree.

Scott Baker - 6 1/3 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. That's 5 solid outings in 6 apperances outside of the meltdown against the White Sox on July 6th, including two against the Tigers. He's quietly establishing some mixed league value, so if you have a hole in your rotation (Sheets going down perhaps?), Baker is looking like a pretty solid option.

Yovani Gallardo - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2). Pff, who needs Ben Sheets? Gallardo will have some rough starts, but he has incredible poise and great location on his pitches. He's not Ben Sheets, but he has a chance to be relatively close. He should be a solid mixed league starter the rest of the season, but beware of him wearing down towards the end as many rookies do.

Matt Morris - 4 2/3 IP, 12 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. This is my lost post about Morris as he is done as a mixed league option, just as I've been saying all along. Hopefully you listened. :)

Ted Lilly - 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (10). Not the best outing from Lilly, but it was good enough to pick up the win thanks to another Cubs offensive explosion. He had 3 straight 1 ER performances, so he was due to give up a few runs. He's won his last 5 starts, and 6 of 7 as he's finally evening out from the lack of wins earlier in the year despite pitching well.

Barry Bonds - 3/3, 3 R, 6 RBI, 2 HR (19). Guess those 3 days off did him some good as he murdered the ball today. Unfortunately if you own him, especially as the season progresses, you really have to pay attention to the daily lineups to make sure he's active on the days you want to use him. Yahoo added a nice feature earlier in the season, adding a ^ by each position player once they have the lineups for the game. It's a nice one-stop shopping ground for who's playing and who's not, and it's very helpful for your platoon players.

Bengie Molina - 1/4, 2 run HR (9). He's really cooled off, dropping his AVG down to .275 from over .300 earlier in the season, but he should provide enough pop and RBI production to be a borderline starting catcher in mixed leagues.

Garrett Atkins - 1/4, 2 run HR (14). Unfortuantely Atkins has cooled down after his monster June, but with 3 HR and 11 RBI in 14 games, he's still providing solid power numbers for his owners.

Javier Vazquez - 6 1/3 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (7). Another great outing from Vazquez, especially against a quality offense like Boston. He had a rough May, but he's really pitched well the other 3 months of this season, posting his best month so far in July with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. He's been a very nice find for his owners this year as he's definitely exceeded expectations.

Daisuke Matsuzaka - 5 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 6 K. This is getting frustrating. After 6 straight outstanding outings that indicated he had turned the corner, he's come back with 3 straight subpar outings to bring his ratios back up to a 3.99 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. Like I said before, he never had a history of control problem in Japan, so I'm not sure what his issue has been this year. The 46 BB in 130 2/3 IP isn't horrible, but it's definitely up from what was expected. Odds are he'll turn things around again, but it appears he's not going to live up to expectations after all.

Sergio Mitre - 6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. A tough matchup against Cincy, but he pitched pretty well and was in line for the win until Benitez imploded in the 8th inning. Keep in mind that his 1.25 WHIP does not correlate to his 2.82 ERA, so he's going to have a bad outing sometime soon in all likelihood.

Mike Maroth - 5 IP, 11 H, 10 ER, 3 BB, 0 K. So yeah, that whole AL-NL league change isn't working out so well for him. My bad for suggesting that it might. With a 8.17 ERA, you'd think he made the league switch the other way.

Tim Hudson - 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (10). Hudson keeps rolling right along. With a 3.24 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, he has a legit shot at comeback player of the year.

Andruw Jones - 2/3, 3 R, 3 RBI, HR (19). Jones is hitting .328 this month with 7 HR and 19 RBI in 15 games. To say he's found his swing again would be an understatement. Those who stuck with him or bought low will be rewarded with a great 2nd half. With a mixture of solid option ahead of him, a healthy Chipper, and Francouer protecting him, he's in yet another solid lineup with plenty of opportunities for run production.

C.C. Sabathia - 6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Sabathia is really scuffling this month, posting an ugly 8.47 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP in 17 IP. As long as he's not hurting, he'll right this ship soon enough and get back on track again.

Joe Borowski - 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, SV (27). Those 27 saves are coming at a heavy cost in the ratio department as Borowski sports a 5.26 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. The price some of us pay for those saves! He's in no danger of losing his job and he has an excellent save total, but I hope you have a solid set of pitchers around him to absorb those ratios.

Cole Hamels - 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. Good enough to win 90% of the time, but not when you're facing Chris Young. He gave his owners exactly what they expected from him in SD, without the win.

Chris Young - 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (9). Unfortunately he's not efficient with his pitches, or else he might pitch a complete game one of these days. It was a great outing against the strong Phillies lineup, even if it was in Petco. As is, his 1.85 ERA is absolutely ridiculous and he's pitching as well as anyone in baseball right now. As I keep saying, he's due for a regression real soon, and remains a great sell high candidate.

Tom Glavine - 2 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Yuck. As an owner of him, you have to put up with these sorts of outings to go along with all the solid ones you'll get. It's the 4th time in the past 2 months he's given up 6 ER or more after not doing it the first 2 months. He'll be fine, but this is Glavine, like him or not. I'll side with the nots, but on the Mets he does have some fantasy value.

Derek Lowe - 3 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 K. Um, yuck? Afer this outing, his 3.51 ERA and 1.29 WHIP are exactly in line with what he's accomplished in LA the past 2 seasons. Expect him to remain a solid back-of-the-rotation fantasy option the rest of the year. At least this beating came against a great Mets offense.

Carlos Delgado - 1/4, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (16). He's been a disappointment this year in an overall season, but he's hitting .367 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in 16 games this month. He's alternating good and bad months, so unfortuantely with the high AVG so far this month, he's probably due to slump again sometime soon.

Matt Kemp - 2/5, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR (5). This kid has a lot of offensive potential, and he's hitting .383 in limited time this month. His power/speed ability makes him an interesting target in keeper leagues, depending on how many keepers your league has. I'm not sure what type of mixed league value he'll provide the rest of this year, but he's worth keeping an eye on if he starts getting consistent playing time. If they weren't battling for a division title, Kemp and Ethier would be starting over Luis Gonzalez. As is, they're battling for time.