Tuesday's Action: A 10 RBI Game and Tulo Rules

OK, when I promised more updates yesterday, I forgot about the softball team outing after work. Here we are, back on track.

Brett Myers - 1 IP, 1 K, SV (12). He's been great since returning from the DL, allowing 3 ER in 10 2/3 IP, sporting a 13:3 K:BB ratio in the process. He's definitely back as an elite closer, and expect him to stay that way while he's healthy.

Ryan Howard - 2/4, 1 R, SB (1). Howard, the big power/well, power threat, finally stole his first base of the season last night. He's on a roll right now on the basepaths, so expect about 0 more SB over the rest of the season.

Russell Martin - 1/3, 1 R, 1 RBI, HR (15). He's definitely been quiet recently, and outside of his 2 HR game and then his 2 SB game, he hasn't offered up much production this month. He had been incredibly consistent before then, so it's his first prolonged slump of the year. Expect a nice finish if he hasn't worn down too much behind the plate.

Fausto Carmona - 8 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Incredible performance from Carmona last night against the Tigers, but some jerk named Jurrjens had to 1 hit his offense and give him the loss. He's taken his WHIP down to 1.20, but his 3.11 ERA still doesn't match. He's been delaying it by pitching great the last two outings, but he's probably due for a correction before the end of the year. You can't bench him, though.

Jhonny Peralta - 1/3, 1 R, 1 RBI, HR (18). He's been real quiet in August, hitting .236 with only 2 HR and 6 RBI. Hopefully he'll get things turned back around and heat up at the plate...he only has 15 RBI over the past 2 months.

Magglio Ordonez - 1/3, 1 R. 1 RBI, HR (23). Boy was I wrong here. Ordonez has gone back to killing the ball, hitting .370 with 7 HR and 23 RBI this month. He has continued his improbable run back to stud fantasy OF this season, and has posted an amazing 111 RBI so far this year.

Erik Bedard - 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, W (14). Whatever he did last offseason, let's hope he does it again. His amazing season continues, and he's only posted one start allowing more than 3 ER since April. He's been absolutely incredible.

Miguel Tejada - 3/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR (12). Tejada has only hit .268 this month after returning from a broken wrist, but he's displayed plenty of power with 5 HR, 16 RBI, 14 R scored. He's gone back to having solid fantasy value as a SS in mixed leagues.

Dan Haren - 6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (14). A bit unlucky to give up 4 ER only allowing 6 H, but when 3 of his hits are HR, this will happen. He's been mediocre in the 2nd half in the ratio department (3.60 ERA, 1.44 WHIP), allowing 58 H in 50 IP. However, he's avoided getting blown up, and he's still provided 4 W and 46 K in 50 IP.

Huston Street - 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K, SV (12). Street has been awesome this month, allowing 1 ER in 11 IP with 17 K, 5 H, and 1 BB. He's also back to being an elite closer and will provide great value to those who stayed with him through the injury.

Frank Thomas - 2/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR (21). Thomas had a brutal May, but he's been very solid since then, giving us his best month in August with a .309 AVG, 5 HR, and 22 RBI. He's mostly a 3 catagory player as the bottom of the Blue Jays lineup doesn't drive in many runs, but he's been very good in those 3 catagories.

Jon Papelbon - 1 1/3 IP, 3 K, SV (30). This is the 2nd time in 3 appearances that Papelbon has gone over an inning for a save, and hopefully that's not the start of a trend down the stretch. One of the reasons that the Red Sox believe he had shoulder problems last year was the excessive multiple inning saves thanks to their leaky bullpen, and with Gagne pitching horribly since joining the team, he's been asked to do a bit more. Hopefully they'll back off and keep him healthy when his owners need him the most.

Chris Young - 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Not only was this a bad start, but he left the start early with discomfort in his back and will miss at least a start. Odds are he came back too fast from his oblique injury he originally suffered back on July 24th, even though he had pitched successfully his last time out. As I've said before, these injuries are very tricky, and unfortunately his owners will be without him for a while. I hope you sold high on him when I suggested doing so around the AS break.

John Maine - 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K. His control problems continue to plague him, and he's not pitching around them like in the first half. You can think about benching him next time out, but I'd imagine he'll get things straightened out soon. That's 4 straight blah starts, however.

Carlos Beltran - 3/3, 1 R, 5 RBI, HR (25). Beltran is smoking, hitting .351 in August with 6 HR, 18 RBI, and 10 R in 10 games. Us Beltran owners look to be owning a hot Beltran at just the right time down the stretch. Hopefully he'll give us a big finish to make up for all the lost time this year.

Mike Cameron - 2/3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR (16). He's enjoying a solid August, hitting .265 with 2 HR, 12 RBI, 13 R, and 4 SB. He's hitting well recently, so pick him up if someone dropped him and you still have a hole in your OF. He goes through extreme hot/cold streaks, but he's very valuable when hot.

Brandon Phillips - 3/5, 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (23). He's been incredibly consistent this year from month to month, spreading out his HR/SB contribution pretty equally. 23 HR and 25 SB will make him a 3rd round pick next year or thereabouts, at least.

Wandy Rodriguez - 5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 7 K. Shocking that this came at home against the Nationals. Ignore it as an anomaly and continue starting him when he's at home unless it happens again next time out.

Ryan Zimmerman - 3/5, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR (19). Zimmerman is back to his old self post-AS break, hitting .312 with 5 HR, 25 RBI, and 26 R in 38 G. He's provided solid fantasy value to those who waited out his power outage in April, and then his subpar AVG in the first half.

Scott Baker - 6 IP, 14 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Hardly at his best, but that is one fine example of stranding baserunners. He's been pitching great for a while now, so stay with him as an end-of-the-rotation starter.

Adrian Beltre - 2/5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR (20). He'll never recapture the magic that lead to his huge contract year during his last season in a Dodgers uniform, but he's settled into a quality lower tier fantasy 3B in the middle of an underrated lineup.

Adam Wainwright - 6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. A bit heavy on the hits, but overall another very solid outing from Wainwright, who's dramatically up his K rate since the start of July (53 K in 61 IP since), and is seeing the benefits of missing more bats. The Cardinals are starting to get hot and put pressure on the NL Central leading CUbs and Brewers, so expect more wins from Wainwright down the stretch if the team continues playing well, along with the vastly improved ratios (2.67 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) since the AS break.

Albert Pujols - 1/4, 1 R, 1 RBI, HR (29). 4 straight games with a HR. Here comes Pujols!

Javier Vazquez - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (11). Another great outing from Vazquez as he continues to pitch well. Unfortunately he won't make Sox fans forget about trading young OF sensation Chris Young in the deal to get him since Vazquez is over a year late in finally settling down and becoming a very good AL pitcher.

Jim Thome - 2/4, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR (21). Thome is working his way out of a huge slump during August. Considering he missed time with his aching back, it was likely the root cause of the problem. He's back hitting well again, so if he can manage his back down the stretch, expect a nice finish from big Jim. He's 8 HR away from the magical 500 HR mark.

Troy Tulowitski - 2/4, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (17). He's been huge in August, posting a .365 AVG with 5 HR, 20 RBI, and 12 R in 20 games. He has definitely arrived, and with his depressed stats thanks to a slow start, he's a candidate to be undervalued in drafts next year.

Dave Bush - 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10). He's been up and down, but he turned in a great start against the Diamondbacks last night. He really hasn't been very good this year, so only consider him as a spot starter against weaker offenses. He hasn't been able to limit the baserunners like last season.

Mike Mussina - 1 2/3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. To say he pitched badly last night would be an understatement. He's been far more good than bad, so swallow this huge lump and keep using him.

Kelvim Escobar - 6 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (14). A rough outing for Escobar as well, but the offense provided him with 18 runs of support on his way to an easy win.

Garret Anderson - 4/6, 3 R, 10 RBI, 2 HR (8). What a career night for Anderson, but unfortunately it was probably accomplished on your waiver wire.

Howie Kendrick - 4/5, 3 R, 1 RBI. Need a 2B for your stretch run? Look no further. He's fully health for once now that his finger has healed a 2nd time, and he should provide a nice spark at the 2B position in the final month plus.

Tim Lincecum - 8 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. He was brilliant for 8 innings, but then allowed 3 consecutive hits and 1 run to start the 9th, and his bullpen pushed the other 2 runners home, plus 2 more. It's a shame he didn't get a win for his efforts, but he just wore down in the 9th and pitched an excellent ballgame.