HITTERS:
A beneficial tool when scouting the free agent pool is sorting their stats by the last seven days. If I’m going to pick up a hitter, I like to see what they’ve done lately. Of course there is more that goes into adding and dropping players, but the “last seven days” stats are a good place to start. A few hitters to get in your lineup are Dustin Pedroia, Brian Giles, and Raul Ibanez — they’ve all been doing well recently. The defending Rookie of the Year is hitting .310 over his last seven games and faces Boof Bonser, whom he’s had success against in limited action. Meanwhile, the leadoff hitter for the Padres is hitting .317 in his last seven games, and is 14-for-33 (.424 BA) against Colorado’s scheduled starter, Aaron Cook. Seattle’s Raul Ibanez is also hitting over .300 over the last week, and he has nice matchup in a night game at home. Ibanez is 7-for-12 with a homerun off Jose Contreras, so make sure that he’s in your lineup. A hitter this year that has been anything but hot is Delmon Young. I think the expectations have been a bit much for the kid too handle, and Young just doesn’t seem comfortable at the plate, as he’s hitting only .256 without a home run this year. Young faces Jon Lester, and is only 1-for 10 lifetime versus the Boston lefty. When Jeff Francouer faces Ian Snell and the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta slugger never seems to go home happy. In his career versus Snell, Francoeur is 3-for-14 with seven punch outs. If you have another option I would think about benching Francouer. Heck, maybe you could replace him with Brian Giles.
PITCHERS:
A 6.27 ERA is not something we are accustomed to seeing next to Kenny Rogers’ name, but that’s the case this year. The veteran just doesn’t seem to have his control. Rogers’ job doesn’t get any easier when the Yanks roll into town, as the Yankee hitter have had their way in the past against him. If you have Rogers on your team, you probably shouldn’t just bench him; it’s time to part ways and dip into free agency for someone who’s a bit more consistent and effective. Speaking of not being consistent and effective, I bring to your attention Gil Meche. The $55 million dollar man has pitched pretty poorly this year and faces a Baltimore team that has hit him hard in the past. If you’re the Royals right now you have to be hitting your head. Or they should keep telling themselves: at least we didn’t sign Barry Zito. Another pitcher to sit on Friday would be Carlos Silva. Silva has been somewhat decent this year, but his last time out against the Yankees was brutal, and he’s up against a Chicago team that has a .374 batting average against him. Let me say it in an alliteration: sit Silva and smile when he struggles. Two starters you should hand the ball over to are James Shields and Todd Wellemeyer. Shields faces an Angels team that has struggled with Shields in the past. I think Shields should probably be in your lineup every turn out, but definitely make sure of it today. How about former reliever turned starter, Todd Wellemeyer? Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa are making this look easy. Wellemeyer is 3-1 and faces a Milwaukee squad that has lost five in a row. Plus he goes against Manny Parra, who has been struggling and hasn’t lived up to pre-season expectations. As the Brew Crew continues to sulk about the loss of Yovani Gallardo, the Cards will continue to beat up on them and stay atop the NL Central.
Friday’s Positive Trends:
Rod Barajas [career against C.C. Sabathia]: 6/14, 3 HR,
4 RBI, .429/.429/1.071
Johnny Damon [career against Kenny Rogers]: 16/53, 1 2B, 2
HR, 7 RBI, .302/.373/.434
Jason Giambi [career against Kenny Rogers]: 10/25, 4 HR,
9 RBI, 8 BB, 2 K, .400/.545/.920
Eric Hinkse [career against Jon Garland]: 12/32, 3 2B, 2
HR, 6 RBI, .375/.364/.656
Michael Young [career against Chad Gaudin]: 11/21, 3 2B, 1
HR, 4 RBI, .524/.600/.810
Brian Roberts [career against Gil Meche]: 13/30, 4 2B, 1 HR,
4 RBI, 1 SB, .433/.500/.667
Mark Grudzielanek
[career against Steve Traschel]: 16/41,
6 2B, 3 RBI, .390/.432/.537
David Ortiz [career against Boof Bonser]: 5/6, 1 2B, 2
HR, 3 RBI, .833/.833/2.000
Dustin Pedroia
[career against Boof Bonser]: 4/6, 1
RBI, .667/.667/.667
Raul Ibanez [career against Jose Contreras]: 7/12, 1 HR, 2
RBI, .583/.615/.833
Juan Uribe [career against Carlos Silva]: 19/37, 1 2B,
5 HR, 10 RBI, .514/.514/.946
Orlando Cabrera [career
against Carlos Silva]: 12/24, 4 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, .500/.500/.792
Alfonso Soriano
[career against Dan Haren]: 5/13, 2 2B, 2
HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, .385/.385/1.000
Jason Bay [career against Tom Glavine]: 7/19, 1 2B, 2
HR, 4 RBI, .368/.429/.737
Adam LaRoche [career against Tom Glavine]: 6/10, 2 2B, 1
HR, 2 RBI, 4 RBI, .600/.714/1.100
Brian McCann [career against Ian Snell]: 7/12, 1 2B, 3
HR, 7 RBI, .583/.583/1.417
Yunel Escobar [career against Ian Snell]: 3/3, 1 3B, 2 RBI,
1.000/1.000/1.667
Todd Helton [career against Jake Peavy]: 13/41, 6 2B, 3
HR, 4 RBI, .317/.356/.683
Brian Giles [career against Aaron Cook]: 14/33, 3 2B,
.424/.441/.515
Jim Edmonds [career against Aaron Cook]: 7/13, 1 2B, 2
HR, 6 RBI, .538/.600/1.077
Carlos Lee [against Derek Lowe]: 10/28, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI,
.357/.357/.643
Friday’s Negative Trends:
Travis Hafner [career against Roy Halladay]: 2/12, 1 2B, 1
RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, .167/.286/.250
Carl Crawford [career against Jon Garland]: 1/14, 0 BB, 2
K, .071/.133/.071
Vernon Wells [career against James Shields]: 2/12, 1 2B, 1
HR, 2 RBI, .167/.167/.500
Delmon Young [career against Jon Lester]: 1/10, 1 RBI, 1
BB, 3 K, .100/.167/.100
Jeff Francouer
[career against Ian Snell]: 3/14, 1 2B, 2BB,
7 K, .214/.313/.286
Jose Reyes [career against Matt Belisle]: 1/8, 0 BB, 1 K,
.125/.125/.125
Ryan Zimmerman
[career against Ricky Nolasco]: 2/11, 1
RBI, 4 K, .182/.167/.273
Randy Winn [career against Cole Hamels]: 1/11, 1 2B, 1
RBI, 2 K, .091/.091/.182
Bengie Molina [career against Cole Hamels]: 0/6, 1 RBI, 1 K,
.000/.000/.000
Lance Berkman [career against Derek Lowe]: 4/18, 1 2B, 1
RBI, 3 K, .222/.300/.278



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