Can you name the pitcher who's given up the second most home runs in baseball this season? If you guessed Johan Santana, you'd be correct. He's served up 22 long balls so far.
If you have a fringe base stealer on your bench, be sure to play him when he's facing the Padres. Chris Young and Greg Maddux have given up the most thefts of any pitchers in the game this season, with Young allowing a remarkable 28 SBs with zero caught stealing. Jake Peavy also shows up in the bottom 20, so give your players the green light when pitted against San Diego. Young also "leads" the majors in balks with three. Get rid of the bum.
Justin Verlander has put together a fine season, but his 2.6 K:BB ratio isn't quite as good as it seems. He is worst in the majors with 13 hit batsmen and easily paces the league with 14 wild pitches. Basically, it just shows he still has room to grow. It's only going to get better.
Erik Bedard's 11.08 K/9 IP is nearly two full strikeouts better than the second best (Jake Peavy 9.34 K/9 IP). Despite pitching in the AL East and not for the Blue Jays, Yankees or Red Sox, feel free to treat him like a top-5 fantasy pitcher from here on out.
Felix Hernandez is getting killed in BABIP and currently sports an unsightly 1.45 WHIP. However, he's really starting to improve as a pitcher underneath the cosmetic numbers. His 3.06 ground out/fly out ratio is the second best in the league, behind only Derek Lowe and even ahead of Brandon Webb, both sinkerballers. Now is the time to target the King in keeper-leagues.
Barry Bonds has more problems to worry about other than breaking the sacred home run record.
Chris B. Young's .281 OBP isn't helping the Diamondbacks a whole lot, but the already achieved 15/15 certainly has been a boon to your fantasy team. In 20 games during July, he has four homers and seven steals. It would be nice if he could take a walk every now and again, as it's not easy stealing bases from the dugout. But since he's only been caught once all season, look for his SBs to continue to climb as his OBP does.