The Curse of RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today

- Jorge De La Rosa has a torn flexor tendon in a finger on his pitching hand and will be out for an extended period of time, though he won't require surgery. Jhoulys Chacin will replace him in the rotation.

Mackey Sasser By Day, Albert Pujols By Night

- Gregg Zaun thrice threw past pitcher Yovani Gallardo on simple tosses back to the mound in the first inning. He got those missteps under control, and then had a monster game with the bat, going 4-for-4 with a homer, three runs scored and five RBI.

For One Night, Merely Mortal

- Roy Halladay got beat by the Giants, giving up 10 hits and five runs over seven innings. Included in the damage was a solo homer by backup catcher Eli Whiteside. See, it |STAR|did|STAR| make sense to block Buster Posey for another year! /Sabean

Notables:

- The Red Sox scored 13 runs without the benefit of a homer, instead pounding out 18 hits, including four doubles.
- Josh Johnson went the distance against the Padres, striking out 12 while walking one. He also went 3-for-4 with three RBI at the plate.
- Hanley Ramirez hit his second homer of the year, with his first coming on the second game of the season.
- Colby Rasmus remains scorching hot - he went 2-for-3 with his sixth homer on Monday and drew an intentional walk in the eighth inning in a 3-3 game, allowing Yadier Molina to be the final hero.
- Kyle Davies took a no-hitter into the sixth and allowed just one hit, a swinging bunt, while throwing six shutout innings. He struck out five and walked three.
- Brandon Wood got three hits and scored a run - perhaps there's light at the end of the tunnel.
- Joe West wasn't behind the plate on Monday, but his crew witnessed the Indians and Angels combine for 23 hits and 11 walks and still found a way to play a 5-2 game.
- Brandon Inge hit his first two homers of the year after hitting 27 last year.

Save Chances:

- Jon Papelbon, converted. 1-2-3 inning, one strikeout. Papelbon needed just 11 pitches, which is a good thing, as the Red Sox bullpen has been worked heavily of late.
- Bruce Chen, converted. Joakim Soria had thrown three innings the last two days. Kyle Farnsworth started the ninth and got two outs, but allowed a run on a single by Mike Sweeney.
- Jose Valverde, converted. 1-2-3 ninth, no walks, no strikeouts.
- Ryan Franklin, converted. Gave up two hits but escaped any damage by inducing Eric Hinske to ground into a double play.
- Chad Qualls, converted. Qualls gave up two hits, a walk and one run, but came in with a three-run lead.
- Brian Fuentes, converted. Struck out the side while allowing one walk and another runner to get on by a Brandon Wood throwing error.

Other Closer Outings:

- Kevin Gregg threw a perfect ninth with the Jays trailing by a run.
- Heath Bell struck out the side in a perfect bottom of the eighth, with the Padres trailing 10-1. He hadn't pitched since last Tuesday. The Padres bullpen blew a lead on Sunday before getting to the ninth.
- Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless inning despite allowing an Adam Dunn double and got the win when the Cubs scored in the 10th inning.
- Neftali Feliz gave up two solo homers, the first to Miguel Cabrera, to get the loss against the Rangers.
- Ocatvio Dotel ... oof. Dotel's last two outings have come in a mop-up capacity, both in blowout losses to the Brewers. He got just one out on Monday, allowing four runs on three hits and a walk.

Non-Closer Outings

- Brian Bruney walked three including one with the bases loaded to get the loss in extra innings against the Cubs. Neither Tyler Clippard nor Matt Capps got into the game.

Lineup-ology:

- Mike Lowell continued his platoon with David Ortiz, but happened to go 1-for-6 with no runs or RBI in a 13-12 game.
- John Bowker got a somewhat rare start in left field, thanks to Juan Uribe's continued absence. Mark DeRosa started at second base, while Nate Schierholtz got another start in right field.

Tough Days:

- Josh Beckett allowed eight runs on nine hits and three walks over just three innings.
- Travis Snider - The Jays combined for 16 hits and 12 runs, but Snider didn't get in on any of the fun. The only positive for Snider on this night was that he threw out a runner at home in the first inning.
- Mat Latos couldn't get out of the third inning against the Marlins, allowing seven runs on seven hits and three walks.
- Zach Duke had a 2.37 ERA after his first three starts. Two starts against the Brewers later and it now sits at 6.11.
- Jason Hammel gave up five runs on six hits and a walk over three innings and then hit the 15-day DL after the game due to a groin strain. Esmil Rogers might get called up later in the week to fill his spot.
- Grady Sizemore went 0-for-5 to drop to .203 in Monday's loss to the Angels. He got robbed of an extra-base hit by Bobby Abreu with runners on in the eighth. Overall the Indians left 14 runners on base, scoring just twice.

Late Injuries:

- Ryan Zimmerman (hamstring) - Windy and cold conditions in Chicago kept Zimmerman out Monday night and might do the same on Tuesday.
- Ivan Rodriguez was scratched with lower back tightness.
- Nelson Cruz aggravated a sore right hamstring and left Monday's loss to the Tigers, with David Murphy replacing him.
- Juan Uribe (elbow) still can't throw and won't start until Wednesday at the earliest.
- Rick Ankiel (quad) missed another game in center, with Mitchell Maier starting in center as a result.

Obvious Prospect Update

- Michael Stanton had two homers on Sunday and three more on Monday.

Less Obvious Prospect Update

- Josh Bell homered twice on Monday. While the O's already have Miguel Tejada locked in at third base, it wouldn't be hard to envision shifting him over to DH later this summer to make room for Bell, who homered twice on Monday.

Ryan Howard's Contract

- We'll finish with this, because it doesn't really change his short-term fantasy value, but I'm still wrapping my head around Howard's five-year, $125 million contract extension. How does it make sense to sign him for so much and so long when he's already 30, has a massive platoon split and isn't considered a defensive asset (yes, I know that he's improved and made a couple of sweet plays last week in Halladay's last start, but still, that just makes him an average first baseman defensively)? Remember, this is a team that decided that they couldn't afford to keep Cliff Lee's $8 million contract for this year when they traded for Halladay. I question the budget allocation of GM Ruben Amaro Jr.