Notables (Heaven is a place on Earth):
-Roy Halladay continued to roll, holding one of the more potent offenses in the St. Louis Cardinals to only two runs over seven innings. Halladay K'd nine and now owns a 48:7 K:BB ratio over 56 innings.
-Scott Olsen lost his bid for a no-no in the eighth inning against the Braves. A David Ross hit with one out broke up his bid and eventually he saw his scoreless streak stop at 20.1 innings. Olsen's ownership is very low in all fantasy leagues and he's an obvious pickup if he's still on your waiver-wire. A Nationals rotation with Stephen Strasburg, Scott Olsen and Jordan Zimmerman as the front-three sounds pretty solid next year.
-Matt Cain didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning en route to his second win of the season. He pitches in a good pitcher's park but one has to wonder what his win total would be on a team with a legit offense.
-Dan Haren picked up the win in a complete-game gem, allowing three runs. He struck out nine and walked only one against the woeful Astros.
-Kelly Johnson or Ty Wigginton, who did you think was the favorite to get to 10 home runs first? The funny thing is that Wigs had only 11 homers in 410 at-bats last season, Johnson had eight in 303 at-bats.
-Mike Napoli and Nate Schierholtz each hit their first homer of the year. I like both players going forward, hopefully for Napoli this breaks him out of his early season slump. Schierholtz also recorded his third stolen base on Thursday and is hitting a robust .381 on the season. I'm thinking he'll won't lose many more at-bats to John Bowker going forward.
-Apparently rumors of the Red Sox demise were grossly exaggerated. After putting up an 11-spot on Thursday, they now have 36 runs over the last four games. Using my Euclid-like math skills, nine runs a game is good.
-Vlad is glad! Two homers including the game-winner in the eighth. It hasn't even got to those hot summer nights in Arlington; he's gonna reward owners who drafted him in a great Texas lineup.
Save Chances:
-Brian Wilson, converted. Wilson picked up a cheap save by recording one out, a strike out of Wes Helms with a runner on third.
-Kevin Gregg, converted. I was not a fan before the season, but his results (0.64 ERA, eight saves) have been more than stellar. Who has been a bigger surprise, Gregg or Matt Capps?
-Alfredo Simon, converted. In my hometown 22-team keeper league, one owner went $29 on FAAB last week to get Simon. I don't trust him at all despite his early success, especially when you look at his minor league stats. Oh, and in my hometown league, you pay the amount in real money for every dollar you spend in FAAB. Not a good investment.
-Neftali Feliz, converted. I discussed last week that Feliz needed to develop his secondary pitches in order to be an effective closer. Words seldom heard-I was wrong. His upper-90s fastball struck out two and induced a pop-up to collect the save in a scoreless ninth. Frank Francisco allowed a run in the eighth inning to tie the game which further secures Feliz's closer spot.
Non-Closer Outings:
-Koji Uehara tossed a scoreless eighth inning allowing no base runners and striking out one. He'll be the next option if/when Alfredo Simon blows up.
Lineup-ology:
-Mike Aviles got the start for the third consecutive game, this time at second base. Personally, I like him a lot and with the Royals looking to get him in the lineup even on a semi-regular basis he's got some fantasy value if you're weak in your middle infield. He'll likely become eligible at a few different positions which will only increase his value. While I'm not a huge fan of spring training stats, he did post a 1.237 OPS with a 2:6 K:BB ratio in 51 spring at-bats and appears completely healthy from his elbow injury. If the Royals run Willie Bloomquist out there on a regular basis, why not play Aviles?
-Last Thursday I advocated trading for Juan Pierre predicting a rebound since his peripherals were in line with his past years and his BABIP was extremely low. He's retaken the leadoff spot and headed into Thursday going 7-for-15 in his last four games with six stolen bases.
-David DeJesus, Chris Getz and David Ortiz were held out of their respective starting lineups with a lefty on the mound for the opposing team.
-Bruce Bochy stated that Juan Uribe will still be an everyday player even after Freddy Sanchez returns. Don't buy into this; a platoon is the more likely scenario although it's worth noting that Uribe has cut down on the strikeouts and increased his walk rate so far this season.
-Ryan Ludwick was given a day off riding a 0-for-12 cold streak. Apparently Tony LaRussa didn't like the chances of snapping that run with Halladay on the mound.
Tough Days, (Bezinga!):
-Randy Wells ran into the buzzsaw known as the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, surrendering seven runs in only two innings. Seriously, consider this just a hiccup for Wells who's posted great peripherals until this game and allowed only two extra-base hits (both doubles) during the outing.
-Ryan Rowland-Smith-In case you haven't heard; the Rays are good. Rowland-Smith found out the hard way, allowing six runs over 4.1 innings. I've said this before, treat the Rays equal to the Yankees when figuring out your weekly lineups for pitchers.
Injuries:
-Jason Heyward proved to be mortal and was held out of the starting lineup with a groin injury. He later had a two-run pinch hit single to rob Scott Olsen of the win. This coupled with his earlier shin splint problems could translate into an extra day off here and there for the rest of the season.
-Carlos Guillen will not come off the 15-day DL on Saturday, the first day he is eligible to do so. Brennan Boesch will continue to get regular playing time in Guillen's absence.
I'm off to the Jersey Shore/Atlantic City for the weekend. I'll hit up some updates before I catch my early flight in the comments about the late games.