Cliff Lee throws seven scoreless vs. D'Backs - Cliff Lee | PHI

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

Cliff Lee fired seven scoreless innings Saturday in the Phillies' 3-1 defeat of the Diamondbacks.

Fantasy Baseball – FAAB Report, Wk.6

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

I’ve been sick. So sick that I was in the hospital for three days. I’m feeling better now, but apparently my brain is still a bit scrambled. Just check out some of the crazy bids I placed this week in the free agent pool.

TOUT WARS (15 team mixed): As you know, I’ve been sick for a week now, so sick I was in the hopsital for three days. I’m blaming the residual there for my lack of bid on

Complete SP Rankings: Week 6

Source: Fake Teams by Brian Creagh

Rank

Player

First Opponent

Location

Second Opponent

Location

1

Yu Darvish

Philip Humber

@HOU

2

Stephen Strasburg

Edwin Jackson

WAS

3

Madison Bumgarner

Cliff Lee

SF

Paul Maholm

SF

4

Clay Buchholz

Vance Worley

BOS

Mark Buehrle

BOS

5

Cliff Lee

Madison Bumgarner

@SF

Trevor Cahill

@ARI

6

Clayton

Shuffle Up: The Tony Cingrani Problem

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Alright, gamers, settle in and let's get to work. Of all the baseball shuffles, this is the one that really matters: the starting pitcher shuffle. The fickle men of the mound are sure to define our season, for good or for bad.

We're trying to gauge everyone's 5x5 value going forward - everything to this point is merely an audition. We're only playing for 2013 here, and we're assuming a mixed-league environment. Don't worry about what the prices mean in a vacuum - they're only tools to compare the players with one another. Players at the same price tag are considered even.

I'll add comments as the night goes along, and I reserve the right to make rank changes over that time frame. Your intelligent

Mostly MLB Notes: Buying Matt Cain and examining what’s wrong with Eric Hosmer

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Matt Cain entered this season having allowed 129 homers over 1,536.2 innings (0.76 HR/9). This year, he’s already served up nine home runs over 34.2 innings. Put differently, he’s allowed the same amount of long balls this month as he did all of the 2011 season, which spanned 221.2 innings. Cain has never had a season in which his HR/FB% was higher than 8.4. That number currently sits at 19.1% in 2013. While some could view this as regression hitting hard, Cain’s previous sample was too big to be written off as a fluke, and it’s worth pointing out just two of his six starts this year have come at home. Cain’s fastball velocity is down slightly in the early going (about 0.5 mph less compared to last

Julio Borbon (OF-CHC)

Source: TG Fantasy Baseball

Check out Cubs outfielder Julio Borbon's glove. It has pitcher Cliff Lee's name stitched on it. The glove was a gift from Lee after Borbon made a run-saving catch in a game on Sept. 20, 2010, while with the Rangers.. Check out Cubs outfielder Julio Borbon's glove. It has pitcher Cliff Lee's name stitched on it. The glove was a gift from Lee after Borbon made a run-saving catch in a game on Sept. 20, 2010, while with the Rangers. Source: http://mlb.mlb.com

Complete SP Rankings: Week 3

Source: Fake Teams by Brian Creagh

Rank Player First Opponent Opponent Second Opponent Opponent 1 Justin Verlander Luis Mendoza KC 2 Cliff Lee James McDonald PIT 3 Clayton Kershaw Matt Harvey @NYM 4 David Price Phil Hughes NYY Jose Quintana @CHW 5 Felix Hernandez Brad Peacock @HOU Joe Blanton LAA 6 Stephen Strasburg Jaime Garcia STL 7 Matt Cain Patrick Corbin ARI 8 Adam Wainwright Ross Detwiler @WAS 9 Yu Darvish Tommy Hanson @LAA 10 Madison Bumgarner Ian Kennedy ARI 11 Matt Harvey Clayton Kershaw LAD 12 Cole Hamels Jeff Locke PIT Jon Niese @NYM 13 CC Sabathia Matt Moore @TB J.A. Happ TOR 14 Mat Latos Jeff Samardzija CHC 15 Jake Peavy Jeremy Hellickson TB 16 Kris Medlen Rick Porcello @DET 17 James

Mostly MLB Notes: The Matt Harvey Show

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

I’m not sure what more can be said about Matt Harvey at this point, but I’ll go ahead and continue to pile on the praise. The guy has allowed six hits over 22.0 innings this season. Six! Thanks to a 0.82 ERA and a decent 0.55 WHIP, he’s been the No. 1 ranked fantasy player so far. Harvey’s control still isn’t great, as he’s walked multiple batters in all three of his outings (and he had a 3.93 BB/9 rate across Triple-A and with the Mets last year), but his stuff is among the nastiest in the league already. Harvey’s average fastball velocity (94.3 mph) has been the fourth-highest among all starters this season, while his slider (88.6 mph) has easily been the fastest (next highest is Madison

Complete SP Rankings: Week 3

Source: Fake Teams by Brian Creagh

Rank

Player

First Opponent

Location

Second Opponent

Location

Last Week's Ranking

1

Clayton Kershaw

Tyson Ross

LAD

2

2

Justin Verlander

Garrett Richards

@LAA

4

3

Stephen Strasburg

Dillon Gee

@NYM

6

4

Cliff Lee

Bronson Arroyo

@CIN

Lance Lynn

PHI

18

Closing Time: Evan Gattis reaches the seats; Greg Holland works out of trouble; ominous news for Jason Motte

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

With a 7-1 record and five straight wins, nothing seems to bother the Atlanta Braves right now. And they're off to this terrific start despite some notable injuries: Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann and Brandon Beachy are currently on the disabled list.

Rookie catcher Evan Gattis can't do anything about the Beachy absence, but he's filling in nicely while Freeman and McCann heal up. It's time to pay attention in medium and deeper leagues.

Gattis is getting regular run as Atlanta's cleanup hitter and starting catcher of late, spelling Freeman and McCann, respectively. He's off to a tidy 9-for-17 run at the plate, with a couple of homers. His

Lee falls one out of shy of complete game - Cliff Lee | PHI

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

Cliff Lee came within one out of a complete game Tuesday, holding the Mets to three runs -- two earned -- on eight hits and no walks in the 8-3 victory.

Draft Day Challenge, April 9

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Daily baseball is all the rage in the fantasy sports world, so I will be covering the game a couple of times a week here at BaseballGuys.com. To that end, I’ve partnered with DraftDay.com to give all my wonderful followers, that’s you, the chance to

Cliff Lee combines on two-hit shutout - Cliff Lee | PHI

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

Cliff Lee pitched two-hit ball for eight innings and combined with Jonathan Papelbon on a shutout of the Braves on Thursday.

Mostly MLB Notes: A 2013 Season Preview

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Editor’s note: I wanted to get this posted much earlier, but I had my first kid recently (well, technically my wife had her), so that’s my excuse for the delay.

National League East

1. Washington Nationals
2. Atlanta Braves (WILD CARD)
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. New York Mets
5. Miami Marlins

Comments/Fantasy Predictions: Both Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper are top-15 fantasy players, while Dan Haren is a top-25 starting pitcher. Ryan Zimmerman proves to be a better pick than Evan Longoria, while Drew

Shuffle Up, Starting Pitchers: Exhuming McCarthy

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Alright, amigos, let's get to the prices on the mound. Here's how I rank the Top 90 arms or so for the 2013 season, 5x5.

Players at the same prices are considered even. Don't worry about the numbers in an isolated sense; what matters is how the players relate to one another. I reserve the right to tweak the list as the evening goes along. Win the debate, win the rank.

And remember the golden rule: a player doesn't gain 15-20 percent of bonus value simply because you roster him.

I'm sure there's more to the preamble but it's not coming to mind right now. I'll add commentary after the US and Mexico are done on the pitch. Make the jump, jumper.

$33 Clayton Kershaw
$32 Justin Verlander
$30

Do Not Disturb: 13 fantasy baseball sleepers for 2013

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

Sleeper is such a dangerous term, because it's a relative term. It's league-dependent. One person's sleeper is another dude's fifth round pick.

Many of you play in 8-person mixed fantasy leagues with simple rosters and no keepers. Others are involved in 18-team, N.L.-only, two-catcher, five-outfielder dynasty leagues. If we were to construct sleeper lists for each of those two formats, there would basically be zero overlap. In that first league, you won't care about Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras until 2014. In the second, he was owned two years ago, before his 19th birthday, when he was lighting up the Midwest League.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports:

Do Not Disturb: Thirteen fantasy baseball sleepers for 2013

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

Sleeper is such a dangerous term, because it's a relative term. It's league-dependent. One person's sleeper is another dude's fifth round pick.

Many of you play in 8-person mixed fantasy leagues with simple rosters and no keepers. Others are involved in 18-team, N.L.-only, two-catcher, five-outfielder dynasty leagues. If we were to construct sleeper lists for each of those two formats, there would basically be zero overlap. In that first league, you won't care about Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras until 2014. In the second, he was owned two years ago, before his 19th birthday, when he was lighting up the Midwest League.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports:

2013 – Tout Wars

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Tout Wars is one of the two exclusive fantasy baseball events each year (the other is LABR which I participated in earlier in March). Thanks to the powers that be I was invited to New York to put together a squad in Tout Wars for the second straight year. Below, you will see how my team came together, and I’ll give some thoughts about the entire weekend, which by the way, was a total blast (gotta be the greatest group of folks anyone can work with).

15 team mixed league auction.
14 hitters (2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, 5 OFs,

What’s In My Wallet, 2013: Up Goes Todd Frazier

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

The first thing to know about this exercise is that it's mostly out of context. I'm in a bunch of leagues every year (too many, really, but it's a labor of love) and they come from all angles. Mixed leagues. Mono leagues. Keeper leagues (well, one). Redraft leagues. Drafts and auctions, with the player-penetration level constantly changing.

At this time of year I like to look back (though I'm not done drafting) and see what players I've landed more than once. Repeated ownership generally means I like a player, at least more than my opponents do - but it's obviously a lot more complicated than that. And sometimes I find myself missing on players I actually do like a lot because of circumstances I can't really control (I only have

Fantasy Baseball 2013: Starting Pitcher Primer

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

If your fantasy pitching staff seems unfinished at the conclusion of your draft, don't panic.

In nearly all leagues, a significant percentage of ownable pitching talent will go un-drafted. This is true for both starters and relievers. Every pitching category can be addressed in-season if you play in a standard fantasy format.

Last year, during the second half of the season, there was no more valuable pitcher in our game than Kris Medlen. He went 9-0 after the break, striking out 95 batters in 95.1 innings, walking just 14. His second-half fantasy ratios were straight from the Dead Ball era: 0.94 ERA,

Fantasy Baseball: Player Volatility

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Sometimes people miss the point. We’re all guilty of this (even the great Oracle isn’t always understanding of everything that is presented to him). In this piece I thought I would try to explain a few things that might be missed when people look at players and try to discern what is going on with their value.

There is no certainty in baseball. Yes

Prospecting: Aaron Hicks had a three-homer Thursday

Source: Roto Arcade by Andy Behrens

Kids, this right here is how you win a position battle: Aaron Hicks homered three times in the Twins' split-squad win over the Phillies on Thursday, going 4-for-5 and driving in six of his team's 10 runs.

There's a fight underway to claim the starting center field gig in Minnesota, and the 23-year-old Hicks seems to be well ahead on points. He's batting .407 so far this spring with four homers, nine runs scored, 12 RBIs and one steal.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports:

Mostly MLB Notes: Debating 1st round decisions, hyping Cliff Lee and defending my LABR team

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

There are a handful of outfielders worthy of being taken in the first round even after Mike Trout and Ryan Braun are off the board, all of whom should be valued similarly. I’m personally taking Matt Kemp first in this tier, as he’s one season removed from a .324-39-115-126-40 campaign and finished April with 12 homers and a .417/.490/.893 line over 23 games last year. But injuries derailed the rest of his season and coming off serious shoulder surgery that repaired a detached labrum and rotator cuff damage, he’s certainly not without risk. Andrew McCutchen is likely off the board next in most leagues, and it’s tough to argue after he posted a

Marco Estrada, 2013 Fantasy Sleeper

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

You might've heard this guy's name before as one of the guys I want in every league per my pitchers pairings post (say that fast 117 times!). So, how did it all start? Well, I was looking at Marco Estrada's peripherals and I fell in love. I couldn't figure out what I was missing because it all looked so good. Like good good. Like Barefoot Contessa in a negligee with Jeffrey locked out of the house good. Like going to Supercuts and actually getting a super cut good. Like not having to spell out your name after you order a latte at Starbucks good. I will now blow your mind. For starters with 130+

Player Profile: Kris Medlen

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Kris Medlen of the Braves had one of the greatest half seasons of pitching in recent memory. Medlen was so dominating in the second half of last season that if your tripled his second half ERA it would still be under 3.00 (it was 0.94). He also went 9-0 while holding batters to a .189 batting average against. Fueled

Pressing Questions: The Philadelphia Phillies

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

Three aces can take you a long way, be it on the poker table or the baseball diamond. But a stacked starting rotation might not be enough to save the 2013 Philadelphia Phillies. They're almost down to the felt.

The Phillies have the most aging collection of name-brand talent south of Yankee Stadium. The four infield starters are 33, 34, 34 and 36 years old. Mound stalwarts Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay are in their mid-30s. You almost expect Greg Luzinski and Mike Schmidt to emerge from the dugout, bats in hand.

There are other problems to deal with. Carlos Ruiz, last year's surprise star behind the plate, is grounded for 25 games per league suspension. There's plenty

Player Profile: Jon Lester

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

 

From 2008-11 Jon Lester of the Red Sox was one of the best lefties in baseball. Not only that, he was actually one of the better pitchers regardless of the arm he used to chuck pitches toward the plate. During that four year run Lester won at least 15 games each season with an ERA under 3.50 with a

Mike Fiers, 2013 Fantasy Sleeper

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

If you read this fantasy baseball web-blog when it still looked like a Geocities site, you know all about Mike Fiers. Bee tee dubya, I like the new site design and I think we've addressed all issues with mobile devices. If there's still problems -- besides, can you change the font to Wingdings? -- tell us and we'll look at it. Things are evolving. We have something coming in March that necessitated the site changes. We had simply outgrown the old site. I'll always have a special place in my heart for those wild orange flames that caused every fifteenth viewer to suddenly have a seizure. Maybe we can still get seizures...Together...With this new design. Last year, Fiers burst on the scene. Or rather, Fiers

Player Profile: Jordan Zimmerman

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

You know that this article is about the Nationals’ Jordan Zimmerman so I can’t play my game of ‘Who am I?’ Instead I’ll just start out this review of the young righty by listing some numbers that explain just how effective he was in 2012 for the NL

Phillies, D'Backs discussing Lee-Upton swap - Cliff Lee | PHI

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

According to ESPN's Pedro Gomez, the Phillies and Diamondbacks are discussing a trade that would send lefty Cliff Lee to Arizona for outfielder Justin Upton.

Player Profile: Joe Blanton

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Joe Blanton is kind of like Clark Kent. He might be solid at his job, but no one really notices. There’s no flash or dash to his game. He goes out there, gives a workman like effort, an at the end of the day retreats to his Fortress of Solitude. Can Blanton take flight, you see what I did there?, and become someone’s hero in the fantasy game in 2013?

2012: 10-13, 4.71

2012 Positional Review – Starting Pitchers: Misses

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Cliff Lee' or find free 'cliff lee' pictures via Wylio" href="http://www.wylio.com/credits/flickr/7356074946"> Now that the 2012 season is over, it’s time to review how my predictions went for each position in fantasy baseball. To that end, I will review my top-10 at each position and give a brief rundown on how each of the ten performed. I’ll also list which player was a “Hit” (someone who lived up to expectations) as well as a “Miss” (the player who simply failed to impress).

Note: All of these rankings are taken from the

Top 40 Starters, 2012 Fantasy Baseball

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

So, how’s everyone holding up without fantasy baseball every day?  I don’t know what to do with myself!  This weekend I wandered into a Starbucks and told the coffeerista about Giancarlo Stanton for 2013.  Then I laughed hysterically for a good twenty minutes until someone asked me to leave.  We’ve gone over the final 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters and the top 20 starters.  There’s no more of these godforsaken recap posts left before we’re into 2013 fantasy baseball.  You’re welcome.  Well, there are Rudy’s recap of every fantasy sites projections that are coming on Thursday and Friday.  Those should be fun!  Hmm,

Top 20 Starters, 2012 Fantasy Baseball

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

All the final 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters are done. For those that skipped today’s title, this starts the top 20 starters for 2012 fantasy baseball.  This is NOT for 2013 (caps for those still wearing their Frankenweenie 3-D glasses).  This is a recap.  Will these affect next year’s rankings?  Sure.  But not entirely.  To recapitulate, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater.  We’re (me) using it to fairly gauge our (my) preseason rankings.  In the general sense of things, I’m much better at ranking and projecting pitchers.  I’m not

Review: Tout Wars

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

I stand accountable for my actions. More times than not I’m right, but sometimes I make mistakes. When I do, I’m not afraid to admit it. I’d like to think that helps to set me out a bit in this industry. I try to be transparent and truthful. To that end, I thought I would spend a few days reviewing the results from my “experts leagues.” It wasn’t exactly pretty, I’ll be straight forward with that, but again I don’t believe in running and hiding. Here is how things went in my first year

To Sum Up

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

The 2012 regular season is over. Special congratulations should be handed out to Miguel Cabrera for winning the Triple Crown, and to the Orioles who made the playoffs winning 93 games a year after they lost — 93 games. To celebrate the end of the regular season I thought I would list some of my favorite tweets of the last 24 hours. You are all following the BaseballGuys’ Twitter account, right? If

Entering The Winter Of Meh Content

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

We laughed, we cried, we laughed and cried about Eric Hosmer.  Take off your homemade aluminum hat that you wear so aliens can’t hear your thoughts and think back to March.  You had that argument with your mom and you ran out of the house screaming, “I wish you were Evan Longoria!”  Then when he went to the DL, you ran back into your house and screamed, “I love you Mom, can I move back into the basement?!”  Then you streamed Philip Humber for his perfect game and you thought that this was a great time to change your hummingbird tattoo to a Humberbird tattoo complete with his likeness.  Then at the All-Star Break, you thought about how you’ve had no life for the last three months, but the All-Star Break ended a few days

Homer Bailey’s No-Hitter Wins Your Fantasy League

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Despite his unfortunate name, Homer Bailey pitched the first Reds’ no-hitteer since 1988 last night, completely shutting down the Pirates down-and-out offense, allowing just 2 base runners on an error and a walk and striking out a career high 10 batters. If you were lucky enough to be streaming Bailey last night, pat yourself on the back. Well done, Homer Bailey probably just won your fantasy league for you. Alternately, H2H players going against those streaming him may have just lost their season on account of Homer’s gem. My condolences — so sorry for your loss. There’s always next year. Maybe you’ll draft Homer Bailey as a late round bargain in 2013, but more likely you will always have a deep hatred for

Stream Police: A.J. Griffin, home sweet home

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

The Friday schedule is one of the better streaming slates of the week, at least on paper. Here's hoping gravity goes along with the plan. And please remember to script your plans in pencil: every scheduled pitcher must be treated as tentative this time of year. Go through your cross-checks before you commit to anything; some teams will likely make rotation adjustments over the next 35-40 hours. Just the nature of the game.

Dial Them Up
*Chris Tillman vs. BOS
A.J. Griffin vs. SEA
Homer Bailey at PIT
Jon Niese at ATL

Tillman will probably go Friday against Boston, though it's not locked in stone yet. He's handled himself

RCL Roundup: September 24

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

The Rank Railheads (RCL 40) are looking like champions with 10 days to go, stretching their lead atop the Master Standings to 6. The Railheads are still scoring 119 league points, and a perfect 120 is a possibility. They are now a mere 3 runs behind Chin Music after outscoring them 46 – 35 this week. RR was solid in most categories, hitting .292 with 13 home runs, 50 RBI, and 7 stolen bases. On the pitching side, they had 39 strikeouts in 36.1 innings with 1 win, 9 saves, a 2.97 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.13.

Meanwhile, panthers_freak (We’ve Got the Runs — Baseball Reasons) dropped to 111 points, but held on to

Doubront Directs Sawxshank Redemption

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Yesterday, Felix Doubront went 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 11 Ks and rose The Walking Dead in Boston.  I wonder if Stephen King helped recruit Doubront for the Red Sox.  I wonder if there’s going to be a Red Sox team next year or if they’ll just merge with their Pawtucket minor league team.   I wish I could tell you that the Red Sox fought the good fight, and the Sisters let them be.  Damn you, Morgan Freeman Voice Over, taking over my brain!   Doubront’s actually been an under-the-radar bright spot for the Po’ Sawx.  Through 28 starts and 154 IP, his xFIP is under 4 (ERA is 4.91, which makes him seem gross) and his K-rate is above 9.  Striking out a guy per inning and an xFIP far below his ERA should

The user’s guide to two-start pitchers, Week Last

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

I don't know that there's a best way to present the final 10 days of the regular season, but this is how we'll look at it.

In this post is a listing, and ranking, of every pitcher slated to work twice over the final 10 days of the season. It's as tentative as tentative can be. Some contending clubs will get ready for the post-season once a spot is secured (and maybe go easy on stars). Some non-contenders might shift into shutdown mode. We'll keep producing daily streaming pieces during the week, but if you need to plan for 10 days now, what's below is for you.

Hope you're in the finals, or fighting for a much-coveted roto title.

National League, Sept. 24-Oct. 3

Pitcher Ranks: No luck at all

Source: Sporting News Fantasy Source Baseball

Fangraphs ranks Cliff Lee as the ninth-most valuable pitcher in all of baseball this year, but he likely won't get many, if any, Cy Young award votes.

How can there be such a discrepancy? Well, you don't need to look any further than Lee's 6-7 record. It's remarkable, really, that any pitcher can make 27 starts and only have 13 decisions, but the fact that it's one of the best pitchers in baseball and it's a losing record make it all the more strange.

Hopefully, fantasy owners know that there's much more to Lee than his lack

Around the Horn: September 18, 2012

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

(1) Gordon Beckham hot in September. Sign of things to come?

(2) Rob Brantly streaking for Marlins at the dish.

(3) Chase Utley to play 3B for Phillies?

(4) Cliff Lee streaking for Phillies.

(5) Martin Prado scorching with 17 hits in 10 games.

(6) Nate McLouth savior in Baltimore even if no one is noticing (see Fleaflicker)?

(7) Kevin Correia getting it done.

(8) Ike Davis to

Cliff Gets Cheers Bar The Wins

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

Yesterday, Cliff Lee gave the line 8 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 10 Ks to move his record to 6-7 in 190 innings.  That’s to go with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.  If you had 7 wins as his over/under for the year with a full season of starts and without him being traded midseason to the Astros, you might win yourself a lot of money.  If you doubled down with the bet, Roy Halladay’s ERA would be above 4.  You’re buying drinks for him and Norm.  This year, Lee’s Ks are a little off, but still well above 8 per nine and his xFIP is near 3.  The only thing he’s missing this year is just the slightest bit of luck with wins and his ratios.  For next year, he’s probably going to be drafted lower because of the

Cliff Lee whiffs 10 as Phillies down Mets - Cliff Lee | PHI

Source: Rotoworld Baseball

Cliff Lee was brilliant Monday, punching out 10 Mets batters while tossing eight frames of one-run ball in the 3-1 win.

RCL Roundup: September 17

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

The Rank Railheads (RCL 40) continue to set an amazing pace atop the Master Standings, thanks to a still unbelievable 119 league points. Last week I said they were too far behind Chin Music in the Runs category to score a perfect 120, which I guess they took as a challenge. The Railheads narrowed the gap to 14, outscoring Chin Music 49 – 39. Another week like that would make things interesting.

Meanwhile, panthers_freak (We’ve Got the Runs — Baseball Reasons) gained a couple of points to pull to within 3 of top spot. He still could gain in wins (4 behind, but with 11 extra starts) and batting average

The user’s guide to two-start pitchers, Week 24

Source: Roto Arcade by Scott Pianowski

No pressure this week, gamer. You pick wrong, you lose.

National League

Beast Mode
Cliff Lee — at NYM, vs. ATL
Jordan Zimmermann — vs. LAD, vs. MIL
R.A. Dickey — vs. PHI, vs. MIA
Tim Hudson — at MIA, at PHI

They Might Be Giants
Tim Lincecum — vs. COL, vs. SD
Kyle Lohse — vs. HOU, at CHC
Madison Bumgarner — vs. COL, vs. SD
Yovani Gallardo — at PIT, at WAS

Wheel of Fortune
A.J. Burnett — vs. MIL, at HOU
Homer Bailey — at CHC, vs. LAD
Ian Kennedy — vs. SD, at COL
Travis Wood — vs. PIT, vs. STL

Yeast Mode
Aaron Harang — at WAS, at CIN

Two-Start SPs: Sept. 17-23

Source: Sporting News Fantasy Source Baseball

Below is a breakdown of next week's projected two-start pitchers divided into four groups: useable SPs with a pair of decent matchups; guys you can use for one of their two projected starts (favorable starts bolded); bottom feeders to avoid; and must-start aces. An asterisk indicates a pitcher's two-start status is in question:

DOUBLE PLAY: Ryan Dempster (@LAA, @Sea), Doug Fister (@CWS, Min) Tim Hudson (@Mia, @Phi), A.J. Burnett (Mil, @Hou), Marco Estrada (@Pit, @Was), Tim Lincecum (Col, SD), Andy Pettitte, (Tor, Oak), Jeremy Hellickson (Bos, Tor).

Analysis: Lincecum's overall ERA still isn't pretty. However he gets two poor NL offenses in a spacious home park. Plus, at AT&T

Harvey Milks 10 Ks

Source: Razzball by grey@razzball.com (Grey Albright)

The Mets went into their minor league system and pulled a giant rabbit out of their hat with Matt Harvey.  *terrible Jimmy Stewart impression*  Mr. Potter, I knew a Harvey once.    Back in 1955, see, and Danny Kaye asked me to sneak this guy named Harvey out of his bedroom at 2 AM.  Nice fella, that Harvey.  He told me a story that involved Ethel Merman and ping pong balls.  Good, salt of the earth guy, that Harvey.  So, yesterday, Harvey went five innings and 10 Ks.  Tomorrow, the world!  Or just icing his arm and joking around with Ruben Tejada.  One of those.   I’m a big fan of Harvey, but he only has one more start this year (you would’ve owned him yesterday if you followed the