We are now one month into the fantasy baseball season. Those of you languishing in the middle of the pack, don’t fret, its still early. Keep diligently setting your lineups each week and hope that the other owners are getting lackadaisical.
To help you along, here are the two start pitchers and favorable matchups for week 6, as well as the results from week 4 and YTD:
Two-Start Pitchers
No-Brainers
Roy Halladay: 5/7 vs NYM; 5/13 vs SD – Phillies ace gets to face to weak teams
Wandy Rodriguez: 5/7 vs MIA; 5/13 @ PIT – has pitched well, just don’t expect any wins
Lance Lynn: 5/7 @ ARI; 5/13 vs ATL – ride him while he’s hot
No Brainers results
Week 4 – 1 GS, 1 QS, 0 W, 6.1 IP, 7 H+BB, 7 K’s, 3 ER, 4.26 ERA, 1.11 whip (rough week for the no-brainers)
YTD – 17 GS, 14 QS, 6 W, 106.2 IP, 118 H+BB, 108 K’s, 31 ER, 2.62 ERA, 1.11 whip
Not Too Shabby
Tommy Hanson: 5/7 @ CHC; 5/13 @ STL – Cardinals lead the NL in runs scored, Cubs are 12th
Jonathon Niese: 5/7 @ PHI; 5/13 @ MIA – Phillies miss Chase Utley & Ryan Howard, Marlins are 14th in runs
Edwin Jackson: 5/8 @ PIT; 5/13 @ CIN – Pirates are last in runs scored, Reds are 11th
Joe Saunders: 5/7 vs STL; 5/13 vs SF – Giants offense takes a hit with Sandoval injury, Cardinals are a concern though
Jeff Samardzija: 5/7 vs ATL; 5/13 @ MIL – has been a pleasant surprise so far
Ted Lilly: 5/7 vs SF; 5/13 vs COL – Rockies are last in runs scored on the road
Edinson Volquez: 5/7 vs COL; 5/13 @ PHI – Phillies are 14th in runs scored at home
Carlos Zambrano: 5/7 @ HOU; 5/13 vs NYM – I don’t entirely trust him, but he has favorable matchups
Bronson Arroyo: 5/7 @ MIL; 5/13 vs WAS – 18/3 K/BB ratio is impressive. Can he keep it up?
Marco Estrada: 5/7 vs CIN; 5/13 vs CHC – borderline risky, but matchups are nice
Not too shabby results
Week 4 – 21 GS, 16 QS, 9 W, 133.0 IP, 160 H+BB, 105 K’s, 41 ER, 2.77 ERA, 1.20 whip
YTD – 61 GS, 43 QS, 24 W, 382.2 IP, 443 H+BB, 293 K’s, 117 ER, 2.75 ERA, 1.16 whip
Risky at best
A.J. Burnett: 5/8 vs WAS; 5/13 vs HOU – you don’t need K’s THIS bad
Alex White: 5/7 @ SD; 5/13 @ LAD – replaces Jhoulys Chacin in rotation, but not trustworthy yet.
Barry Zito: 5/7 @ LAD; 5/13 @ ARI – I just don’t trust him
Risky at best results
Week 4 – 3 GS, 2 QS, 1 W, 20.3 IP, 23 H+BB, 15 K’s, 7 ER, 3.10 ERA, 1.13 whip
YTD – 25 GS, 13 QS, 8 W, 151.3 IP, 193 H+BB, 102 K’s, 74 ER, 4.40 ERA, 1.28 whip
Other Favorable Matchups
Anibal Sanchez: 5/8 @ HOU
On a roll and facing an Astros team he owns to the tune of 3-1, 2.48 for his career.
Zack Greinke: 5/9 vs CIN
3-0 with 2.57 ERA and 38 K’s in 28 career IP against the Reds
Stephen Strasburg: 5/10 @ PIT
Strasburg against the worst hitting team in the NL. Umm…yeah.
Johan Santana: 5/11 @ MIA
Santana is an incredible 6-1 with a 1.46 ERA in his career against the Marlins.
Cole Hamels: 5/12 vs SD
7-2 with a career 2.22 ERA against the Padres, who are only scoring a little over 3 runs a game this year
Other favorable matchups results
Week 4 – 2 GS, 1 QS, 1 W, 13.1 IP, 19 H+BB, 13 K’s, 5 ER, 3.38 ERA, 1.43 whip
YTD – 11 GS, 6 QS, 7 W, 66.0 IP, 82 H+BB, 60 K’s, 19 ER, 2.59 ERA, 1.24 whip
Next up is the AL matchups.
