Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.No, I didn't lose a bet to Matt Snyder (although he is running roughshod over our fantasy league right now) and he hasn't stolen my log in information to write favorable posts about the Chicago Cubs. I feel it's just necessary to expound a bit about what's been happening on the north side lately.
The Cubs won their second game in a row and made it back to .500 on Thursday. They did so with a scoring barrage led by Derrek Lee. If Lee's two home runs on Thursday weren't enough foreshadowing for a breakout, imagine that we're only two games into July and Lee already has three homers and nine RBI. He had six homers and 20 RBI in June. Is Lee a 30-home run player again?
Geovany Soto got into the home run act as well Thursday. This was Soto's eighth home run of the season and his seventh in the past month. Over the past month he's also hitting .278, has 14 RBI and a .633 slugging percentage. He was dropped in a lot of leagues after his miserable start. His fantasy ownership is back up to 85% so you're probably not going to get lucky and find him on your waiver wire. But, you may be able to still buy low. Hopefully the owner you're dealing with will focus on his .237 season batting average instead of the fact that Soto is starting to look like the hitter we all loved in 2008.
Bits From the Box Scores:
- Russell Branyan hit his 20th home run of the season last night against the Yankees. There was a lot of buzz after the blast that it was one of the more magnificent home runs yet seen in new Yankee Stadium. Ed Price told us one of the reasons why on twitter. Branyan's on pace to blast 41 dingers this season.
- His batting average has dropped to .288, but it's still rather impressive that Andrew McCutchen has hit safely in 21 of his first 27 major league games.
- Joey Votto went 4-6 on Thursday with a double and three singles. Since returning to the lineup on on June 23rd, he is 15-38 (.395). The power isn't back yet, but do you really care?
- Mark Reynolds hit hit 22nd home run on Thursday. He's tied for fourth place on the major league home run list.
- In the on again, off again drama that is Wandy Rodriguez, the Astros pitcher threw well last night giving up only one earned run in seven innings. If you look at his last six starts you'll see a pattern of good pitching then bad. It flip-flops each start. It doesn't matter if he pitches at home or away, night or day... his consistency, or lack thereof, is troublesome to fantasy owners right now.
- Ichiro Suzuki continued his torrid pace on Thursday hitting two doubles and stealing a base. He's batting .402 over the last month.
- Just when you thought CC Sabathia was putting it back together, he gives up ten hits in 5.2 innings and allows six earned runs. And that was against a Mariners lineup that featured Ryan Langerhans, Chris Woodward and Ronny Cedeno.
- Ty Wigginton played his fifth game at shortstop last night. As if he needed another position he was fantasy eligible at. He's now ready to rock at first base, third base, outfield and shortstop.
- Bobby Abreu hit two home runs on Thursday giving him six on the season. He's going to need to step up the pace if he plans to repeat his 20/20 performance from '08.
The Afflicted: Xavier Nady has announced that he'll undergo Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery next Wednesday. This ends all hope of a return in 2009. Justin Morneau and his sore groin will be back in action on Friday. Josh Hamilton hopes to be back in the Rangers outfield as soon as Saturday. Many eyes will be on Ervin Santana on Friday to see if he can begin his comeback from a triceps injury.
Mannywood: Yes, Manny Ramirez returns to the Dodgers tonight.
All-Star Game: Voting closed last night for the 2009 All-Star Game. If you were smart, you voted 25 times online and your ballot looked like this.
AL: Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Aaron Hill, Derek Jeter, Evan Longoria, Ichiro, Carl Crawford and Torii Hunter.
NL: Brian McCann, Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Braun and Justin Upton.
Mustache Love: Clay Zavada finally gave up an earned run on Thursday. But, is anyone really looking at anything other than his mustache while he's on the mound?
Lineup Lock: There are two day games today. First pitch will occur at 1:05 PM ET when the Blue Jays and Yankees play.
