Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.Well, that was ugly. After a promising first start three days ago, the Stream Team took a quick nosedive with my last two picks, including Felipe Paulino's horrendous start against the Giants last night. But since whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger, it's time to pick up the pieces and see if we can put together enough quality outings to alleviate the damage done to the Stream Team's ERA and WHIP. Vin Mazzaro takes the mound tonight, and I'll be on Twitter tracking his start -- you can follow me @rjwhite1.
For tomorrow's pick, I'm going to follow the advice of my friend Paul Erlick at the Fantasy Baseball Cafe and take Joe Blanton against the Mets. Blanton owns a great line against the Mets in his career, posting a 2.14 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 21 innings. As Paul writes, the Mets offense really isn't one that strikes fear in opposing pitchers' hearts. David Wright is punchless, Gary Sheffield is streaky, and there's not much else behind the two. Blanton's been giving up way more HRs than usual in 2009 (1.83 per nine innings), but that's not a concern agains the Mets, the team with the fewest HRs hit against right-handers this year.
Blanton has done a great job of bringing his ERA down (over two full points to 5.08) in his last seven starts. Blanton's K/BB ratio is an astounding 80/29 in 88.2 innings, giving the Phillies pitcher a K/9 rate of 8.12 in 2009. For those unfamiliar with his work, we'll usually see that K rate hover around 5.0. That he's been able to improve his strikeout ability so much can be attributed to the two-seam fastball he's integrated into his arsenal. This high K total looks like a step forward, not a fluke.
On Sunday, we could see a pitcher's duel break out between Blanton and Johan Santana -- or, with Santana's away numbers being very un-Johan in 2009 (5.18 ERA, 1.49 WHIP), we could see another Phillies blowout. Start Blanton with confidence, as he should be able to pitch six quality innings en route to picking up a win for the Stream Team.
