Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.By now you've seen the highlights. An eighth-inning rocket by Pat Burrell that pulled an inch foul while nearly taking out the third-base umpire. An unbelievable catch, juggle and save by DeWayne Wise in the ninth inning. Alexei Ramirez fielding a Jason Bartlett grounder and firing across the diamond for the final out. Mark Buehrle with his hands on the top of his head, all smiles as he completed the 18th perfect game in major league history.
Buehrle, who already had a 2007 no-hitter to his credit, threw 76 of his 116 pitches for strikes. The biggest called strike of those 76 came on the outside corner in the eighth inning with Carlos Pena at the plate, causing Pena to turn and argue with home plate umpire Eric Cooper (incidentally, also the umpire in Buehrle's no-hitter). The biggest swinging strike came on a 3-2 punchout of Michael Hernandez with one out in the ninth.
While July 23, 2009 will be etched into Buehrle's memory for the rest of time, be careful not to overvalue the White Sox pitcher based on Thursday's performance. He'll get you wins (11 on the season), he'll keep your WHIP down (now at 1.10), but he's not going to give you much in the way of strikeouts. In fact, Buehrle only had nine strikeouts in four July starts heading into the perfect game.
In my points league, a good start from a pitcher nets you 20 points, while a great start pushes you over 30. Buehrle posted an astonishing 53-point game Thursday, sealing a win for his manager heading into the weekend. The perfect game rocketed the Chicago pitcher into 11th in pitcher points on the season, just behind Matt Cain and Javier Vazquez.
I bring this up to suggest that now is the perfect time to sell high on Buehrle. Play up that his perfection came against one of the league's top offenses, and see if you can pry a high-strikeout pitcher with good ratios from someone.
Bits From the Box Scores
• Alex Rios sure made things interesting (who hasn't?) for Kerry Wood and the Indians in Cleveland's 5-4 win against Toronto. After Wood plunked Rios to lead off the ninth, the Blue Jays right fielder stole second base. With Lyle Overbay at the plate and two outs on the board, Rios went ahead and stole third as well. Overbay ultimately struck out, but Rios came through for his owners with a total of three steals on the day, giving him 18 for the season.
• Also worth a mention in that game is Aaron Hill, who entered the Cleveland series in an 0-for-16 slump and tallied at least one hit in each of the three games with the Indians. Hill also smacked his 22nd homer on the season (this one off David Huff in the fifth inning). When combined with Hill's homer in Wednesday's game, it appears Hill has his power stroke back. Hopefully the average will follow.
• In a rain-shortened outing that was a makeup of a previously postponed game, Adam Wainwright put together a complete game, going six innings and giving up one run while striking out seven. It was surprising to see him back on the hill after a 76-minute delay in the fourth, but Wainwright owners aren't complaining about the results.
• You never know what kind of start you'll get from Barry Zito. Despite allowing five walks to the red-hot Braves offense, he was able to limit Atlanta to one earned run in seven innings en route to securing his sixth win of the season. Yunel Escobar hit his 11th home run (a new career high) to continue his hot streak -- he's currently turning in a .396/.484/.755 line in July. You want Escobar, you don't want Zito.
• Kyle Blanks homered for the second time in three games -- more importantly, this was his third consecutive start for the Padres. If he's playing everyday, he'll bring your lineup some decent power the rest of the way. In the other dugout, Jimmy Rollins kept his hot streak alive with a 2-for-4 game and a stolen base.
• Dan Haren had an off night (one of the few) against Pittsburgh, giving up four runs in five innings. The Diamondbacks bullpen was brilliant, perfect in the final four innings, while the Arizona offense mustered up seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to win the game. Ryan Doumit hit his third HR in the last two games.
• The 35-year-old Jarrod Washburn pitched yet another gem yesterday, holding the Tigers to two hits and two walks in seven shutout innings. Washburn has allowed a total of two runs in his last four starts, dropping his ERA to 2.71. Like Buehrle, Washburn is pitching to contact and making it work. David Aardsma closed out the game for his 24th save.
Down on the Farm: Rockies top prospect Jhoulys Chacin is making the leap from Double-A to pitch in the Rockies' depleted bullpen. Chacin will join newly-acquired Rafael Betancourt as Colorado tries to piece together a relief staff that will keep them in the playoff hunt. Redraft leagues need pay no attention to Chacin. I was able to catch a start of his in Double-A, and any time he tried to dial the fastball above 90 mph, he had no idea where it was going.
Lineup Lock Time: We're looking at a 1:05 ET lock time due to a couple of early Chicago games.
