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.Another Joe Blanton spot start, another quality outing. The Philadelphia pitcher continues to excel while spending his time as a free agent in most leagues. Yesterday, he held a very good St. Louis offense to two runs in eight innings, striking out six and picking up a win along the way. As Brandon Funston points out, Blanton has always been a stud in the month of August. Combine that with Blanton's studliness over the last two months, and he's a must-own at this point.
I picked Marc Rzepczynski for his previous start against Cleveland, and that didn't go too well. Despite continually racking up the strikeouts, the rookie cannot shake the control problems, which were the main reason for his early exit in his last start. He's still given up just 14 hits and one HR in his 22.1 innings pitched, so if he can somehow conquer the control demons, he should be a fantastic pitcher.
I was planning on avoiding Rzepczynski this week, but his matchup proved to be just too good to miss. He'll face the Mariners tomorrow, a slumping team that has trouble with lefties. In their last six games, Seattle has scored 17 runs while posting an anemic .605 OPS. They have a .741 OPS against lefties this season, good for 20th in the league. Another split in our favor is the Mariners' home OPS of .725, the fifth worst in baseball. They are also a team that draws few walks, the deciding factor in making Rzepczynski a solid spot start for tomorrow.
