Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.On Sunday, Ichiro Suzuki became the second fastest player to ever reach the 2,000 hit milestone as he doubled in the first inning and later scored.
It took Suzuki 1,402 games to reach 2,000 hits. The fastest was Al Simmons who did it in 1,390 games. Suzuki needs five more hits to reach 200 for the season, which would break the record he shares with Willie Keeler at nine consecutive seasons with 200.
As milestone talk goes, Ichiro is playing second fiddle to what's about to happen in New York.
The New York Yankees play a Labor Day, double header against the Rays on Monday and there is a reason or two outside of the fantasy baseball realm to tune into the games.
With a fat wallet like the Yankees have, it was no surprise to see the top free agent pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett land in pinstripes. For a complete look at their investment, the Yankees will trot both Sabathia and Burnett to the mound on Monday to pitch, Sabathia during the day and Burnett for the night-cap.
Sabathia is a much better pitcher at night, but manager Joe Girardi must feel his ace can handle the sunlight. Sabathia is throwing well of late. He's has five wins in his last six starts and a 1.83 ERA to boot.
As fantastically as Sabathia has been pitching, Burnett has shown signs of struggle. His ERA is 6.54 since August 1st and he's not collected a win even though he's notched four quality starts in his last seven.
As Sabathia tries to stay on course and Burnett attempts to alter his, all eyes will squarely be focused on Derek Jeter. The Yankee captain needs four hits to pass Lou Gehrig as the all-time Yankees hit leader. Girardi hasn't said if Jeter will play in both games but he'll need security to exit the building if Jeter inches closer to the record in game one and doesn't come out for the night game.
Bits From the Box Scores:
• Seth Smith hit two home runs and drove in five on Sunday for the Rockies. Over the last month he's batting .391with six home runs and 19 RBI in only 64 at-bats. Smith is widely available in fantasy leagues (only 8% owned) and should start seeing extra at-bats since he's on such a torrid pace.
• Scott Hairston hit a seventh inning grand slam on Sunday to steal a small portion of the spotlight from Ichiro Suzuki's 2,000th hit.
• Mike Pelfrey earned his tenth win of the season as he struck out five and only allowed five hits in eight innings of work against the Cubs. It was Pelfrey's first quality start since August 21st.
• Johnny Cueto struck out nine in six innings of work and only allowed three hits against the Braves on Sunday. He didn't factor into the win as the game went into extra innings. This was Cueto's second consecutive start where he's only given up one earned run.
• Placido Polanco came into the game Sunday as a pinch hitter and got two hits and stole a base. Over the past week he's batting .458 with two home runs. He's only owned in 33% of fantasy leagues and would make a great waiver wire addition while he's hitting well.
• Wade Davis had his incredible major league debut ruined by Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell and Russ Springer. Davis pitched seven innings striking out nine batters and walking only one. He also only allowed three hits, but watched his Rays lose due to four earned runs given up by the three aforementioned relievers.
• Michael Bourn stole two bases on Sunday giving him 52 on the season. He's decided to throw his hat into the ring for the stolen base crown this season. He's three behind Carl Crawford and seven behind Jacoby Ellsbury.
• Victor Martinez homered to deep right on Sunday in the ninth inning to add icing to the cake for the Red Sox. Martinez is batting .326 with six home runs since joining the Red Sox this season.
• Jonathan Sanchez threw six innings on Sunday giving up only three hits and one earned run to the Brewers while striking out nine. Sanchez, who has a 2.03 ERA over his last five starts, received a no-decision as Prince Fielder ended the game in the 12th inning in walk-of fashion. It was Fielder's 37th home run of the season.
The Afflicted: Carlos Beltran, who is rehabbing in Single-A currently, played his second consecutive complete game on Sunday. He hasn't cleared this notion with the Mets yet, but Beltran feels he's ready to return to major league action on Tuesday. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was available to pitch on Sunday but wasn't needed as Toronto won big. Expect Rivera to start accumulating saves again as early as Monday. No need to worry here, but Zack Greinke will be given some extra rest between starts this week. He threw 125 pitches on Saturday and this is just precautionary. Shane Victorino was held out of Sunday's lineup with a bruised knee. He is listed as day-to-day but probably won't see action until mid-week. Micah Owings will receive four stitches near his ear after being beaned on Sunday. He'll remain in Atlanta to be monitored for post-concussion symptoms but hopes to catch up with the team and not miss a start.
Lineup Lock Time: The Cubs and Pirates play first on Labor Day. First pitch is at 12:35 PM ET.
