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.Vicente Padilla hit a little bit of a speed bump in his Friday start against the Giants, giving up four runs in five innings and depriving the Team from another win. Still, we have better than a 3/1 K/BB ratio in September, which is exactly what Padilla gave us yesterday (3 strikeouts, 1 walk). Jon Garland is pitching for us today, and he's well on his way to another win and another great performance.
For tomorrow, we're rolling with a pitcher we haven't used in two months. When you look at Paul Maholm's peripheral stats, he's had an excellent year, striking out 115 batters while only walking 54. And to be honest, a .500 record (Maholm is currently at 8-8) is about as good as you can hope for when you pitch for the Pirates. Maholm's problem has been that he's too hittable, which was his Achilles' heel in 2007 as well. Oh, he'scoming off an eight-inning shutout in Houston, so he's definitely clicking right now.
Our streamer gets the benefit of facing the league's lowest-scoring team this season, and the Padres haven't been much better in September. The club is averaging under four runs per game this month while posting a .690 OPS. They have just a .671 OPS against lefties, which is tied for the worst in baseball, and while they do much better away from Petco Park, they're still not an offense that's going to give your pitcher nightmares.
Another great option is Robinson Tejeda, a pitcher that has given up just one earned run over the last month, posting a 0.43 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in 21 innings. You could also give Felipe Paulino a look, as he's been wonderful since being moved back to the Astros rotation.
Stream Team Data
September: 111 IP, 11 Ws, 3.57 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 89 Ks, 29 BBs.
Post-ASB: 378.1 IP, 29 Ws, 4.02 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 292 Ks, 113 BBs.
Since 7/1: 440.2 IP, 33 Ws, 4.27 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 328 Ks, 129 BBs.
