DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Andre Ethier loves him some Ian Kennedy. He's hit .357 with two homers in 28 at-bats. Plus, he's sexy.
Freddie Freeman faces Kyle Lohse, a righty. All Freeman did last year was hit .334 with a .958 OPS and 19 homers in 377 at-bats versus righties.
Jesus Guzman faces CC Sabathia. CC looked good this spring, but he looked terrible last year. He will have to face a man who has hit .288 with 12 homers and 51 RBIs in his career against lefties. Could it be Guzman's day.
Matt Joyce faces righty Drew Hutchinson. Joyce hits righties well. Per 500 at-bats the past three years against righties he's averaged 23 homers, 72 RBIs and posted an .821 OPS. He's also a slightly better hitter at home than on the road.
Buster Posey crushes Wade Miley. He's got eight hits, including a homer, in 15 at-bats.
Aramis Ramirez had a big hit Monday, he actually had two hits and two RBIs. He's set to face lefty Alex Wood Tuesday. He's hit .317 with a .929 OPS against lefties the last three years including 18 homers in 344 at-bats.
Colby Rasmus mashes righties. Last season he socked 16 homers in just 292 at-bats and hit .284 with a .893 OPS. Alex Cobb is no pushover, but you gotta like those numbers.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Paul Goldschmidt has hit .269 against Matt Cain with seven strikeouts. Righties only hit .239 with a .285 OBP against Cain last year.
Adrian Gonzalez has seven whiffs an a .217 batting average against Ian Kennedy in 23 games.
Shin-Soo Choo has a love affair with fantasy gamers. He's also hit only .207 with seven Ks in 29 at-bats against A.J. Burnett.
Miguel Montero versus Matt Cain. Bet on Matt Cain. Montero has hit .208 with 15 punchouts in 53 at-bats. He does have nine RBIs to give him at least something to hang his hat on.
Kyle Seager against C.J. Wilson. No doubt Wilson is the winner. In 23 at-bats Seager has three hits and has struck out 10 times. Michael Saunders will likely be on the bench since he's hitting .130 in 23 at-bats against Wilson.
Justin Upton will not have success against Kyle Lohse. He has only two hits in 17 at-bats (.118).
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Zack Greinke is pitching in San Diego. He faces a Padres team that is without Cameron Maybin and Carlos Quentin. The Padres club has hit .220 off Greinke over 109 at-bats while allowing three homers. All the big flies have been hit by Quentin. It's all good.
Scott Kazmir has produced 32 strikeouts in 106 at-bats against the Indians. He's also held the club to a .132/.214/.189 slash line (Nick Swisher is the biggest offender with five hits in 32 at-bats). If you're looking for one guy to take a shot on, turn to the guy who is facing his old club Tuesday.
C.J. Wilson crushed batters in spring to the tune of a 35 strikeouts in 28.2 innings along with a 1.88 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. Tuesday he takes on a Mariners club that he's held to a .219 average with a better than 25 percent K-rate (43 Ks in 160 at-bats).
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Nathan Eovaldi looked solid this spring with a 3.44 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and a better than 3:1 K/BB ratio. He faces the Rockies, never an easy matchup though, and he had a 4.01 ERA at home last season with a terrible 1.55 K/BB ratio. The game is obviously in Florida.
Ian Kennedy didn't fair well last season against the Dodgers. Check out the 6.62 ERA and 1.81 WHIP last year. It was only three starts, but it's enough to cause you to pass on Kennedy.
Corey Kluber. Yes, my guy needs to be avoided in his first start. Crazy stupid or crazy smart? He's posted a 5.20 ERA and 1.42 WHIP on the road. He's set to pitch in Oakland today.
Alex Wood faces the Brewers on the road, and he was able to post a 3.51 ERA in those five starts. However, his WHIP was high at 1.64. Might want to let the youngster sit this one out even though he had a nice spring.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT JEFF MANS' ARTICLE ON DAILY SITES AND DOLLAR AMOUNTS FOR APRIL 1, 2014.
Tune in to the Fantasy Alarm's Daily Game Show at 6 PM EDT, Monday through Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius210, XM87) as Jeff Mans and Ted Schuster will help you to set your daily lineups.