Thursday is the mid point of the baseball week. Three days have been completed, three days lay ahead – yes, I just explained to you the story of the seven day week. Hey, how many of these intros can I write that say the same thing – here's a report on the daily matchups?
DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Matt Adams gets to take on Bartolo Colon who hasn't looked great this season. Adams is destroying righties with a .391 average in 64 at-bats. Oddly he has only one homer.
Michael Brantley is off to a really strong start this season. Should continue Thursday versus Bruce Chen and the Royals. Brantley has worn Chen out over the years with 10 hits in 19 at-bats (.526).
Marlon Byrd was a downer Wednesday. On Thursday he's likely to be a hero. Byrd mashes against Dan Haren with 10 hits in 21 at-bats (.476). He's also produced five extra bast hits in the matchup including two homers.
Melky Cabrera faces Bud Norris. Bud Norris is right-handed. Melky Cabrera is hitting .348 with three homers against righties this season.
Starlin Castro gets to hit against youngster Mike Bolsinger who has a 10.29 ERA in two big league games. Look for Castro to rap out a few hits given that he's hit .400 at Wrigley this season.
Rajai Davis is hitting .500 with four steals in 14 at-bats versus Jose Quintana.
James Loney has hit .400 at home this season with 10 RBIs. He gets to face Ricky Nolasco there Thursday.
They are gonna make a move... centered around Peeps (I know how happy this must make Howard Bender).
Just cause I always bash him... Mike Moustakas has six hits in 12 at-bats against Corey Kluber. See, I can say something positive about Moose.
Alfonso Soriano has hit four bombs with a .321 average against lefties this season. He takes on the Red Sox Felix Doubront Thursday.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Chris Carter, Jose Altuve, Matt Dominguez, Jesus Guzman and anyone else on the Astros that comes to the dish hitting right-handed is gonna find producing a base hit to be a particularly difficult task. Why is that? Because they are facing lefty Scott Kazmir who has treated righties this season like I treat chimichanga's – utter domination. Those Astros' batters should be benched. Righties have hit .152 against Kazmir in 84 plate appearances.
Adam Dunn has no shot against against Max Scherzer. Not only has he hit just .229 against him but he's been the old whiff machine against the hard throwing righty with 16 Ks in 35 at-bats. His teammate is even worse shape as Alexei Ramirez is hitting .095 against Scherzer thanks to four hits in 42 at-bats. That's brutal.
Edwin Encarnacion is hitting .227 with one homer against righties. Things may not go well for him Thursday against Bud Norris.
Something everyone needs to know – how to make perfect bacon.
Chase Headley has hit .200 with five strikeouts in 15 at-bats versus Jordan Zimmermann. He's hit .211 on the road this year as well.
Aaron Hill has only hit .205 in 39 at-bats against Edwin Jackson. He has taken him deep twice.
Dustin Pedroia has hit, for him, a lowish .281 versus CC Sabathia. The lefty isn't what he once was, but Pedroia isn't exactly ripping it up right now either as he's hitting a mere .269 versus lefties. David Ortiz has also struggled in the matchup hitting just .238 with a .685 OPS over 63 at-bats.
Ryan Raburn has a solid .818 OPS against lefties in his career. You would figure he would continue that success against lefty Bruce Chen. Not so much actually. Raburn has hit a mere .194 with a .684 OPS over the course of 33 plate appearances.
Hanley Ramirez has a .257 average and one home runs in 35 at-bats versus Kyle Kendrick. Wouldn't have expected that.
Colby Rasmus doesn't hit Bud Norris well (though everyone else doesn't seem to have that problem). Rasmus has four hits in 25 at-bats (.160/.222/.360).
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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Scott Kazmir owns a 2-0 record, 1.65 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and 6.00 K/BB ratio this season. He's facing the Astros. Any questions?
Lane Lynn is 4-0. Since the start of the 2012 season he has 37 victories. That's the best mark in the NL (one behind Max Scherzer and the same total as Adam Wainwright). He's also allowed just one run with 16 Ks over his last two starts. He takes on the less than powerful Mets.
Brett Oberholtzer has a 3.04 ERA and 1.14 WHIP this season. He' has a 2.83 ERA and 1.11 WHIP over 95.1 career innings. He held the A's to one run in his last outing on April 19th. May not get a win though since he faces Scott Kazmir.
Jordan Zimmermann has allowed three earned runs his last two starts to drop his ERA down to 3.92. He gets to face the less than imposing Padres in Washington, a spot where Zimmerman has posted a 3.40 ERA and 1.18 WHIP for his career. Remarkably, his road numbers are virtually identical (3.44 and 1.18).
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Do I need to tell you to sit Bruce Chen? Consider yourself warned. He's allowed two homers, 15 hits, six walks and 10 runs over his last 8.2 innings. The Indians should have some success.
Tony Cingrani, and I'm playing a bit of a hunch here, might find it tough sledding Thursday. He's walked an unacceptable 13 batters in 22.1 innings. And he's allowed 17 homers in 132 career innings. He takes on the Pirates who are one of the better hitting teams in the early going against lefties. The club has hit .275 with a homer every 16 at-bats.
Kyle Kendrick has a 6.84 ERA and 1.66 WHIP in 12 games against the Dodgers. He's also allowed four homers in his last three starts. Oh, and he's just not a good pitcher.
Jose Quintana has a 1.38 WHIP this season, and traveling to Detroit isn't likely to improve that much. In two away starts this season Jose has a 5.25 ERA and 1.50 WHIP as well.
Make sure you 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.