Down the stretch they come... days left in the major league baseball season, and every decision matters – a ton. You can still win or lose your fantasy baseball league based upon decisions you make, so don't slough off your responsibilities this week. Ray Flowers takes a look at game action from Monday while previewing the games on Tuesday.
Since September 1st Gregor Blanco has hit .296 with a .351 OBP and .493 SLG. He's only hit a homer and stolen two bags, but he's also drive in eight and scored 14 times. That's a strong NL-only effort and one that has to have helped a few in 15 team leagues. He had a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored Monday night.
Jared Burton sounds like the closer the last few days for Glen Perkins. The righty has a mere 4.50 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 66 outings, and the rest of this isn't great stuff: 6.24 K/9, 3.48 BB/9, 1.07 GB/FB. Still, a couple of saves might help, right?
Josh Collmenter allowed two runs over 6.1 innings Monday to continue a trend of impressive work. Over those 42 innings Josh has gone 3-1 in six outings with a 1.29 ERA and 0.74 WHIP for the D'backs while posting a 5.00 K/BB ratio. That's elite production. Pretty impressive.
Carl Crawford is your daddy. Seriously. Have you been seeing what he's doing in September? Finally remembering that he owns some rather unique skills, Crawford has returned to the land of the living. Over his last 18 games he's been smoking hot batting .414 with a .429 OBP and .707 SLG. He's scored 10 runs, great support Dodgers, but he's hit three homers, driven in 14 and swiped a bag. Finally doing something is he.
Tyler Flowers hit .218 with five homers in 78 games in the first half. In 44 games in the second half the White Sox backstop has hit .286 with 10 homers and 24 RBIs.
Josh Hamilton doesn't seem likely to play again during the regular season. He's hitting off a tee, but his shoulder just isn't right. If that is the case Mr. Injury is batting .263 with a .331 OBP and .414 SLG with 10 homers, 44 RBIs and 43 runs scored. Just a waste.
Jon Jay has a .306 average on the year, and he drove in three runs last night. He's “only” hitting .286 in September, but that was after a .382 average in August. Since the start of August he's hit .336 with a .425 OBP. That's crazy good work. He's also driven in 20 runs while scoring 23 times. No power or speed (two homers, zero steals) but his effort plays in any league.
Francisco Liriano is only 7-10, but he has a 3.32 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 9.72 K/9 ratio. Those are good numbers. He's been spectacular in the second half though. Over 81 innings he has a 2.00 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 89 strikeouts in 81 innings. Locked in is he. He's allowed one run over his last four starts – all wins – and three runs over his last six turns on the bump. He has walked nine batter the last two starts... he's always living on the edge, even when successful.
Tyson Ross has been shut down with a strain in his right forearm. He should be fine for next season, so don't worry about all of that. He just won't start again in 2014. So what. Ross ends the year with a 2.81 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 195 punchouts over 195 innings. One hell of an effort was it for Ross.
Eric Stults is boring as all hell. He does have a 2.90 ERA over his last 10 starts though so there is that.
Edinson Volquez has had one heck of a season. Through 185.2 innings he's posted a 3.15 ERA and 1.25 WHIP and 12 victories. Great out of nowhere season. Also had a career best 3.39 BB/9, still worse than the league average, and his 6.30 K/9 rate is deficient. Ugh. That's three full batters below his 9.62 mark from 2010. It's also the 4th straight year the mark has gone down.
Fantasy Alarm offers the Assistant General Manager package! Weekly Rankings (updated daily) and LIVE Game Day Chats – we will be talking to you DURING the games – highlight the package. We also have Injury Reports, Weekly Matchup Reports, In-Depth Statistical Analysis, Target Reports, Waiver-Wire breakdowns, Weather Updates and more. Join us at Fantasy Alarm with our Assistant GM package if you're interested in dominating the competition.
* NOTE: Players are listed in alphabetical order for the sake of making them easily sortable/findable. The matchups are also generated based on Batter vs. Pitcher data.
DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Alejandro De Aza is hot since he switched uniforms. He's also hitting .556 against Brandon McCarthy in nine at-bats.
Billy Butler has six hits in 10 at-bats against Danny Salazar.
Marlon Byrd has seven hits in 14 at-bats against Henderson Alvarez.
Jedd Gyorko has nine hits in 14 at-bats against Jorge De La Rosa. That's a .643 batting average. Wow is right.
Paul Konerko hammers David Price. In 23 at-bats he has 10 hits and seven RBIs. Two of the hits are homers.
Brian McCann is hitting homers all the time. He's also batting .290 with a homer in 31 at-bats against Ubaldo Jimenez.
Aramis Ramirez is at .333-5-11 over 42 a-bats against Johnny Cueto. Gerardo Parra has two homers an a .429 batting average over 14 at-bats.
Colby Rasmus is an amazing 7-for-10 against Felix Hernandez.
Carlos Santana has a .417-2-4 line over 12 at-bats against Yordano Ventura.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Ryan Braun is batting .229 with a .536 OPS over 36 plate appearances against Johnny Cueto.
Kole Calhoun has a measly hit in 14 at-bats against Sonny Gray. Albert Pujols is 1-for-10.
Robinson Cano has a .269/.321/.346 slash line in 28 plate appearances against R.A. Dickey.
Yoenis Cespedes has two hits in 16 at-bats against Alex Cobb.
Nelson Cruz has three hits in 22 at-bats against Brandon McCarthy. That's a .136 average. Nick Markakis is batting .188 in 16 at-bats.
Edwin Encarnacion has struggled against Felix Hernandez (3-for-18).
Alex Gordon is 2-for-10 against Danny Salazar. Salvador Perez is 1-for-10.
Evan Longoria has struck out in 13 of his 37 at-bats against Clay Buchholz. He's also batting .189 with an RBI. Ben Zobrist has hit .111 with a .377 OPS over 42 plate appearances.
Alexei Ramirez is batting just .192 over 26 at-bats against David Price.
Ben Revere has one hit in 13 at-bats against Henderson Alvarez.
Denard Span has one hit in 13 at-bats against Bartolo Colon. Asdrubal Cabrera is 1-for-11.
Christian Yelich is hitless in 10 at-bats against Cole Hamels.
Chris Young is 7-for-41 (.171) with 17 Ks against Ubaldo Jimenez.
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Henderson Alvarez is pitching at home. You know the drill by now. He always starts when he's at home. In 13 home starts he's gone 6-2 with a 1.75 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He faces the Phillies whom he held to one run over seven innings on September 12th.
Madison Bumgarner dominates some of the Dodgers batters. Check out the numbers: Hanley Ramirez is batting .200 in 25 at-bats. Matt Kemp is batting .200 over 30 at-bats. Andre Ethier is batting .125 in 24 at-bats. Adrian Gonzalez is batting .125 over 32 at-bats. MadBum also has a 2.05 ERA and 0.99 WHIP over 17 road starts this year.
Alex Cobb has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in the second half. Check out his numbers over 12 starts: 1.51 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 73 Ks in 77.1 innings. He faces the Red Sox on the road and he's been solid on the road as well (6-2, 3.09 ERA, 1.14 WHIP).
Mike Fiers. Duh. Twelve outings equal a 1.78 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 66 Ks in 60.2 innings. He faces the Reds in Cincy.
Shelby Miller has been on his game of late. Seriously. Over his last four outings he's allowed a total of two earned runs and he's posted a a quality start in 6-straight efforts. He's also not issued a walk in three starts. He faces a Cubs team that he held to two runs over seven innings on August 29th.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
One last time I get to blast Clay Buchholz. He pitches a home where he has a 6.78 ERA and 1.61 WHIP this season. In night starts this year the numbers are 5.53 and 1.44. He's posted a 5.14 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in the second half. Don't touch him. He faces the Rays who he shut out back on August 31st. Still cannot trust him, at least I cannot.
Sonny Gray has no wins in his last five outings, and he's 1-6 over his last 10. His ratios at home are league average stuff (3.75 ERA and 1.31 WHIP). He faces the Angels.
Kyle Hendricks has nine strikeouts his last three outings. How long can he continue to hold batters down with solid, but moderate stuff? He faces the Dodgers at home. The Dodgers are 3rd in baseball in batting average against righties (.272)
Make sure you tune in to the Drive at 7 PM EDT, Monday through Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius210, XM87), to hear Ray Flowers pontificate about the world of sports.