Fantasy Baseball Happy Recap - 4/14/08

Bat Of The Night: Evan Longoria – 2/3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI

After two respectable games over the weekend, Longoria broke out Monday night hitting his first major league homerun. He also added a double and scored twice on the night. Longoria has quickly established himself as a starting fantasy option and will be a fantasy stud at the third base for many years to come. You are looking at Ryan Braun 2K8.

Arm Of The Night: Zack Greinke – 9 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (CG,W)

Another night, another young Royals starter stealing the show… this is getting ridiculous already. Greinke followed by Brian Bannister’s complete game shutout on Sunday afternoon with a complete game win of his own allowing 1 run and 5 hits over 9 innings while striking out 4. Greinke is now 3-0 on the young season with a 0.75 ERA and 0.92 WHIP and his ownership is now up over 90% for the first time all season. The secret is out, hope you got in while you could people.

Bottom Line: Joe Borowski – 0.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (BS, L)

After blowing yet another save opportunity in dramatic fashion yielding a 2 run go ahead home to Manny Ramirez, Borowski was placed on the 15 day DL with strained triceps. Rafael Betancourt is the new closer in Cleveland, grab him immediately.

Honorable Mentions

Top Five

A-rod and Carl Crawford make their first appearances in the Top Five accompanied by Delmon Young who has taken a little longer to get going than people expected on draft day. Patience everyone! Not much to report among the pitchers as Oakland’s Greg Smith is beginning to make a case for himself (not so fast my friend) while Ervin Santana and Jake Westbrook continue to pitch well.

Bats

Alex Rodriguez - 4/5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Carl Crawford – 2/4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Miguel Olivo – 3/4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Ivan Rodriguez – 2/4, 2 R, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Delmon Young – 3/5, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 SB

Arms

Greg Smith – 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (W)
Ervin Santana – 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (W)
Matt Albers – 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (W)
Mark Buerhle – 7 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (L)
Jake Westbrook – 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (ND)

Bottom Five

Man, what a rough night for relief pitchers. In addition to Joe Borowski’s awful outing, Takashi Saito, Pat Neshek and Al Reyes also couldn’t hold late leads. Good to have Jason Bay, Travis Buck and JD Drew back on the Bottom Five, we missed you guys.

Bats

Jason Bay – 0/5, 2 K
Travis Buck – 0/5, 2 K
JD Drew – 0/4, 3 K
Jhonny Peralta – 0/3, 3 K
Paul Konerko – 0/4, 2K

Arms

Jason Jennings – 4.2 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 5 K (L)
Takashi Saito – 1 IP, 41 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (BS,L)
Pat Neshek – 1 IP, 32 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (L)
Al Reyes – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Andy Sonnanstine – 3.1 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (ND)

Making A Case...

Randy Johnson – 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K (ND)

The Big Unit is back and looked good in his first outing striking out 7 batters over 5 shutout innings. Johnson did have some control problems as he walked 4 batters on the night. However, this is commonplace when a pitcher is making their first start after an extended DL trip. Johnson’s strikeout potential makes him a good add while his Hall Of Fame resume and the fact he plays for a contender in Arizona give him great upside going forward. Play the matchups with him until he fully proves healthy and effective.

Hank Blalock – 2/3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

The Tank finished last season off strong and has carried that momentum into 2008. The former top 10 third basemen whose value has taken a tumble due to a series of injuries over the past few year is off to a strong start with 2 homers, 4 RBI and 6 runs scored on the young season. In addition, he has hit safely in 8 of 11 games, definitely a good sign going forward. Blalock has great sleeper potential especially given the fact he plays a thin position.

Conor Jackson – 2/4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Jackson is only owned in 60% of leagues right now due to injuries which have forced him to miss a few games and prevented him from building a consistent resume of success thus far. His current numbers warrant greater ownership as he is batting .312 with a homer and 10 RBI and runs scored. The fact he is scoring and driving in runs at will is very promising and the power should come as Jackson is certainly capable of hitting 20 homeruns. I am fully aware I have been pushing Jackson on you since the season began but it’s for your own good. Expect him to be a regular in the Making A Case portion of the Happy Recap until I see 80%+ ownership numbers! Add him!

Fantasy Observations & Thoughts

- Derek Jeter returned to the Yankee lineup and went 2/5 with 2 RBIs. Get him back in those lineups.

- Speaking of returning studs, Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth to notch his first save since being sidelined with two sprained ankles over a week ago. We told you to put him in your lineup Sunday, shame on you if you didn’t believe in K-Rod.

- Great night for game winning homers by the away team in the top of the ninth inning. Nate McLouth did in the Dodgers while Manny sent Joe Borowski to the DL stinging with a 2 run bomb in Cleveland.

- Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Evan Longoria each homered in last night’s game against the Yankees. The future is coming fast in Tampa, quite an offensive core they have there.

- George Sherrill let up his first 2 runs (and hits) of the season last night but came away with his Major League leading 6th save of the season for the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles. Gotta love April baseball…