Fantasy Baseball Happy Recap - 4/15/08

Bat Of The Night: David Wright – 3/4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI

Big night for the Mets third baseman driving in 5 runs, tops in the league yesterday. Wright also added a single, double, homerun and 2 runs scored and is truly an all-around threat in fantasy given his 25-30 stolen base ability.

Arm Of The Night: Randy Wolf – 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 9 K (W)

Wolf actually took a no hitter into the 6th inning before giving up a single to Brad Hawpe, the only hit he would surrender in 7 innings of work, and lowered his early season ERA to 1.42. Wolf also struck out 9 and looks to be 100% healthy after enduring a few injury-riddled seasons coming into 2008. The veteran lefty is in a great situation in San Diego pitching in the pitcher’s paradise known at Petco Park. He is proving himself to be a good weekly start, especially at home where he has allowed 1 earned run in 13 innings.

Bottom Line: Jose Valverde – 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (BS, L)

Another struggling closer takes home our bottom line tonight. Shawn Chacon was brilliant for Houston last night pitching 8 innings of shutout ball and allowing only 4 hits. Valverde entered in the bottom of the ninth with a 3-0 and proceeded to blow the game giving up 4 runs on homers by Chris Snelling and Pat Burrell and an eventual walk off double by Pedro Feliz. Valverde has been terrible thus far in Houston and has looked more like the inconsistent closer we saw prior to his 47 save campaign in 2007. Houston’s bullpen doesn’t really offer any solid fallback options at closer but one guy to keep an eye on is veteran Doug Brocail who has looked good thus far.

Honorable Mentions

Top Five

Hot return for Jose Reyes piling up 4 hits and missing a cycle by a homer in the Mets win over the Nats. Derrek Lee continues his assault on National League pitching while Magglio and the Tigers bats are beginning to warm up a little. On the pitching side, Scott Olsen and John Danks followed up poor starts with gems last night. Micah Owings continues to pitch well and is putting up some under the radar strikeout numbers.

Bats

Derrek Lee - 3/5, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Aaron Hill – 2/3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Magglio Ordonez – 2/4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Chris Young – 2/4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Jose Reyes – 4/5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B

Arms

John Danks – 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (W)
Scott Olsen – 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (W)
Micah Owings – 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (W)
Shaun Marcum – 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (L)
Shawn Chacon – 8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (ND)

Bottom Five

A few guys barely avoided the golden sombrero last night while usual suspects Matt Morris and Steve Trachsel reclaim their rightful positions on the Bottom Five. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of those two in this section.

Bats

Aaron Rowand – 0/4, 3 K
Jason Kubel – 0/4, 2 K
Felix Pie – 0/4, 3 K
Matt Holliday – 0/4, 3 K
Bill Hall – 0/4, 2 K

Arms

Matt Morris – 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (L)
Steve Trachsel – 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K (L)
Edwin Jackson – 5 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K (L)
John Bale – 3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Jesse Crain – 1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (L)

Making A Case...

Mike Pelfrey – 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (W)

Pelfrey has now strung together two solid back to back starts and last night pitched arguably his best game at the Major League level shutting out the Nationals over 7 innings of work. Pelfrey is showing far better control this season and has done a better job locating his pitches, especially his fastball. The results have been less walks (only 4 over his first 12 innings) and better overall results on the mound as the 23 year old is now 2-0. With Pedro and El Duque out until at least May, the Mets will rely heavily on Pelfrey and he should see good matchups pitching out of the 4 slot in the rotation.

Mark DeRosa – 2/4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

With Alfonoso Soriano injured super utility man Mark Derosa will see more playing time in the outfield. DeRosa gives you good position flexibility with eligibility at 2B, 3B and the OF and can provide respectable contributions in runs scored, RBI and batting average. Consider him a good stopgap option if you are experiencing injury woes or need a spot starter.

Conor Jackson – 2/4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Jackson continues to produce in both the RBI and runs scored departments and has now homered in consecutive games. The power is starting to come for Jackson, bring him aboard before it’s too late.

Fantasy Observations & Thoughts

- Russ Martin hit his first homerun of the season last night. Hopefully this will get the Dodgers’ catcher going because he has struggled mightily thus far.

- No word on the extent of Alfonso Soriano’s injury yet. Lou Piniella is not optimistic saying that Soriano could be out for a while.

- Braden Looper and Ryan Dempster improved to 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.

- Pat Burrell tagged his 5th homerun… (cough) contract year, while Mo Rivera, K-Rod and Bobby Jenks registered their 5th saves of the season.

- Miguel Cabrera, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez all homered in the Tigers win last night. Just wanted to send this warning out to fantasy owners: The Tigers Offense Is Coming, The Tigers Offense Is Coming! Somewhere Rob Deer is smiling…