Fantasy Baseball Happy Recap - 4/17/08

Bat Of The Night: Chipper Jones – 4/4, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI

Not to be outdone by fellow third basemen David Wright and Miguel Cabrera, Chipper Jones takes home Bat Of The Night honors for Thursday – the third 3B to do so this week. Jones went a perfect 4/4 at the plate, hitting 2 homers and a double while scoring and driving in 3 runs in the Braves blowout of Florida.

Arm Of The Night: John Smoltz – 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K (W)

The Atlanta Braves sweep the top honors tonight with John Smoltz’s 10 strikeout effort making him our Arm Of The Night. Smoltz was virtually unhittable in his 5 innings of work allowing only 3 hits and being pulled early with the Braves putting the game out of reach. Despite only going 5 or 6 innings in each of his 3 starts, Smoltz has allowed only 1 earned run over his first 16 innings while striking out 21 batters. Soon to be 41, the future Hall Of Famer remains an elite fantasy starter.

Bottom Line: Raul Casanova – 0/6, 4 K

It took extra innings, but the Mets backup catcher earned himself a golden sombrero striking out 4 times in 6 forgettable at bats.

Honorable Mentions

Top Five

Thursday night was full of gaudy numbers both at the plate and on the mound. Manny Ramirez and Carlos Quentin hit two homers a piece while Jake Peavy and little known Nationals’ starter John Lannan registered double digit strikeout totals. Prince Fielder finally got on the board with his first homerun and Fausto Carmona played the role of stopper for the tribe shutting down the Tigers after Sabathia’s poor performance Wednesday.

Bats

Manny Ramirez – 3/5, 3 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI
Carlos Quentin - 2/3, 3 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Joey Votto – 2/4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI
Prince Fielder – 2/5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Chris Coste – 4/5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Arms

Fausto Carmona – 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (W)
Brett Myers – 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (W)
Vincente Padilla – 7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K (W)
Jake Peavy – 8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K (W)
John Lannan – 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K (W)

Bottom Five

Golden Sombreros for Brad Hawpe and Tony Clark, but we give them a pass since they just participated in a marathon 6 hour plus, 22 inning game in San Diego.

Bats

Brad Hawpe – 0/7, 4 K, 1 RBI
Tony Clark – 1/8, 4 K
Aubrey Huff – 0/5, 3 K
Luis Gonzalez – 0/4, 3 K
Tadahito Iguchi – 0/7, 1 K

Arms

Ricky Nolasco – 4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4 HR (L)
Lenny DiNardo – 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (L)
Boof Bonser – 4 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (L)
Brandon Backe – 3 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (L)
Mike Mussina – 3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (L)

Making A Case...

Joey Votto – 2/4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI

The Reds stud first base prospect earned a starting job out of spring training and is really beginning to come into his own. Votto broke out this week in the Reds’ 3 game series against the Cubs, slugging 2 homers and driving in 7 runs. The 24 year old rookie has the ability to maintain an average around .300 and has legitimate 20-20 potential although he may not realize it this season.

Carlos Quentin - 2/3, 3 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI

Quentin smashed homers 3 and 4 last night and has great power potential starting everyday as the RF in the southside of Chicago. He hits in a good lineup and plays in a favorable hitters park so 3o homeruns are not out of the question. However, our money would be on 20-25 HR with a batting average around .270-.280.

Ryan Ludwick – 4/5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI

The former career minor leaguer continues to produce when he plays. He is 9/16 with 4 HR and 6 RBI in his last 4 starts and is truly making a case for Tony Larussa to hand him a starting outfield gig. As of now he is splitting time with Skip Schumaker which hurts his value.

Carlos Silva – 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (W)

Silva continues to the job done despite low strikeout totals and inability to miss bats. This win moves him to 3-0 on the season and his 2.79 ERA and 1.14 WHIP cannot be ignored. The fact so many balls are put in play against Silva makes him a prime candidate to get rocked on any given outing. However, he is in a good situation in Seattle pitching in a big ballpark and for a team that plays good infield and outfield defense. Silva is an innings eater pitching for a contender so he should be a pretty good source of wins and quality starts. But we would advise to play the matchups with him to avoid the inevitable rough outings.

Nelson Figueroa – 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (ND)

The Brooklyn native has made a triumphant return to New York posting back to back good outings. Figueroa will continue to serve as the Mets’ #5 starter as long as Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez continue to miss time and is a decent start given the right matchup against weaker offenses.

Fantasy Observations & Thoughts

- Chad Cordero did not appear in last night’s 14 inning affair at Shea Stadium and Jon Rauch was called upon by Manny Acta when a save situation arose. Check out this post from last night for more on Washington’s closer situation.

- Lots of extra baseball last night with four games going into extra innings highlighted of course by the Rockies and Padres playing 22 innings deep into the night.

- George Sherrill continues to sit atop the closer position, earning a win last night in Baltimore’s 6-5 victory over the White Sox in 10 innings. Sherrill is a legitimate sell high candidate right now, this can’t last!

- Speaking of Baltimore, former Oriole Miguel Tejada hit his third homer of the season on the same day he admitted to his new employer that he is actually 33 years of age and not 31 as previously stated. Whatever his age, if Tejada stays healthy he should have a nice season hitting in Minute Maid Park. The stadium is built for right handed pull hitters.

- Blown saves last night by Manny Corpas and Bobby Jenks. For Jenks it was his first of the season.

- Contract Year Watch: Pat Burrell hit homer #6 while Manny Ramirez hit 2 homers bringing his total on the season to 5.

- Ken Griffey Jr hit his third homer last night bringing his career total to 596.

- That’s 5 unblemished saves now for CJ Wilson in Texas.


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