Fantasy Baseball Happy Recap - 4/23/08

Bat Of The Night: Prince Fielder – 2/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI

The Prince entered the night with only one April homerun and left with 3. The Brewers slugger also added 4 RBI, powering Milwaukee to a 5-4 win over the Phillies. Fielder remains a legitimate 45-50 homerun threat so don’t let his poor April get you down.

Arm Of The Night: Chad Gaudin – 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (W)

Nice outing for Gaudin against the Twins as he tossed 7 scoreless innings of 4 hit ball. The Oakland righty displayed great control, walking no batters on the night while striking out 4. That makes 3 straight quality starts for Gaudin who has enjoyed a nice April going 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA and low 1.08 WHIP. He can be a serviceable fantasy starter when facing weaker offenses at home in Oakland where he is currently 2-0 with a miniscule 0.64 ERA in 2 starts.

Bottom Line: Chris Young – 0/5, 4 K

Chris Young makes his second appearance on the Bottom Line this season after putting on his second golden sombrero. Is there more of a feast or famine guy on a day to day basis then the young Arizona outfielder?

Honorable Mentions

Top Five

Couple of two-homer nights from Gary Matthews Jr. and Matt Stairs and a 5 RBI outburst from Carlos Guillen headline the night at the plate. Overall, it was a poor night for power production. Nothing spectacular to report on the pitching side as we saw effective outings from Johan Santana and Mike Mussina while Greg Maddux continues to prove that he’s still got it.

Bats

Gary Matthews Jr. – 2/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Matt Stairs - 2/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Geovany Soto – 4/5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Jorge Posada – 4/5, 3 2B, 2 RBI
Carlos Guillen – 3/4, 1 R, 1 2B, 5 RBI

Arms

Johan Santana – 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (W)
Mike Mussina – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (W)
Chris Sampson – 7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (W)
Greg Maddux – 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (ND)
Matt Cain – 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K (ND)

Bottom Five

Rough nights for hitting studs Ryan Howard and Bobby Abreu and pitching aces Javy Vasquez and Dan Haren. Kenny Rogers’ poor outing was erased by the Tigers offensive explosion.

Bats

John Bowker – 0/6, 3 K
Yorvit Torrealba – 0/4, 2 K
Joey Votto – 0/4, 2 K
Bobby Abreu – 0/5, 2 K
Ryan Howard – 0/4, 2 K

Arms

Javier Vasquez – 5.1 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (L)
Bronson Arroyo – 3.2 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (L)
Dan Haren – 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (L)
Anthony Reyes – 1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (L)
Kenny Rogers – 3.1 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K (ND)

Making A Case...

Daniel Cabrera – 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (W)

Talent has never been a question for Cabrera as his high 90’s fastball and great movement have made him a potential breakout candidate every year. Location has been the soon to be 27 year old righty’s biggest issue early in his career and what has kept him from being consistent. Cabrera has now put together three straight quality starts in which he has gone 2-0 and walked a total of 5 batters. Play the matchups with Cabrera and be prepared for the occasional awful outing.

Fantasy Observations & Thoughts

- Manny Corpas blew his second save in as many nights and his 4th on the season Wednesday and after the game Clint Hurdle hinted that his job is in serious jeopardy. I think he will get 1-2 more shots to redeem himself, after all, it is only April. If he continues to struggles, look for Brian Fuentes to regain the closing role he lost to Corpas last season.

- Speaking of struggling Rockies, Troy Tulowitzki hit his first homer of the season last night. Tulo got off to a slow start last season as well and I feel the best is still ahead for the Rockies SS. He should be fine.

- Welcome back Curtis Granderson! The Tigers spark plug returned last night and subsequently the Tigers dropped 19 runs on the Rangers. Granderson came out of the gates hot going 2/4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI in his 2008 debut. Big season ahead for the Tigers’ leadoff hitter…

- Those slugging Phils! Chase Utley hit his league leading 10th homer while Pat “contract year” Burrell cracked his 8th in a 5-4 loss against Milwaukee. Don’t worry Ryan Howard owners, the first baseman will join the Phillies offensive onslaught soon.

- Francisco Rodriguez has been on fire since returning from an ankle injury early last week. Krod has now registered 5 saves in the last 10 days tying him with Jonathon Papelbon for the league lead at 8. In addition, the improbable April run by George Sherrill continues as he locked down save number 7 last night while Brian Wilson, Huston Street, Matt Capps and Mo Rivera each notched their 6th saves.


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