Fantasy Baseball Happy Recap - 4/28/08

Slow night in the majors on Monday with only 5 of the scheduled 7 games able to be completed.

Bat Of The Night: Daric Barton – 2/6, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

The A’s put up 14 runs Monday so you knew one of their players would be taking home top bat honors. Barton hit his first homer of the season and drove in 3 runs in the Oakland romp. Barton is the unquestioned starter at first in Oakland and has a knack for getting on base drawing 19 walks already on the season and scoring 17 runs. Barton has the ability to hit around .300 but the biggest question mark with him is whether he will ever hit for any power.

Arm Of The Night: Matt Cain – 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 3 K (W)

An underwhelming line based on the past recipients of Arm Of The Night honors. Cain finally notched his first win of the season pitching 5 1/3 scoreless innings leaving Barry Zito as the only winless Giants starter or former starter I should say. It’s well-documented that the Giants can’t hit but keep in mind that this team can certainly pitch. We are seeing the makings of a dominant young staff in San Francisco.

Bottom Line: Ryan Ludwick – 0/5, 4 K

Golden sombrero for Ryan Ludwick due in large part to the efforts of Bronson Arroyo who entered the game 0-3. Ouch.

Honorable Mentions

Top Five

Rick Ankiel broke his homerless drought while Carlos Quentin slugged homerun number seven for the White Sox. Good to see Frank Thomas making an immediate impact in his return to Oakland. He could be a nice sleeper capable of providing cheap pop throughout the year if healthy. Another strong outing for Javy Vasquez in a no decision.

Bats

Carlos Quentin – 2/6, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Frank Thomas - 3/3, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI
Rick Ankiel – 2/5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Ray Durham – 2/4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB
Aaron Rowand – 2/3, 2 R, 1 RBI

Arms

Chad Gaudin – 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (W)
Mike Mussina – 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (W)
Dan Haren – 7.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (W)
Javier Vasquez – 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (ND)
Brandon Lyon & Mariano Rivera – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Save

Bottom Five

Just because there weren’t many games scheduled Monday doesn’t mean we couldn’t fill out our Bottom Five with ease! Travis Hafner is really struggling…

Bats

Travis Hafner – 0/3, 2 K
Jim Thome – 0/3, 2 K
Todd Helton – 0/4, 2 K
AJ Pierzynski – 0/6
Orlando Cabrera – 0/5

Arms

Jon Garland – 6 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (L)
Franklin Morales – 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 1 K (L)
Chris Sampson – 4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (L)
Chris Bootchek – 0.2 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K (L)
George Sherrill & Bobby Jenks – 1 IP, 1 ER (Both blew saves)

Making A Case...

Emil Brown – 1/4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

My deep sleeper pick entering 2008, Brown has lived up to the minimal hype I created in the FSE sleeper picks article. Brown has been an RBI machine in April driving in 25 batters on the month to go along with 15 runs scored and a .293 batting average. In his last 15 games, Brown has at least 1 RBI in 12 of them while hitting safely in 13. Brown is only owned in 20% of CBS leagues of now and will be given every opportunity to prosper in Oakland.

Closer Corner

- The saves by Mariano Rivera and Brandon Lyon was the 8th of the season for both closers. In addition, Rivera still hasn’t allowed a run in 2008.

- Francisco Cordero finally got a save opportunity and made the most of it, closing out Cincy’s 4-3 win over the Cardinals to notch save number four on the young season.

Fantasy Observations & Thoughts

- Indians youngster Aaron Laffey had a no hitter for 5 innings before imploding in the 6th against the mighty Yankees lineup. He should see a few more starts with Jake Westbrook on the DL and could be a good play against weaker offenses such as the Royals on Saturday.

- The Mets-Pirates game was rained out and will be replayed on August 11. Both team pushed their starting pitchers back a day thus, yesterday’s starters Johan Santana and Ian Snell will throw tonight.

- The Orioles and White Sox were tied at 3 at the end of the 11th inning when their game was postponed due to rain. The teams will finish the game starting in the 12th inning at a later date.

- What do the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins possibly have in common? They all currently sit atop their divisions while the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies occupy the cellar! Gotta love April…


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