"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."
Ross and St. Louis' Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
In 2005, Tom Gorzelanny pitched in the majors for the first time. He was just 22. Two years later, he went 14-10 with a 3.88 ERA -- logging more than 200 innings in 32 starts for the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. He did allow too many hits, but he was only 25 years old, so it appeared he would settle in as an anchor for the ever-rebuilding Pirates.
Instead, he had a disastrous past two seasons and had been relegated to the minors. Last week, Gorzelanny was traded to the Cubs, and Tuesday night he passed his Cubs debut with flying colors.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Marlins and Tigers are on fire.
Exactly two weeks ago, Florida was eight games behind Philadelphia. Since then the Marlins have gone 9-3, all in interleague play, to close within a game of first place. The hot streak includes four one-run wins and Thursday's 11-3 victory that sealed a sweep of the Orioles and ran Florida's win streak to five.
During this 12-game stretch, Hanley Ramirez has batted .400 with three home runs (one of them a grand slam Thursday) and 19 RBI while Cody Ross has hit .400 with five homers and 12 RBI.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what's ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Marlins have had an interesting opening three weeks. After Sunday's 13-2 loss to the Phillies, which was so ugly that outfielder Cody Ross pitched the ninth inning, the Fish have dropped six in a row. That came immediately after they started 11-1.
"We're not an 11-1 team, and we're not an 0-6 team -- we're somewhere in the middle," manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
So now the Marlins are 11-7, having scored 93 runs and allowed 89 runs. That type of run production ought to leave them at a little over .500, which is where many prognosticators figured they'd be when the season began.
From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.
Atlanta Braves There are a number of story lines buzzing in Braves camp. You have a battle between Jordan Schafer and Josh Anderson for the right to patrol center field. You also have five of Baseball America's top 100 prospects in camp, including the fifth ranked prospect who's been turning heads, Jason Heyward. But the king of the hill in to this point for the Braves is the fourth ranked prospect on that Baseball America list, Tommy Hanson. Hanson is fighting for a chance to grab the final rotation spot after he tore up the Arizona Fall League. In his first start he struck out two in two innings of work, walked one and allowed two runs. More buzzworthy was the fact that he touched 99 MPH on the radar gun and plunked Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada in retaliation to his shortstop Yunel Escobar being plunked earlier. Hanson pitches again today in an exhibition against the WBC team from Panama.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the ... Most bizarre franchise in MLB history? While the Yankees plod along, spending trillions and winning every year, the four Marlin fans remaining in Miami have always been treated to a roller coaster of sorts: either the Marlins are kind of randomly breaking out as a contender or they're mid-firesale.
Last year was different though: the Marlins were supposed to stink, and yet, they didn't. This season, though, as a result of that success, there's a decent chance some of their players will be overvalued for fantasy purposes (hello, Dan Uggla) which might hurt their overall team value. Still, some young sleepers are there and certainly worth your consideration.
Cheap Yard Work helps you pick out likely free agents in your league that have been raking over the past week.
Andre Ethier, Dodgers, OF 7 day stats: .357/.400/.821, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 8 R, 4 2B Wow, he's never hit for much power, but he's upped his season total to ten. Strike while the iron is hot, as he will stay in the middle of the Dodgers lineup and continue to get the RBI opportunities.
Ryan Spillborghs, Rocks, OF 7 day stats: .421/.500/.895, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 8 R, SB, 3 2B The 2-HR game was a mirage, but he did hit 11 last year in only 264 at-bats. In fact, all he's ever done with regular ABs is produce. His career OBP is .371, so the odds are good that the Rockies leave him atop the lineup for an extended stay. He'll steal bases and score runs without hurting your average and drop in occasional power stats. A very solid pickup right now in most leagues.
Cody Ross, Marlins, OF 7 day stats: .482/.517/.704, HR, 10 RBI, 7 R, 3 2B Okay, so Coors Field inflated the stat line a bit ... he's still got 14 total bombs this season, and that bears watching in nearly every fantasy league at the midway point.
Elijah Dukes, Nats, OF He's on fire ... NOOOOOOO!!!! He's out for four to six weeks. Right in the middle of a hot streak. That sucks. Specific lineup questions? Hit us up via email.
If you're new to these proceedings, click here and here to catch up on what you've missed.
If you're not into the extended catch-up, you've missed a six-run Mets fourth and a two-run Josh Willingham home run and some entertaining fat men dancing. Johan Santana's on his way to his first Mets win, we'll see if he can get it after the jump.
Hopefully you're moving over from the Innings 1-3 coverage but if not and need to catch up, check it out here.
Johan Santana's been everything the Mets expected to this point but he's getting everything he can handle from Mark Hendrickson. On a basketball court, that wouldn't be surprising but we're playing baseball here. Let's see how both men do as they start facing people for the second and third time. For now we're scoreless and heading into the top of the fourth.
If you're looking for a feeling of rebirth, there ain't much better than Opening Day. Blank slates abound, last year's failures are but a fleeting memory and everybody's in first place. Nope, it doesn't get much better than that.
Unless, of course, you have all those things plus your first look at the best pitcher in baseball wearing your team's uniform for the first time in a game that counts. It's Johan Santana's Mets coming out party and the Marlins are playing both host and cannon fodder for the man who has launched World Series dreams all across Queens.
I'll be here for every one of his pitches (and Mark Hendrickson's too!). Sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Starting Five
From now until the regular season begins, 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
Cheap Yard Work helps you pick out likely free agents in your league that have been raking over the past week.
