From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
This coming weekend, Major League Baseball will reveal its 2009 All-Star teams. So what better opportunity than this to run through a list of this season's "Anti-All-Stars." Anti-All-Stars is far too bland a name, though, so we decided to name the team in honor of Andruw Jones. After all, he was the poster child for guys not earning the lucrative contracts bestowed on them last season. We'll sort through each position and find the player who is least helping his team in comparison to expectations -- whether monetary or from management.
Turns out it's a good thing the Red Sox cultivated and collected pitchers like a squirrel hording acorns this past winter. Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-5, 8.23 ERA), who has never really seemed right all season, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with what the team is calling "weakness in his shoulder."
The move takes a potentially awkward decision out of Boston's hands, clearing the way for John Smoltz to enter the rotation next week in Washington without the club having to either demote a healthy pitcher to the bullpen or convert to a potentially unwieldy six-man rotation.
It doesn't fully answer the question of what the club will do with Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden -- both of whom are dominating in the minors right now and have little left to prove there -- but it does clear up the immediate future and officially pull Brad Penny off the trading block.
Starkly in contrast to that is Matsuzaka whose future is suddenly very murky two-plus years after Boston shelled out more than $51 million to the Seibu Lions for the right to negotiate with him and another $52 million to ink him to a major league contract.
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 Angels and Cubs -- two overwhelming favorites to win their division entering 2009 -- finally seem to have their mojo back.
A day after Chicago rallied from four down in the eighth inning to beat the White Sox, they climbed out of a 7-0 fourth-inning hole to beat the Indians, thanks in part to another dramatic home run from Derrek Lee -- a drive that came off of longtime Cub Kerry Wood no less.
Not to be outdone, the Angels' Juan Rivera snapped a 4-all tie in the eighth inning of the Freeway Series opener with a decisive solo home run. The Halos have now reeled off seven straight wins, and, despite all the hard luck (and tragedy) they've had to deal with so far this season, are a 1/2 game behind the division-leading Rangers in the AL West.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
For the most of past two seasons, Aaron Rowand has been a thorn in the collective sides of his fantasy owners. In the middle of May, his batting average even dipped down to .214 (he also only had 2 homers at the time). Starting May 10, though, Rowand has been mashing. In that 21-game span, he's hitting .378 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI. He's also accrued 10 doubles and scored 18 runs in that time.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what's ahead. You Oughta Know ... That it's awfully hard for K-Rod to earn his money if J.J. Putz isn't doing his job ahead of Rodriguez. For the second straight day, Putz had a rocky outing. He surrendered two runs in a touch and go eighth inning Sunday against the Marlins (the Mets still won the game) and followed that Monday by allowing four runs and taking the loss against the Pirates.
Putz gave up four consecutive singles during Pittsburgh's rally, and attributed much of his performance to misfortune.
"A couple hoppers up the middle," Putz said. "They hit groundballs; they just hit them to the right spot.
"There's not much you can say about that. There's a little bit of bad luck involved."
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While it's entirely possible the Blue Jays do hit a snag, isn't it about time columnists across the internet stopped doing Can the Blue Jays Really Keep This Up? pieces by now? I've seen at least 10 in the past three weeks. There are almost as many The Rangers Are For Real posts. The discrepancy in the media's faith in those two is likely due to the divisions in which the teams reside, but seven weeks isn't a small sample. At some point, you have to start giving credit where it's due.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
He's only 21 years old. He's only 21 years old. Whenever you get frustrated that your future fantasy stud is struggling, it's important to take a breather and repeat those words. When I was 21, I think I spent my Wednesday nights playing Counter-Strike and eating bad pizza. Justin Upton, on the other hand, has to deal with expectations that he's the next Willie Mays. Whatever happened to the 27-year-old "breakout" rule? Suddenly it's six years younger?
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Jim Leyland has a nice touch.
The Tigers manager shuffled his lineup on Tuesday after Carlos Guillen went on the disabled list with a bad shoulder and heel, and all Detroit did was pound out nine runs on 11 hits in a victory over Minnesota.
"This is what a manager does, this is my job, to try to be a little creative. I think if things aren't working and you have a couple guys struggling, maybe change it up a little bit," he said. "Billy Martin managed for you guys and he drew it out of a hat one time when he was struggling."
The picture (right) of John Smoltz in a non-Braves jersey looks awfully weird, but we still haven't seen it in a regular season game. The wait will continue, because he's having some small issues in his surgically repaired right shoulder, and he will be shut down completely for a week.
It's not like the Red Sox are starved for help right now, considering they've won 12 of their last 13 games, but they have had some starting rotation holes. Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the disabled list and Brad Penny has had two awful outings. Fortunately, this setback isn't serious, according to Red Sox manager Terry Francona.
Turns out it's a good thing the Red Sox cultivated and collected pitchers like a squirrel hording acorns this past winter. 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
The picture (right) of John Smoltz in a non-Braves jersey looks awfully weird, but we still haven't seen it in a regular season game. The wait will continue, because he's having some small issues in his surgically repaired right shoulder, and 
