FanHouse Jeff Karstens

It's hard to think of a more one-sided "rivalry" in sports than the one currently contested between the Pirates and the Brewers. Before the Pirates' 8-5 win last night, the Brewers had taken 17 straight games between the two teams, dating back to May 22 of last season. Somehow (or maybe because of the losing streak, though the Pirates rarely seem to be the initiating team) a lot of bad blood has boiled up between the two teams, and it came to a head (again) Monday night in the eighth inning.

Last night's mini-altercation started when Brewers' reliever Chris Smith beaned Pirates' reliever Jeff Karstens. Karstens, you may recall, beaned Ryan Braun back in May, which sent Braun over the edge and led to some ridiculous and vague threats that never materialized. So Karstens got the message and started walking towards Smith, when he was intercepted by Jason Kendall, who appeared to point to first base. This is when things got interesting.

There are some pretty good two-start pitchers going in week seven of the fantasy baseball season. Chad Billingsley and Dan Haren lead the list of "Must Start" pitchers, while I'm not sure which option would be riskier between Dontrelle Willis and Tim Redding this week.

There are 47 two-start pitchers in all and you'll need to lock your lineup by 1:07 PM ET on Monday as that's first pitch between the White Sox and Blue Jays.

Must Start
Dan Haren , Diamondbacks - Monday at FLA (R. Nolasco) and Saturday at OAK (J. Outman)
Derek Lowe , Braves - Monday vs COL (J. Marquis) and Saturday vs TOR (S. Richmond)
Jair Jurrjens , Braves - Tuesday vs COL (J. Hammel) and Sunday vs TOR (B. Tallet)

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

Last Sunday, Alfonso Soriano was hit in the head by a pitch off the hand of Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer. Later in the game, Cubs starting pitcher Rich Harden hit Albert Pujols in the middle of the back. It was a fastball, and it was on the first pitch of the at-bat. There was no one on base, and the Cubs had a big lead. Translation: Pujols was hit by Harden in retaliation for Soriano's beaning.

Monday, Ryan Braun was apparently dotted on purpose by Jeff Karstens of the Pirates, but the Brewers didn't get a chance to retaliate, because the umpiring crew offered an immediate warning to both benches.

Do you remember the Pirates-Brewers game on Monday? You probably don't. You might not remember it even if you watched the game. But Ryan Braun is still talking about it. He homered early on in Monday's game and was beaned by Jeff Karstens in his next at-bat. He was upset during the game, he threatened the Pirates with violence yesterday, and Wednesday, he's still moaning about it.

I like watching Braun hit and I get that he's upset that he got buzzed, but he really needs to let this go. Karstens doesn't have great control (nine walks in 15 innings this year) and he doesn't throw particularly hard, but Braun just keeps going on and on and on about this. I think he probably crossed the line a little bit in that story I linked above:

Monday night, Ryan Braun hit a first-inning home run off of Jeff Karstens of the Pirates. Two innings and two bombs later (by Rickie Weeks and Mike Cameron, respectively), Braun wore a Karstens fastball in the middle of his back. It was the first pitch of the at-bat, so it appeared to be an intentional beanball.

Both benches were warned by the umpiring crew and no Pirates were hit in retaliation for the rest of the game. According to Braun, though, that's not a sign the team has forgiven and forgotten.

Forty-four pitchers are throwing twice this week (Monday, April 27th - Sunday, May 3rd). All the games are night games on Monday, so no need to rush. Get your lineups set by 7:00 PM ET for the St. Louis at Atlanta game.

Must Start
Dan Haren, Diamondbacks - Tuesday vs CHC (C. Zambrano) and Sunday at MLW (D. Bush)
Chad Billingsley, Dodgers - Tuesday at SF (B. Zito) and Sunday vs SD (J. Geer)
James Shields, Rays - Tuesday at MIN (F. Liriano) and Sunday vs BOS (B. Penny)
Gil Meche, Royals - Tuesday vs TOR (S. Richmond) and Sunday at MIN (S. Baker)
Kyle Lohse, Cardinals - Tuesday at ATL (J. Reyes) and Sunday at WAS (J. Lannan)
Ted Lilly, Cubs - Monday at ARZ (Y. Petit) and Saturday vs FLA (A. Sanchez)

Maybe it's time to go back to the four-man rotation.

No, that isn't really practical. But with Opening Day encroaching, teams are sorting out their pitching staffs. And since most teams went into spring training not sure who would make up the back-end of the rotation, we're starting to get word now on who will fill those roles.

In Detroit, it's rookies Ryan Perry and Rick Porcello, who beat out veteran Nate Robertson. Elsewhere, it's not as sexy.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the better part of the last decade, the Pittsburgh Pirates aimlessly wandered through the wilderness of baseball with Kevin McClatchy and Dave Littlefield at the helm. Finally, they lost their jobs and Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington took over. For more than a year, the new front office has been working on digging out of the hole dug by Littlefield during his reign of terror. There's only one real problem: The hole dug by Littlefield was so deep that it's going to take more than a year to dig out of it.

A year ago, Tom Gorzelanny seemed like one of the few positive things the Pittsburgh Pirates had going for them. Wednesday, after a full year of struggles and seemingly little improvement in Spring Training, the Pirates demoted him to Triple-A. With this move, it seems likely that Jeff Karstens or Virgil Vazquez will fill the fifth starter slot, so it's a pretty strong statement by Pirate management that they don't think Gorzelanny is capable of pitching at the big-league level right now.

This move is all kinds of interesting for a number of reasons. It's pretty early in camp to see such a prominent player get cut, which makes me wonder if Pirates' GM Neal Huntington is trying to send a message to Gorzelanny. He came to camp 15 pounds lighter this spring, but Huntington hasn't shied away from demoting players to make statements in the past, and the timing here is pretty curious.

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 ...
Pittsburgh Pirates. I mean, what else needs to be said? They haven't been able to rebuild themselves properly in the past decade and a half. The relatively new front office seems to be headed down the right path, but it's early in the process. Fantasy-wise, you won't find much here to like.