FanHouse JoeSaunders

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The Mariners have plummeted back to reality.

Seattle lost Thursday when closer Brandon Morrow allowed three runs in the ninth inning on a pair of Texas homers. The night before, the Mariners scored a run in the top of the 11th before Morrow gave up two in the bottom of the inning.

"I don't know about shell-shocked, but those are two games we definitely could have used," reliever David Aardsma said. "To have two wins pulled away from us like that is tough, no matter who you're playing, but especially against a team in your division."

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Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

At least we know Alex Rodriguez will have plenty of help from Yankee Stadium as he makes his way back from hip surgery.

Just ask Johnny Damon, who's suddenly turned into one of the hottest power hitters in baseball after hitting only 17 home runs all of last year. Damon has already knocked seven out this season, including three this month. The Rays joined in on the ball-smashing fun Thursday, launching six homers as a team. So is a trip to Yankee Stadium the same as visiting Arlington now?

There are a plethora of two-start pitchers hurling in week five (Monday, May 4th - Sunday May 10th) of the fantasy baseball season. There are 58 total this week and you late sleepers are luck that all of the Monday games are night games. You won't need to set you lineups until 7:05 PM ET.

[Update: 7:48 AM ET] : Two games were rained out yesterday. The Mets and Phillies did not play and the Angels and Yankees were rained out as well. Here is the fallout from those two postponed games as it relates to two-start pitchers.

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)

Most starting pitchers who have been healthy thus far have made between two and three starts. It's still a small sample size, but we're starting to see some dominating trends from faces both familiar and not-so-well known.

After scouring the statistics I came up with a list of starting pitchers who have pitched at least 19 innings, have an Earned Run Average below 3.00, and have a WHIP below 1.00. Anyone care to take a guess at home many are on this list?

The tragic death of 22-year-old starter Nick Adenhart is definitely going to be the low point of the Los Angeles Angels' season -- at least let's hope they don't have to deal with another death -- but much less significant problems are continuing to plague the defending AL West Champions. Specifically, they can't escape the injury bug.

While John Lackey, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar try to fight their way back to the mound, Vladimir Guerrero has joined them on the disabled list and Dustin Moseley left Friday night's start after just three innings with an apparent elbow injury -- an elbow which was surgically repaired in 2007.

ANAHEIM -- The Angels took the field on Friday night.

All 24 of them.

The 25th roster spot, the one that belonged to Nick Adenhart before he and two friends were killed in a car accident in the early hours of Thursday morning, remained vacant as the club returned to action. Adenhart's grieving teammates played a game against the Boston Red Sox.

Joe Saunders was already going to face skepticism about whether he could repeat his 2008 season, and now he's going to have to do it as the lead dog in the injury-riddled Angels rotation.

Saunders got off to a good start, absolutely dominating the A's lineup for 6 2/3 innings in the Angels' season-opening 3-0 victory. The A's, with a brand new lineup including Orlando Cabrera, Jason Giambi and Matt Holliday, did not even get a runner to third.

Still, is Saunders for real?

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As you set your fantasy lineups for week one remember that there are 43 starting pitchers this week who will start twice. I've broken these 43 pitchers into three categories. There are 19 "must start" pitchers, nine solid options, and 15 risky hurlers throwing twice.

For the record, since there is only one game tonight featuring the Braves and the Phillies, and it's a Sunday night game, you'll find that in most weekly leagues Derek Lowe and Brett Myers (tonight's starters) will only have one start in week one, even though they'll be starting twice in their teams first seven games.

Tim Lincecum looks to have a cake walk first week as he faces Milwaukee and San Diego. While Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, John Lannan and Scott Olsen have some of the toughest two-start schedules as they face tough teams in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Florida.

Considering that the Angels already have three of their starting pitchers currently on the disabled list in John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar, you can only figure the regular season can't get here fast enough. Due to the injuries to those pitchers, Joe Saunders has taken over the role of Opening Day starter, and I'll bet you can figure out where this is going.

Yes, with only five more days until the season starts, Saunders is apparently dealing with a dead arm, leaving his status for the first game of the season somewhat in doubt.