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

You Oughta Know ...
That Tampa Bay's Matt Garza picks up his game against division opponents.

Garza on Thursday was perfect for six innings against Boston before Jacoby Ellsbury led off the seventh inning with an infield hit.

In 7 2/3 innings of a 13-0 rout, Garza allowed that one hit, walked one and struck out 10.

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 news that probably means a lot more to fantasy baseball players than real baseball fans -- with all due respect to the Pirates and their true fans -- Ryan Doumit is going to miss the next 8-10 weeks. He'll be undergoing wrist surgery and have some pins inserted. As fantasy owners, we must march on and look at how to replace the production of a very solid offensive catcher.

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

Ichiro's hobbies include: Hitting baseballs, getting massages from manager Don Wakamatsu, and hitting more baseballs.

One nice way to put injury concerns to rest is by smashing a grand slam in your first game back. Ichiro, who missed the first week and a half due to fatigue and ulcer troubles, went 2-for-5 with the homer, four RBI and a stolen base against the Angels. But his stat line paled in comparison to another leadoff star.

The growing trend in baseball is for teams to sign their young players to contract extensions in hopes of locking them up before they become too expensive. While it's a smart financial move for all teams, it's generally a real good move for teams with lower payrolls. The Indians started it with Grady Sizemore a few years ago, then the Rockies followed suit with Troy Tulowitzki. This season it's been Evan Longoria and Hanley Ramirez reaping the rewards of baseball's new trend.

One smaller market team that is yet to adapt to this new philosophy is the Kansas City Royals, but that doesn't mean they don't have some young, talented players who wouldn't mind an extension.

"It's just kind of a feel thing," general manager Dayton Moore said. "Obviously, there has to be a willingness on both sides. We talk about a lot of things, but we're still very early in the process."

The Royals are loaded with young players who project as key players for years to come. Of those, the closest to free-agency are pitcher Zack Greinke and catcher John Buck. Both are on track to enter the market after the 2010 season.

Neither has been contacted by club officials about possible extensions.

Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria has been fantastic so far. I mean, ridiculously good. He's 8-for-8 in save situations, and has been damn near untouchable so far. In 13 innings of work, he's struck out 15 while allowing only one walk and three hits, all of which gives him an unbelievably low WHIP of 0.31.

He's even been garnering comparisons to a young Mariano Rivera already. Still, it's also gotten a lot of people in Kansas City wondering: what if the team moved Soria to the starting rotation? From Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star.

Soria is so good, so quick - and with seemingly no strain - that teammates and Royals officials can't help but wonder about someday moving him to the rotation. His use has become one of the perpetual talking points among Royals fans.

Royals manager Trey Hillman, not one who lacks confidence in his decisions, has even second-guessed himself when he hasn't used Soria.

The only problem the Royals have had with Soria is providing him with save chances - only eight in the first 33 games.

"I don't know if we've seen what he's capable of doing," says catcher John Buck. "Personally, I think he could be a really good starter. He has a lot of good other pitches that the league hasn't even seen. I've caught him in the bullpen. There's about three other pitches that nobody's ever seen, because he doesn't need 'em."

Rather than hand you some cumbersome weekly lineup planner, we're just gonna bring you weekly rankings and schedules for each position. Besides, you're smart. And if you're not, we're here to help. Email the Fantasy FanHouse crew and we'll holler back with help.

Some notes on the Catcher Rankings:
- J.R. Towles is a younger guy you might not be onto yet, but you should; same with Geovany Soto. Both are great (and cheap!) options with a ton of upside.

- John Buck is a guy I'm a little higher on than our rankings (crazy mathematical formula, natch) indicate. Buck's got some power in his bat and got white hot at the beginning of 2007; could end up with high teens in homers but probably not a great batting average.

- Brian McCann, with a four game stand in Colorado this week, could easily be the number one guy on this list; it's Russell Martin's ability to swipe bags that puts him over the top (although I'd take McCann for the power and because I'm a homer).

Player		Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
R. Martin	LAD	@ AR	@ ARI	@ARI		SD	SD	SD
McCann	ATL	@ COL	@ COL	@ COL	@ COL	@ WAS	@WAS	@WAS
Mauer	MIN	@ CHW		@ CHW	@CHW	@KC	@KC	@KC
Johjima	SEA	@BAL	@ TB	@ TB	@ TB	ANA	ANA	ANA
Soto	CHC	@ PIT		@ PIT	@ PIT	@ PHI	@ PHI	@ PHI

The wait is over, the news that has kept baseball fans waiting on the edge of their seats in anticipation has finally arrived, ladies and gentlemen ... the Royals sign Miguel Olivo? Okay, maybe it's not quite a blockbuster, though you wouldn't know it from the way Royals GM Dayton Moore hyped up the news. From MLB.com:

"Miguel is a talented catcher with a power bat and a very strong throwing arm," Royals General Manager Dayton Moore said. "With him and John Buck, they form one of the most powerful catching duos in baseball."

Hear that, Royals fans? One of the most powerful catching duos in baseball! Buy your Royals tickets today! I suppose the fact they combined for 34 home runs last year might make them "powerful," but but talk about cherry-picking stats: these two guys combined to slug just .415 last year, not to mention hit .230 with a sub-.300 on-base percentage and 215 strikeouts in 799 at-bats. Signing Olivo is better than doing nothing, I suppose, but the Royals still have the worst catching situation in their division.