The Red Sox and Marlins met Tuesday night for the first time since 2006. This was significant -- and only in a minor way -- not because it was the first time the two teams met since the fateful Josh Beckett-Hanley Ramirez (and other significant parts) trade, but because it was the first time where we could even begin to evaluate that swap with any historical perspective.
Back then, Ramirez was just a rookie shortstop with plenty of talent and two good months under his belt. Beckett, brought in as the presumptive ace, was struggling with the transition from the NL to the AL East and sported a bloated ERA hovering near 5.00 for a Boston team headed for a mighty fall in the second half.
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 Yankees are a .654 team against everyone else, but a .000 team when they face the Red Sox. Yes, Boston and New York hooked up for their third series of the season beginning Tuesday night, but despite the Yankees' surge up the AL East standings since the last time the rivals met, they dropped to 0-6 against the Sox this season.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday. Ben Zobrist has transformed from a run-of-the-mill slap hitter into one of the most powerful middle infielders in baseball. Right when you thought he might be cooling off, SMASH! -- a grand slam against Kansas City for his 10th home run of the year. He's slugging .659 with a 1.073 OPS for crying out loud. And he's somehow still available in over 35 percent of mixed leagues. So the question becomes: Is it time for you to believe in the man Joe Maddon nicknamed "Zorilla" or will his power eventually fade just like Marco Scutaro's did?
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Oh what a difference a month makes. Josh Beckett's ERA in April stood at 7.22, including a two-game span where he was shellacked for 15 runs. Since then he's hurled five straight quality starts and posted a 2.38 ERA in May. His ERA is now 4.60 and his WHIP is 1.47, both of which fail to indicate his true current value. Often, like in Beckett's case, you can only get an accurate gauge by looking at what a player's done lately instead of viewing overall stats.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
Let me put this simply: you want no part of being No. 1 in the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings. It just brings discord, losing and possibly suspensions to your baseball team. Such was the case with the white-hot Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, who now have to deal with a 50 game-ban of their star slugger. Who's doomed this week? Let's just say that no one would be too shocked if they weren't there again next Wednesday.
NEW YORK – Joba Chamberlain on Tuesday was once again dominant in relief.
The bad news for the Yankees, though, was that it was in relief of himself.
Chamberlain's outing in a 7-3 loss to the Red Sox provided fodder for the Joba-has-to-start crowd and gave plenty of ammunition to the Joba-in-relief lobby.
(And let's not be mistaken: There are two sides to this debate.)
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.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Matt Garza is one of those talented pitchers that novice owners probably lost patience with quickly. And if they did, they were watching Thursday's spectacular performance kicking themselves. Garza, who had struggled with his command through his first four starts, took a perfect game bid into the seventh inning against the Red Sox and finished with a line worthy of adulation: 7 2/3 innings, 10 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 walk, no runs. Has he turned the corner that quickly?
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 Cubs put an ugly finish to an ugly 2-4 road trip, losing 10-0 to the Diamondbacks. It's early, and they are 10-10, but so far the Cubs have not looked like the runaway best team in the National League that they were supposed to be. Manager Lou Piniella knows something is wrong.
"We're beginning to find out those other teams want to kick our butts. You're not going to win without playing with intensity every day, and the quicker that sinks in, the better."
Besides simply playing poorly, the Cubs have had to deal with Milton Bradley's issues and injuries, and now a problem that might land Aramis Ramirez on the DL. This weekend the Cubs will play the schizophrenic Marlins, so we'll see which team shows up, on both sides of the field.
The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.
There's something about Patriots Day that seems to bring out the best in the Red Sox. Or maybe it's the Baltimore Orioles. Either way, it only took a long weekend at Fenway Park to put to rest many of the fears that began to bubble up after Boston's 3-6 start to the season.
It didn't look like it would be that way after the top of the second inning in the series opener Friday night.
The Red Sox and Marlins met Tuesday night for the first time since 2006. This was significant -- and only in a minor way -- not because it was the first time the two teams met since the fateful Josh Beckett-Hanley Ramirez (and other significant parts) trade, but because it was the first time where we could even begin to evaluate that swap with any historical perspective.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
NEW YORK – 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
The 
