FanHouse JuanPierre

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- At the start of this three-game series, there was a thought this would have been a good test for the up and coming Rangers, who lead the AL West.

It turned out to be a nice test -- and confirmation -- for the Dodgers, who own the best record in the game.

After three humid days and nights at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Los Angeles took two of three games here and will head back to Southern California happy.

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.

It's about time Fantasy FanHouse stuck its nose into all this podcast business. In our first fantasy baseball podcast segments of the year, Will Brinson, Knox Bardeen and I delve into expectations for uber-catcher Matt Wieters in anticipation of his major league debut Friday night for Baltimore.

We also talk about another young power hitter who's lost his luster, Chris Davis, and try to find out what's eating B.J. Upton. Oh, and if you're riding Juan Pierre's hot streak, you'd be wise to listen to the second segment, too.

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

You couldn't have scripted all of the twists and turns the first 20% of the season has taken thus far. And if you could have, would anybody really watch?

Who had Frank Francisco and Ryan Franklin as two of the closers tied for the major league lead with nine saves at this point in the season? And we all knew Zack Greinke had talent and could blow up at any time. But, a 5-1 record with a 0.51 ERA and a league-leading 59 strikeouts. Seriously?

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Major League Baseball suspended Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez for 50 games on Thursday for use of performance enhancing drugs.

Ramirez, who turns 37 on May 30, will begin the suspension with Thursday night's Dodgers-Nationals game. He would be eligible to return around
July 3, depending on rainouts.

Update: You can read the official news and Ed Price's take on how it affects the Dodgers over at MLB FanHouse.

As it sits right now, you need to run to your waiver wire and sign Juan Pierre. His fantasy value just skyrocketed. At least for 50 games, that is.

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.

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

We're getting close to having three full weeks of baseball in the books. Astute fans know that it's definitely not enough to reveal the outcome of the season, but it's certainly enough of a sample to start drawing preliminary conclusions. Of course, you still have the occasional instance where home crowds boo their own players for one reason or another. Wednesday, for example, CC Sabathia was booed by about half the Yankee Stadium crowd when he departed after allowing six earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, upping his ERA to 4.81 on the season.

How many outs in an inning?

Four, if you need them.

Had the Diamondbacks realized that, they would have allowed the Dodgers one fewer run Sunday. Instead, Los Angeles' Andre Ethier scored a run on a lineout without tagging up.

How's that? Well, follow closely:

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Chad Tracy missed a good chunk of the 2008 season due to knee surgery, which held him to only 273 at-bats. Tracy says he's been healthy since mid-way through the off-season and manager Bob Melvin expects big things from him in 2009 saying he can see it as Tracy drives the ball.

When I see him drive the ball to left-center field, for me, his legs are under him," Melvin said. "Those are the ones he was having a little trouble getting out there and extending on, probably trying to pull a little too much. And when he did he hit the ball the opposite way, it (was) not with the force he had before. Now it looks like to me he's hitting it hard the either way.

Tracy's average draft position right now is a very low 387.75. If he can return to 2005 form where he hit 27 home runs and batted .308 or anywhere close to that, he'll be a steal.