Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
There was reason for concern with Cliff Lee. After storming out of the proverbial gates upon his entrance to the so-called Senior Circuit, he stumbled. Lee's first five outings yielded a 5-0 record with a 0.68 ERA and a 39:6 K:BB in 40 innings. His next three? Ugly. He got a win (going 1-2), but his ERA in 15 innings was 9.60, after allowing 29 hits, 16 earned runs and 4 home runs.
Tuesday night, Lee re-announced his presence with authority.
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.
The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)
Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.
With the Houston Astros riding a sweep of the first-place Cardinals and suddenly finding themselves just a game out in the NL Central, it seems like a bad time for Lance Berkman to be going on the disabled list with a calf strain. Of course, that's just what the Astros announced Thursday, as Berkman's only been able to play part of one game since the end of the All-Star break. A looming four-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the team they're tied with for second, makes the timing of this news seem even worse.
Berkman, as usual, is the Astros' best hitter this year, with an on-base percentage over .400 and a team high 18 homers. Without him in the lineup every day, they'll have to hope that the resurgent Miguel Tejada can keep hitting for at least two more weeks until Berkman can return to daily duty.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Ryan Ludwick scuffled early this season, which was a sign to many about how much of a fluke his huge 2008 season was. Through June 29, Ludwick was hitting just .227 with a .718 OPS. Last season, he hit .299 with a .966 OPS in his career year, with a whopping 37 home runs and 113 RBI. Many thought it was an outlier, but he had never gotten a chance to play everyday in the majors until then.
In July, he's heating up and showing that he is no fluke.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Clay Buchholz did exactly what the Red Sox wanted him to do, but still earned a ticket right back to Triple-A after doing it. The Red Sox, whose rotation is set, gave Buchholz the ball on Friday night as a reward for his successful comeback this year at Triple-A. The plan all along was for him to get one start and go back down, and that's what happened after he gave up one run in 5 2/3 innings in a victory over Toronto.
It was Buchholz's first big league game since last August, when he was demoted after a seven-game losing streak. This year at Triple-A, he was 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA, earning the brief promotion.
"Considering the circumstances and everything, I thought he had poise, I thought he had good stuff," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He attacked with his fastball, he threw his changeup, he threw his breaking ball. He commanded the game. It's really gratifying for us. We've heard all the reports and we've seen him work but then to see him do it tonight was a lot of fun for us."
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Ervin Santana went 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 214 strikeouts last season. The promising 26-year-old has yet to rekindle the success in 2009, though, due mostly to arm injuries. Still, we know the potential he possesses, which is why there's no reason to give up on him halfway through the season. Any sign of a turnaround is sure to give fantasy baseball owners hope.
Thursday night, we got a glimmer. Santana dominated the A's. He worked 8 innings and struck out 4, while only allowing 3 hits, 1 earned run and 2 walks -- garnering the win in the process.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
By the looks of his season stats, you wouldn't know that Jordan Zimmermann has actually been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors over the past month. We're talking a 1.90 ERA and a .198 batting average against. On that same note, Minnesota's Scott Baker is holding opposing hitters to a .205 average over his last five starts. The turnaround of these pitchers teach fantasy owners an important lesson about staying patient and swooping in when the time is right.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Jose Contreras and Manny Parra took a day between Triple-A assignments to share a mound in Milwaukee. Parra and the Brewers can only hope that he emerges from his demotion as well as Contreras did.
The White Sox veteran righty pitched eight scoreless innings to beat the Brewers on Saturday. In two starts since returning from his voluntary Triple-A assignment, Contreras has not allowed a run in 16 innings.
"I know what Jose went through during the last eight months, and going to the minor leagues was a great thought by him," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Before he left, he told [White Sox general manager Kenny Williams] and myself, 'I need to pitch, I need to go out on the mound, I need to get stronger. When I come back, I'll come back fine.' "He's stepping up to his word, and he's just throwing the ball good."
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?
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
MLB Power Rankings
With the Houston Astros riding a sweep of the first-place Cardinals and suddenly finding themselves just a game out in the NL Central, it seems like a bad time for 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
