FanHouse Livian Hernandez

I feel like I'm being a bit hard on these two-start pitchers for week 12, but I feel that 64% of them are pretty risky to be in your lineups. You'll see what I am talking about after the jump. There are a total of 33 guys throwing twice between Monday, June 22nd and Sunday, June 28th.

On the flip side, the Cubs have two very good options with Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Demptser going twice this week. That could mean good things for the Cubs this week.

Finally, the world may be coming to an end this week as both Livian Hernandez and Brad Penny are solid starts for the week. Seriously?

Lineups for the week are due to be set at 7:10 PM ET. So relax and make some good decisions.

BAM! will take a look at who's getting added and who's getting dropped in fantasy leagues. And whether you should follow suit. It's like a 'Three Up, Three Down' with a way cooler name.

Carlos Quentin, OF, CHW (14,815 Adds) -- A seven game hit streak, even as modest as it is, will get you noticed in fantasy baseball, as will having five home runs on the season and being relatively unowned in most leagues. Quentin is locked into starting in Chicago, he's always had a lot of upside and he plays in a decent hitter's park. Not to mention his BB/K rate is all the way up to 1.08 (from 0.33 last season). A nice add.

Aaron Cook, SP, CHW (13,783 Adds) -- Cook's ownership percentage is skyrocketing because he's racked up three straight wins for the Rockies. He's allowed only six runs over the last 21 innings, while striking out a pretty healthy 13 batters (for a contact -- groundball guy anyway). Cook's a decent add right now while he's hot, but remember that he's getting a little lucky; he's seen a small uptick in FB% (countered by a dip in his line drive rate, not his ground ball rate, which is a little disconcerting) and his BABIP is lower than it should be, even with a nice defense.

Jonathan Sanchez, SP, SF (5,632 Adds) -- We've talked Sanchez before, but he didn't actually start going off until after his two start week. He K'd 10 batters in his last outing and is being touted in some circles as "the next great strikeout artist" (if I may paraphrase). Sanchez is a definite add for his strikeout potential. In fact, most of his periphs check out alright, so go ahead and pounce.

Watching the Cubs in the post-season has given me horrible flashback nightmares the past couple days. As a Pirate fan, my only experiences with post-season baseball are the 1990-1992 NLCS's in which Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke, and Bobby Bonilla (in '90 and '91) failed to bring their bats with them to the playoffs and the Pirates lost three years in a row. This year for the Cubs, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, and Derrek Lee are a combined 4-for-27 with four singles and only one walk between them. That's a .148/.179/.148 line from three guys that OPS'd .897, .915, and .913 respectively.

Tonight those three take their quest to find hits back to Chicago against Livian Hernandez, who the D'Backs hope can close out the sweep. You'll undoubtedly be told about what a great "big game pitcher' Hernandez is, and it's true that he's 6-2 with a 3.99 ERA in 8 post-season starts and 2 relief appearances, but he hasn't pitched in the playoffs since the 2002 World Series. He's certainly a guy that the Cubs potent offense should be able to hit. But then again, so was Doug Davis.

This game is pretty much business as usual for both teams. An objective analysis of the teams would tell you that the D'backs shouldn't have much of a chance tonight and that the Cubs will get themselves back into the series. And maybe that's what will happen, but if you're like me you probably just can't shake the feeling that the Diamondbacks aren't going to let things happen that easily for the Cubs or their fans.

There's been a lot of rightly deserved criticism of Major League Baseball and TBS for stretching out the earlier rounds of the playoffs to accommodate a later start to the World Series. The most interesting aspect, however, is how it affects a team like the Diamondbacks. That's because the D'Backs are built mostly on Brandon Webb being awesome and everyone else on the team being juuuust good enough for that to matter. More days off means Webb pitches more and that means the D'Backs have more of a chance to win.

The D'Backs entire playoff life will likely hinge on whether or not they can win Webb's starts. If they win the games he pitches, they only have to win somewhere between three and five of the games he doesn't pitch. The problem the Diamondbacks face is that with the extra rest, Webb will almost always be up against the opponent's ace. That's the situation the D'Backs find themselves in tonight, up against Carlos Zambrano in Chase Field for Game 1. The Cubs don't feature a rotation of Hall of Famers by any measure, but they do go three decent starters deep with Ted Lilly and Rich Hill following up the Big Z and not leaving fans with the questions that Doug Davis and Livian Hernandez do.

Game 1 is always big in a short series because a win means you only have to go .500 the rest of the way to advance. I think it's even bigger for a team that relies on their ace the way the D'Backs do. The Cubs are looking tonight to deliver a dagger in front of a crowd of transplanted Cub fans in Phoenix with their own ace on the mound, while the D'Backs need to prove to all the naysayers (like me) that they really deserve to be here. If any Division Series hangs on the first game, it's this one.