For a number of major league teams Mondays and Thursdays are travel days. Every Wednesday and Sunday, Fantasy Fill-Ins finds guys who should be widely available on the waiver wire and can step in for the day, helping you gain ground or hold off the pack.
On Thursday we have ten major league games on the docket. That means there are plenty of players to choose from on the waiver wire. Here's five of the best options.
Matt Diaz, Braves - Not only has Matt Diaz batted .424 over the last month, but his OPS is 1.187. As good as those numbers are, he has had better results against Ricky Nolasco in his career, going 6-for-11 (.545) when facing the Marlins hurler. Diaz is only owned 22% of fantasy leagues.
Our weekly fantasy baseball podcast topic on Tuesday night was gaining ground in a rotisserie league. It was a good listen, as most Cram Sessions are, but a topic that I wanted to expand upon today is streaming hitters into your lineup on Mondays and Thursdays.
We've all heard of streaming pitchers, in fact if you've listened to R.J. White in his Stream Team column every day since the All-Star break you now have an extra 17 wins on your fantasy team. R.J. has streaming pitchers down to a science. It's really no different to stream in hitters. You just only need to do it two days a week.
Nate McLouth gave it the old college try, but in the end the left hamstring injury that he sustained on Aug. 8 forced the Atlanta Braves center fielder to the 15-day disabled list.
McLouth originally sat out three games for the Braves. He played on Aug. 14 and then was forced to leave the game early the next day after re-injuring the hamstring. His injury is considered mild and he is expected back in the minimum.
McLouth has played in 56 games since coming over to the Braves from Pittsburgh in a trade in early June. He's batting .260 in an Atlanta uniform and has six home runs and 10 stolen bases.
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 Braves have their longest winning streak of the year.
OK, it's only four games. But before Thursday night, Atlanta was the only team that had not won four straight at some point this season.
And where has it gotten the Braves? Not out of fourth place in the NL East – yet within two games of the first-place Phillies, their victims the past three games.
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.
Atlanta Braves Omar Infante and Matt Diaz are popular kids in camp as Spring Training winds down. They're popular not so much for their talent or spring numbers (although both have great spring stats) but for who they will be replacing in the starting lineup if mending time stretches into the regular season. Chipper Jones is nursing an oblique injury and Garrett Anderson a calf problem. Both are expected to return to action this week. If that doesn't happen or further set-backs occur, Infante and Diaz gain some NL-only value.
Dan Haren has been awful this spring. Adam Jones is raking, as is Chris Shelton. Michael Bourn has been a completely worthless hitter. Of the above players, two have stat-lines that matter, and two have ones that don't.
You see, judging spring training stat-lines in fantasy baseball can be helpful, but you don't want to get too caught up in it. After all, the games are meaningless. Most established veterans are just going through the motions in attempt to get their body ready for the real season. For them, the stat-lines are meaningless. Thus, I don't care that Haren has sucked thus far. I'd still draft him with confidence.
Let's take a deeper look at a when they matter, when they don't, and why.
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.
Atlanta Braves The problem with signing 36-year-old free agents is that they tend to get hurt a bit more than younger players. New Braves left fielder Garrett Anderson tweaked his right calf in warm-ups and will miss two to three weeks; maybe more. Matt Diaz in left field is not good for the Braves and it sure as heck isn't any kind of answer for your fantasy team. There is good news in camp, however, Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning today giving up only one hit and striking out one in his bid to return from right elbow surgery. Derek Lowe was next to untouchable pitching four perfect innings today striking out six and walking none.
Apparently the ghosts of deceased Native Americans finally decided to take matters into their own hands in regards to team names like "Braves" and "Indians" this baseball season. I'm not going to get into the whole discussion on the insensitivity of these names because that's neither my inclination nor my job.
Still, it's quite eerie they way these two franchises in particular have been plagued this year.
Both were expected to be contenders for the World Series, chock full of fantasy gems. Instead the disappointments and injuries are plentiful, and sometimes hand-in-hand.
The most recent casualty is Victor Martinez, and he already fit the bill as a bust. He's normally picked in the first five rounds (earlier many times). His owners have been treated with pathetic numbers this year relative to expectations (.277, 0 HR). And now he's on the DL with a bum wing (inflamed right elbow, if you must know ... but "bum wing" is so much more fun). The catcher could be out until the All-Star break, so this is a big blow to both the Tribe and your fantasy squad. Unfortunately, I believe you have to sit on him in fantasy, because he's liable to get hot when he does come back and no one will give you anything valuable for an injured bust in a trade.
And that's probably a good thing in the cold Georgia weather. However ...
It was an ominous sign when Delgado dropped an easy throw from second to let the first Braves batter of the game reach base. He would come around to score to tie the game and give the momentum back to Atlanta after Paul Lo Duca grabbed the lead with a solo home run in the top of the first.
But Green's drop of what was a Matt Diaz sac fly allowed two extra runs to score on subsequent plays in the sixth inning, and instead of 3-2 Braves after six, it was 5-2. That proved to be the difference in a 5-3 Braves win, the Mets' first loss of the season.
Delgado and Green also did good things ... Green was 3 for 5 with an RBI, and Delgado was 2 for 4. Unfortunately their defense overshadowed their bushel of hits, and cost Tom Glavine not only a win over his buddy John Smoltz, but also cost him one step closer to 300 victories.
The good news for Braves fans is that Chris Woodward is a dangerous man with a bat in his hands. The bad news is that he poses more of a threat to his teammates than to opposing pitchers with said bat.
Just when Matt Diaz's bat finally heated up, he took a bat to the face and looked like a snaggled-toothed hockey player. "I don't even like hockey," the Braves left fielder said Monday after teammate Chris Woodward accidentally hit him in the face during batting practice before a 6-4 win over Houston at Osceola County Stadium. Fortunately for Diaz, a chipped front tooth was the worst damage. He was scratched from the lineup so the Florida resident could visit his family dentist in nearby Lakeland. "Woody, that's the hardest hit you've had all spring," cracked Craig Wilson to Woodward, who was loosening up with a bat when Diaz bent over to pick up a weighted bat sleeve.
Don Waddell probably could have used this kind of nasty edge on his Thrashers before he traded Glen Metropolit and all those draft picks to get Keith Tkachuk.
Woodward, by the way, is hitting .214 for the spring. Craig Wilson, who made the wisecrack, isn't faring much better with a .231 average.
For a number of major league teams Mondays and Thursdays are travel days. Every Wednesday and Sunday, Fantasy Fill-Ins finds guys who should be widely available on the waiver wire and can step in for the day, helping you gain ground or hold off the pack.
Our weekly 
Starting Five
From now until the regular season begins, 
Apparently the ghosts of deceased Native Americans finally decided to take matters into their own hands in regards to team names like "Braves" and "Indians" this baseball season. I'm not going to get into the whole discussion on the insensitivity of these names because that's neither my inclination nor my job. 
And that's probably a good thing in the cold Georgia weather. However ...
The good news for Braves fans is that Chris Woodward is a dangerous man with a bat in his hands. The bad news is that he poses more of a 
