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.
Categorically Speaking is designed specifically for Rotisserie GM's. The information is great for all fantasy baseball formats, but for those of you who could use some help bolstering a specific roto category, this is for you. We're going to pay close attention to players who might be readily available on your waiver wire or who you might target in non-blockbuster trade talks.
Carl Crawford has a ten stolen base lead on the rest of the major league pack. If you have him on your fantasy baseball roster, you're probably in good shape in the steals category. But, what if you need some help? Here are some options.
Michael Bourn, Astros - Bourn is only owned in 41% of fantasy leagues, but his 15 stolen bases have him tied for fourth place among all hitters. Most of you avoided Bourn on draft day (and by the looks of it, still are) because of his craptastic .229 batting average last season. Bypassing Bourn at this point is a bad idea. He's sporting a .288 batting average and has cemented his place at the top of the Astros batting order.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That David Ortiz pulled within one homer of Yovanni Gallardo on the MLB leaderboard. Yes, Big Papi finally hit a home run. It took him 149 at-bats to get his first homer of the season, while 318 other players had hit at least one -- including two by Gallardo, a Brewers pitcher -- but Ortiz got on the board with a fifth-inning homer, helping the Sox to a victory over Toronto.
Ortiz had been slumping so badly that manager Terry Francona benched him for the whole series last weekend in Seattle. Ortiz joked after hitting the homer on Wednesday that he was so desperate he was "about to hit right-handed."
I'd say the photo collection above accurately sums up David Ortiz's season so far. It hit rock bottom on Thursday as the Red Sox slugger (?) went 0-for-7 with three strikeouts, and left ... wait for it ... 12 men on base (Update: Ortiz was benched Friday night against the Mariners). On the Big Papi scale, this is a slump of appalling proportions. He's homer-less in his last 144 at-bats, one shy of his career-worst drought between 1998 and 2000. Is it time for fantasy owners to cut their losses with Ortiz?
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?
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.
What a zany week for a pair of pitchers with amazing stories: Zack Greinke is America's favorite story right now, somehow managing to be hotter than Twitter. (And if Oprah starts doing him too, I'm just quitting. And I mean everything.) Meanwhile, Rick Ankiel (you may hear word of this "podcast" we're doing about him, but that's because I'm shameless like that), a former star on the mound as well, nearly decapitates himself running into an outfield wall. And yet, life goes on. Just like our Power Rankings.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Who would have thought that Dexter Fowler's five stolen base game wouldn't even last a week as the high steals game in 2009. Carl Crawford did him one better Sunday, taking six in as many chances. Crawford is now 17-17 in stolen base attempts this season. Lost in the shuffle was that his 4-4 day at the plate caused his average to rise all the way up to .317.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The Washington Nationals will be looking for a new closer as Joel Hanrahan has been fired. He was given the opportunity to close out five games and blew saves in three of those. His ERA is an unhealthy 8.64. The team will look to use a closer by committee approach for a while, waiting to see if injured Joe Beimel can return and flourish.
Tuesday, one day after Hanrahan surrendered a game-losing grand slam, Manager Manny Acta said that his team would now finish games -- or at least try to finish them -- with a committee of relief pitchers that includes Julián Tavárez and Kip Wells, both signed in March to non-guaranteed minor league deals. Once Joe Beimel (left hip flexor) returns from the disabled list in the first week of May, he could either join the mix or claim the job for himself.
Everyone can have a good day every once in a while, right? I think the most repeated cliche to represent this is "Every dog has his day".
Well, let me give you another cliche, "A river begins with one drop of water". To slant that one into fantasy baseball speak I'll say that even though it's just one game, players who shined on day one of the Major League baseball season might just be starting a trend that will last a long time. Joe DiMaggio had to start his 56-game hitting streak with the first hit, right?
A lot of players shined yesterday in baseball's Opening Day. Here are ten players who are available in many of your fantasy leagues, ranked from highest percentage of ownership to lowest.
1. Hank Blalock, Rangers - Blalock went 2-4 yesterday with a home run and three RBI. Most people are waiting for some part of his body to fall off or spontaneously combust, which is why he's only owned in 52% of Yahoo leagues. Until that expected injury occurs, Blalock isn't a bad fantasy option. He does hit in the heart of a somewhat potent lineup in a great hitters park.
Tuesday was the fifth time in his career that Carlos Zambrano received the honor of being handed the ball on Opening Day for the Cubs, but in his first four tries he was never able to come away with a victory.
That all changed on Tuesday night in Houston as Zambrano pitched six solid innings and out-dueled Roy Oswalt to help lead the Cubs to a 4-2 victory.
Zambrano would scatter five hits through six plus innings, striking out six Astros and walking three. Still, in spite of some control problems with his pitches, Zambrano looked a lot more in control of his emotions on Monday night as he kept himself from getting too fired up and just pitched.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Tuesday was the fifth time in his career that 
