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 are all but done in the NL wild-card race, not that there was anything they could do about it. Atlanta, which had surged into contention over the last few weeks, ran into the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco Wednesday night.
Nolasco struck out 16, a Marlins record, including a stretch where he fanned nine in a row, one shy of the major league record of 10 straight held by Tom Seaver.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That you can add the Marlins to the list of fringe contenders fading away with three weeks to go in the season.
Florida wasted an opportunity to gain on wild-card leading Colorado, which lost in San Francisco, in an 11-6 loss to the Cardinals. The Marlins fell behind 4-0 in the first, but managed to take a 6-4 lead by the fourth inning, only to squander that lead in large part due to Ricky Nolasco's five-inning, seven-run outing.
Poor starting pitching has been a big reason why Florida hasn't been able to make a run.
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.
On Thursday in Philadelphia, one of the game's best pitchers from years past squared off against arguably the game's best pitcher of today. Who would win the battle of old versus new? It turns out fantasy owners were the big winners.
Tim Lincecum struck out 11 batters, which isn't even close to a season high for the kid, and walked one over seven innings while allowing two runs, but all that got him was a loss.
Pedro Martinez, making his fifth start with the Phillies, moved to 3-0 on the strength of a nine-strikeout, no-walk performance. He threw 62 of his 87 pitches for strikes and looked completely dominant after a first-inning homer by Eugenio Velez.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Heading into the season, the signs were there that the Rockies' 25-year-old right-handed starter Ubaldo Jimenez was ready for a breakout campaign. The only question was his occasional lack of command, which reared its ugly head in April (he started the season 1-3 with a 7.58 ERA and 2.11 WHIP). Since then, though, Jimenez has actually been one of the best hurlers in baseball and he's been even hotter for the past month.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
The most remarkable thing about this season as we hit the not-halfway halfway point of the All-Star break isn't Albert Pujols' RBI total. Or Zack Greinke's ERA. Or the PED suspension of one of the game's biggest stars.
It's the standings. And they not only reflect the season so far, they give us a clue as to the weeks head leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline.
The Phillies and Dodgers are the only first-place team with a lead of more than 2 1/2 games. And 21 of the 30 teams are within 7 1/2 games of a playoff spot: nine of 14 in the AL and 12 of 16 in the NL.
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.
Well, I'll tell you one thing: baseball ain't boring, folks. At least if you're in the middle class anyway; the upper crust is (somewhat) starting to establish itself across MLB's ranks and the bottom portion of the league is certainly holding steady. But in the middle, well, goodness. We have a lot of would-be title contenders. How's your semi-crappy team faring in the all-important MLB FanHouse Power Rankings this week? Find out after the jump.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
"Taterjack" is a term I like to employ for a "home run." I find it to be awesome. Nearly as awesome as I found Chris Davis, the power-swinging, Texas Rangers first basemen ... before the season. But news hit the proverbial fan yesterday that Davis had been demoted and that he would no longer be on the Rangers' big league team.
This is highly problematic for fantasy owners who wasted used a high pick (and, invariably, it was high) on Davis: because he doesn't seem likely to get a lot more opportunity in the Rangers lineup. This is true for a number of reasons. First, he stinks. Second, Justin Smoak is the minors and probably ahead of Davis on the "track to the bigs" now. Additionally, Hank Blalock is playing first base. And, finally, the Rangers need pitching.
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 Phillies calmed a lot of nerves this weekend. The reigning world champs haven't looked quite like themselves for most of the season, but they had plenty of reason to be optimistic after completing a three-game sweep of the Mets Sunday.
Philadelphia entered the series with a 13-22 record at Citizens Bank Park, but won three straight at home against a hated rival. That wasn't the only positive sign. Jimmy Rollins, who has been slumping all season, belted a leadoff homer against New York ace Johan Santana in the 2-0 sweep-clinching win and Brad Lidge, who has blown six saves this year, struck out the side to lock up the victory.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Heading into 2009, here's what we thought we knew about Rich Harden: Absolutely lights out stuff, but can't be counted on to stay healthy consistently. In 2008, he went 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 148 innings. Those are elite numbers on a per-start basis. The problem, of course, is that he only made 25 starts. In 2007, he had a 2.45 ERA, but only pitched 25 2/3 innings.
Until Monday night, 2009 had been quite surprising from the 27-year-old right-hander.
Some of the biggest of big-named pitchers are throwing twice this week. With names going like Johan Santana, Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay and Dan Haren, to name a few, we are absolutely going to see great pitching.
In total there are 42 pitchers who are getting two starts. Be sure to set your fantasy baseball lineups by 7:05 PM ET tonight.
Must Start Dan Haren, Diamondbacks - Tuesday at CIN (B. Arroyo) and Sunday at COL (U. Jimenez) Jon Lester, Red Sox - Monday at BAL (J. Berken) and Sunday vs SEA (B. Morrow) Gavin Floyd, White Sox - Monday at CLE (C. Pavano) and Saturday at KC (L. Hochevar) Ricky Nolasco, Marlins - Monday vs WAS (S. Olsen) and Sunday vs PIT (R. Ohlendorf) Nick Blackburn, Twins - Monday at KC (L. Hochevar) and Sunday vs DET (R. Porcello) Johan Santana, Mets - Tuesday at MLW (M. Burns) and Sunday at PHI (J. Blanton) Tim Lincecum, Giants - Monday at STL (B. Thompson) and Saturday vs HOU (R. Oswalt) Chris Carpenter, Cardinals - Tuesday vs SF (R. Johnson) and Sunday at CIN (B. Arroyo) Roy Halladay, Blue Jays - Monday vs TB (J. Niemann) and Sunday at NYY (J. Chamberlain)
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
Starting Five
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
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 
Boy are we getting a treat this week. 
