FanHouse RyanHoward

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Ichiro Suzuki has another hitting streak going. Suzuki singled in his first at-bat on Saturday and ran his hitting streak to 23 consecutive games. Since Ichiro got to the big leagues in 2001, this is his seventh hitting streak of at least 20 games.

In that time, no one else in the majors has had more than two streaks of that length.

"It's not a fluke that a guy like that has consistency in his game," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "He's so strong mentally that you see the exact same approach day in and day out with him. Even if he does struggle a little bit, he seems to find a way to get either an infield hit, hit the ball the other way or pull the ball. So he has a lot of weapons, and obviously the ability to still run at his age allows him to do that."

Here's what's weird though. Although Ichiro has gotten to 20 seven times, he's never gotten past 25, the franchise record he set in 2007. Fifteen players have had hitting streaks of 26 games or more during that time.

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From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Matt Garza is one of those talented pitchers that novice owners probably lost patience with quickly. And if they did, they were watching Thursday's spectacular performance kicking themselves. Garza, who had struggled with his command through his first four starts, took a perfect game bid into the seventh inning against the Red Sox and finished with a line worthy of adulation: 7 2/3 innings, 10 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 walk, no runs. Has he turned the corner that quickly?

SAN DIEGO -- Joe Kerrigan saw it watching video over the winter. Zach Duke saw it in the attitudes of his fellow pitchers in spring training.

Now, the rest of baseball is seeing it too. The Pirates pitching doesn't stink. In fact, it's pretty good.

But is this real? Or just a three-week fluke?

Even Kerrigan, the veteran pitching coach, doesn't know for sure, but he's enjoying it while it lasts.

Back in early February, Luis Gonzalez was all set to fly from his Phoenix-area home to San Diego to meet with the Padres.

And then the phone rang.

"There's no need for you to come," the Padres told Gonzalez and his agents. San Diego had signed Cliff Floyd.

Gonzalez is still waiting for the next call.

Like Pedro Martinez, Frank Thomas and others, Gonzalez is a veteran who wants to play yet can't find a job.

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

Baseball is here. Only for three days so far, but that's enough for knee-jerk reactions and our collective excitement, certainly. Are the Yankees in trouble? Will Ken Griffey, Jr. lead the Mariners back to glory? Are the Orioles for real? Are the Braves bound for the playoffs again? Will the Marlins manage to save baseball and win the National League East? What happens when Jim Thome and Kyle Farnsworth meet in a hadron collider?

Find out the answers to these questions -- and more! -- after the jump.

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

We're almost there. You can smell it in the air, can't you? That's right ... the NHL playoffs! Ha. I kid, of course. No one actually watches hockey (if it even exists). But people do get amped up for baseball, and the season is upon us. So, in that vein, we've got our final installment of preseason power rankings ready for your digestion. Play ball.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Philadelphia Phillies.

The City of Brotherly Love's long championship drought came to an end when Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske in Game 5 of the World Series last October. The city exploded in appreciation of a team that's a blueprint for success in the modern game, with homegrown stars studding the lineup and top of the rotation, and a handful of savvy acquisitions, like Lidge, sprinkled around to fill holes.

Sleepers and busts are played out phrases in the fantasy lexicon. They get routinely abused each year, but they're still important. Why? Well, in the case of the latter, you simply don't want to draft players who will stink. "Stink," of course, is relative. You'll see why in the following list of hitters you need to stay away from in 2009.

Matt Holliday, OF, A's -- You would think this is an obvious pick, given that Holliday is moving from the hitters' haven that is Coors Field (third-most hitter friendly field last year) to Oakland's McAfee Coliseum (14th). Not to mention that Holliday has always been a worse hitter on the road, even if those numbers were less distinguished last year.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Defending World Series champions. I know, right? Repeating it doesn't make it any less bizarre. But that's what the Phillies are, at least for this year. For fantasy folks, though, they might be a little less than "championship" material. That's meant with all due respect, of course, because the Phillies play in a fantastic hitters' park and they do have a number of elite fantasy options.