FanHouse ScottKazmir

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.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

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

Troy Tulowitzki was the runner-up for the 2007 Rookie of the Year, but he followed it up with a rough 2008. And a rough beginning to 2009. All of a sudden, though, the kid has caught fire. Not coincidentally, the Rockies have as well.

After trouncing the Angels Monday night, the Rockies have now won 15 of their last 16 games. After going 0-2 in the first game of the streak, Tulowitzki has gone 20-for-48 (.417) with 5 home runs, 11 RBI, 15 runs, 4 doubles and 5 stolen bases. Again, that's in 15 games.

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 only downside of the NBA playoffs is that I feel like I miss some baseball that I would normally get to see. But with the Lakers (sigh) crowned champs now, both Kobe Bryant and I -- he was at the stadium, I was pantsless in my apartment, natch -- got the chance to watch the Angels and Dodgers go to civil war on Sunday Night Baseball.

And what I was treated to was a very impressive showing from my current favorite mancrush, Clayton Kershaw. You might know him as the "next Sandy Koufax" if you're a real devote, but more than likely, you know him as the "inconsistent southpaw who has yet to really flourish in the Dodgers rotation."

The Rays' pitching staff took a pair of hits on Friday with the news that both Scott Kazmir and Troy Percival are headed to the disabled list. The Rays called up shortstop Reid Brignac and right-handed pitcher Dale Thayer to take their places on the roster. If reports are accurate, 2008 playoff hero David Price may not be far behind them.

Kazmir has a strained right quadriceps, which may have been contributing to his poor performances of late. Kazmir has allowed 14 earned runs in his last two starts, which lasted less than eight innings combined, and has a 10.89 ERA in May.

Scott Kazmir and Francisco Liriano have quite a few things in common at this point. Both are left-handed. Both are 25 years-old. For our purposes, both came into the 2009 season with fairly lofty expectations in fantasy baseball. Both were top-20 starting pitchers in pretty much every mixed league.

Unfortunately for the two -- and their fantasy owners -- they now have something else in common: Immense struggles in the early going. Kazmir has managed to squeak out a 4-3 record, but his ERA (6.97) and WHIP (1.86) are horrible. Liriano is a bit better in those categories (5.21 and 1.37), but his 2-4 record makes him equally as helpful as Kaz to this point. Let's breakdown each guy in slump or suck style.

There are a plethora of two-start pitchers hurling in week five (Monday, May 4th - Sunday May 10th) of the fantasy baseball season. There are 58 total this week and you late sleepers are luck that all of the Monday games are night games. You won't need to set you lineups until 7:05 PM ET.

[Update: 7:48 AM ET] : Two games were rained out yesterday. The Mets and Phillies did not play and the Angels and Yankees were rained out as well. Here is the fallout from those two postponed games as it relates to two-start pitchers.

It's rather strange to say that 9-14 is a disappointing start for the Tampa Bay Rays, but they've put us in that position after their incredible emergence in 2008. Predicted by most to contend for another AL East title after last year's 97-win season, Tampa Bay disappointed in April, which has people wondering whether the Rays are for real, or if last year was just a fluke.

First off, there are a couple external factors that have negatively affected Tampa Bay in the early going. Residing in the AL East, it has to deal with a difficult schedule all the way through, but the first month was particularly tough. According to the advanced projection systems (PECOTA and CHONE), the average winning percentage of their opponents in the season's first month was .524. Over their final 139 games that SOS will drop slightly, down to .514.

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

Yovani Gallardo, meet "the groove." Groove, meet Gallardo.

The Brewers ace struck out 11, only allowed two hits and provided the deciding solo homer over eight juggernaut innings against the Pirates. That outing brought his ERA for the season down to 2.86 and his record to 3-1. And with 34 K's over 34 2/3 innings, it's safe to say he's in fantasy stud territory. But Gallardo isn't the only pitcher that has transcended draft value so far.

Week two (April 13th - April 19th) of the fantasy baseball season features 38 pitchers who are making two starts. There isn't a clear cut lock for easiest schedule amongst them, but Jon Lester looks like a very good start this week against Braden in Oakland and Uehara and the Orioles at home.

Daniel Cabrera doesn't look to have a fun week in store as he has to face Jamie Moyer and the Phillies and then Josh Johnson and the Marlins. At least he gets to pitch at home both times.

Here are the rest of the two-start pitchers.

We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.

It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.

Here's the Extra Base Knox team:

Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.

Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.

Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.