FanHouse TravisHafner

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

For the second consecutive year, the Indians have given a playoff contender a huge boost. For the second consecutive year, they traded the previous season's AL Cy Young award winner. And for the second consecutive year, he's absolutely dealing in the National League.

Through five starts, Cliff Lee is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 2 complete games and 39 strikeouts (with only 6 walks) in 40 innings. Sound familiar?

NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.

In the most remarkable turnaround of the season, Texas' pitching staff is actually pretty good, with a 4.46 ERA after shutouts Thursday and Friday and allowing three runs Saturday. If the Rangers can keep it there all year, it would mark the first time since 1993 the franchise had an ERA better than 4.50.

Not coincidentally, Texas leads the AL West at 35-26, the second-best record in the league.

"This is my third year here," right-hander Brandon McCarthy said, "but in two years I got sick to death of hearing, 'Texas pitchers stink. Texas pitchers stink.'

"Now we can turn those tables a little bit, be the group that maybe changes that whole mindset. It would be an awesome accomplishment."

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 Mets are beginning to look like the Patriots when it comes to injury information. Just a couple of weeks ago, I told you to be worried about Jose Reyes' bum leg when we found out he had a "calf strain." Thursday night, the team confirmed Reyes has a torn right hamstring tendon and this is believed to be something new. Excuse me for being cynical, but this is the latest in a long line of sketchy diagnoses. Let's take a look at what else New York bungled, shall we ...

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.

Sorry for the delay, kiddos, on the Power Rankings. I'm sure you spent the entirety of Wednesday wondering "WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY??? WITHOUT THEM I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO BANTER SENSELESSLY ABOUT TO MY CO-WORKERS!!!1" Or something like that. Either way, it's time to debate the worthlessness of your favorite baseball team in numerical form once again. Do enjoy.

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

Oh what a difference a month makes. Josh Beckett's ERA in April stood at 7.22, including a two-game span where he was shellacked for 15 runs. Since then he's hurled five straight quality starts and posted a 2.38 ERA in May. His ERA is now 4.60 and his WHIP is 1.47, both of which fail to indicate his true current value. Often, like in Beckett's case, you can only get an accurate gauge by looking at what a player's done lately instead of viewing overall stats.

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

Remember 'Five Alive,' the juicy blend with five fruits that's fun for all the family? Well, Rick Porcello is a unique blend of rookie flavor who's reeled off five straight victories. You can hardly find that syrupy drink on the shelves anymore, but you can still find Porcello in about 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues. And that's not all there is to like about Porcello. After the jump, it's fun time for all fantasy owners! (sugar rush optional)

When you lose a star like Manny Ramirez in fantasy leagues, there is no "quick fix." You're either going to make a trade to fill the glaring hole, or you play mad scientist with waiver-wire options to tide your team over. I've always been a fan of the latter before resorting to the block. Luckily, there are seven players available who are capable of giving your team the needed power in mixed leagues. Not Manny-type power, obviously, but enough to mitigate the damage for a few months. And if that's not up your alley, we've got some trade targets, too.

Let's take a peek inside the barrel of pop ...

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

You Oughta Know ...
That Matt LaPorta has arrived. LaPorta, the key player the Indians got in exchange for CC Sabathia last year, finally donned an Indians uniform on Saturday. LaPorta did not get into the game in his first day in the big leagues, but Tribe fans are certainly going to be eager to see him when he does.

LaPorta, 24, was the seventh overall pick in the 2007 draft. He is a big-time slugger, considered one of the top hitting prospects in baseball. LaPorta has played outfield and first base. The Indians could use him at either of those spots, or at DH in place of the injured Travis Hafner.

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.