FanHouse VicentePadilla

Here's how it works in baseball: Texas' Vicente Padilla throws at, and hits, the Yankees' Mark Teixeira twice and gets fined. A.J. Burnett tries to protect Teixeira with a pitch that doesn't hit Nelson Cruz and gets suspended.

All this happened Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, and the punishment was handed down Thursday by Major League Baseball.

"I pitch in all the time, but I can't complain about it," Burnett said before the Yanks hosted the Rangers at the new Yankee Stadium. "Obviously, a warning was issued and nothing else."

Still, he wasn't overly surprised by the decision.

"You kind of expect something to happen when ball comes that close," Burnett said. "It looked bad. Obviously, it was up tight."

Padilla hit Teixeira on the right biceps in Tuesday's second inning and on the rear end in the fourth, prompting Teixeira to stare down Padilla and then blast him as a headhunter after the game.

NEW YORK – If Mark Teixeira misses anything from his 4 1/2 seasons with the Rangers, it isn't Vicente Padilla.

Teixiera, now with the Yankees, glared at Padilla on Tuesday after the right-hander plunked him for the second time in the game, in the fourth inning of the Yankees' 12-3 rout. Later that inning Teixeira went in hard at second base to break up a double play and keep a seven-run rally going.

Then afterward, Teixeira made it clear what he thought of his ex-teammate.

"It's just not the right way to play the game," Teixeira said. "Unfortunately, that guy's been doing it his whole career."

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

With a starting rotation containing Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Matt Harrison, Scott Feldman and Brandon McCarthy, it's pretty safe to say many mixed leagues went through draft or auction day without mentioning a single starting Rangers pitcher -- unless it was in jest.

The joke is on us, because the Rangers starting rotation is pretty damn legit right now. After Sunday, the Rangers now sport the fifth-best starter's ERA (4.25) in the American League.

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

After having some problems his last two starts, Tuesday night Rick Porcello looked like the phenom the Tigers drafted. The 20 year-old upped his record to 2-3 after hurling 7 scoreless innings against the Twins. He allowed 7 baserunners in as many innings, struck out 3, and -- most importantly -- kept the ball in the yard. In his first four starts, Porcello allowed at least 1 home run per game, 6 total. Tuesday night, Porcellos allowed only three fly balls to the outfield.

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.

Last season, Vicente Padilla won 14 games and was a pleasant surprise to fantasy baseball owners who were able to take a chance on him. Many didn't have that luxury because of his 4.74 ERA, a reason many owners didn't pull the trigger on him in fantasy drafts last month. And that hesitation may have been a great thing.

Padilla is 1-2 with a 9.64 ERA in three starts and hasn't lasted past the fifth inning yet. Now people are starting to ask questions about the oft-injured pitcher's velocity.

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.

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...
Best offense in the league. The Rangers are going to score more runs than any other team, and they don't have an over-abundance of star-power. This means their position players are a veritable fantasy goldmine. On the flip-side, though, their pitching staff is atrocious, especially the starters. Needless to say, if you are picking a Texas Ranger on draft day, he'd probably better be on the offensive side of the board.

Every March, The Dugout covers every team in baseball and offers a largely disappointing glimpse of what's to come.

We're kicking things off with the Texas Rangers. Pictured at right, the one-two punch of the 2009 Texas Rangers' rotation: Scott Feldman and a nondescript sheet of drywall. The Rangers possess the worst starting rotation in the history of Mankind. The upside, of course, is that when OPS legend Milton Bradley snaps his ACL in a freak accident, it won't really matter.

Any Rangers fans out there? No? Well, too bad. A Rangers Dugout is after the jump.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

When you're the Texas Rangers, and you have a grand total of one playoff win in 47 years of existence, there's little place to go but up. Thanks to GM Jon Daniels' dilligent work in the draft and in last year's Mark Teixeira and Eric Gagne deals, that's just the direction in which they're headed.

There are a lot of things to feel good about in Arlington these days, actually. The Rangers had the best offense in the American League last year and could conceivably be better in 2009. The farm system is overflowing with talent and almost certainly one of the five best in the game. There's even optimism about the return of Nolan Ryan as the team's president.

If you're looking for a club that could make a Rays-like rise in the near future, the Rangers might be the best candidate. The question isn't if, but when they make their presence felt, and the answer to that query will determine in part how aggressive Texas is this winter.