In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
The St. Louis Cardinals may have beaten themselves in getting swept by the Dodgers, but Game 3 left us with a classic question. Was Vicente Padilla's strong pitching performance all him or the opposing lineup's doing? On this particular night, there was probably little the Cardinals could have done to stop him.
Padilla brought the raw stuff of an ace to the hill, touching 97 mph and sitting around 93-96 most of the night. Most importantly he was able to locate his fastball inside to righties with some running action.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... All everyone could talk about earlier this week was the stunning manner in which the Rockies nearly closed the gap on the Dodgers in the NL West. Of course, they still only got within two games of the wire-to-wire Dodgers, and it's now back up to a 4-game deficit for the Rox after consecutive home losses to the boys in blue. Vicente Padilla followed up Randy Wolf's Wednesday gem with a nice outing of his own. It was his Dodgers debut, as he just signed Wednesday.
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.
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."
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.
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.
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
Here's how it works in baseball: Texas' 
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Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Last season, 
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.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
