Sunday, April 25, 2010

Lefties Lee, Francis finally return to rotations

Here is our Weekly Preview and Pitching Chart for the coming week.
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Projected starting pitchers, April 26-May 2, 2010
AL Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Bal --- NYY-Millwood NYY-Guthrie NYY-Matusz Bos-Hernandz Bos-Berken* Bos-Mlwod2
Bos @Tor-Beckett @Tor-Buchholz @Tor-Lester --- @Bal-Lackey @Bal-Mtszka** @Bal-Beckett2
CWS --- @Tex-Buehrle @Tex-Peavy @Tex-Floyd @NYY-Garcia @NYY-Danks @NYY-Buehrle2
Cle @LAA-Huff @LAA-Talbot @LAA-Wstbrook --- Min-Carmona Min-Mastrson Min-Huff2
Det @Tex-Bondrmn Min-Verlander Min-Scherzer Min-Willis*** LAA-Porcello LAA-Bndrmn2 LAA-Verlandr2
KC Se-Davies Se-Greinke Se-Meche @TB-Hochevar @TB-Bannister @TB-Davies2 @TB-Greinke2
LAA Cle-Weaver Cle-Saunders Cle-Santana --- @Det-Pineiro @Det-Kazmir @Det-Weaver2
Min --- @Det-Liriano @Det-Baker @Det-Pavano @Cle-Blakburn @Cle-Slowey @Cle-Liriano2
NYY --- @Bal-Hughes @Bal-Sabathia @Bal-Burnett CWS-Pettitte CWS-Vazquez CWS-Hughes
Oak --- @TB-Sheets @TB-Braden @Tor-Duchschr @Tor-Adrsn-4* @Tor-Gonzalez @Tor-Sheets2
Se @KC-Hernandz @KC-Snell @KC-Rld-Smth --- Tex-Lee-5* Tex-Fister Tex-Hrnandz2
TB --- Oak-Davis Oak-Shields KC-Garza KC-Niemann KC-Price KC-Davis2
Tex Det-Harrison CWS-Wilson CWS-Hardn-6* CWS-Feldman @Se-Lewis @Se-Harrison2 @Se-Wilson2
Tor Bos-Eveland Bos-Marcum Bos-Cecil-7* Oak-Romero Oak-Morrow Oak-Eveland2 Oak-Marcum2

*-RHP Jason Berken is likely to make a spot start Saturday for the Orioles, who are trying to go with a four-man rotation as much as possible. They’d be better off cloning LHP Brian Matusz.
**-As we indicated in Thursday’s Email, RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka is expected to replace RHP Tim Wakefield in the Red Sox rotation.
***-LHP Dontrelle Willis didn’t make his scheduled start at Texas Saturday because he was sick. He pitched an inning in relief today, walking three and giving up two runs on 3B Michael Young’s single.
4*-Athletics LHP Brian Anderson left his most recent start after six innings because of soreness in his forearm and elbow, but said he expects to make his next scheduled start. Watch him closely; similar symptoms have resulted in Tommy John surgery for other pitchers.
5*-Mariners LHP Cliff Lee pitched six shutout innings in an injury-rehab start today for Triple-A Tucson, putting him on schedule to return to Seattle’s rotation Friday. He would replace RHP Ian Snell or possibly LHP Jason Vargas.
6*-RHP Rich Harden’s wildness and high pitch counts could knock him out of the Rangers’ rotation. Wednesday’s start also would be on schedule for LHP Derek Holland to be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City for a major league start.
7*-LHP Brett Cecil won his first start back in the majors – replacing LHP Brian Tallet, who went on the disabled list. Cecil would be on schedule to start again Wednesday.
AL Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Ari @Col-Haren @Col-Jackson @Col-Benson @ChC-Kennedy @ChC-Lopez @ChC-Haren2 @ChC-Jackson2
Atl @StL-Hudson @StL-Lowe @StL-Kawkami @StL-Jurrjens Ho-Hanson Ho-Hudson2 Ho-Lowe2
ChC Was-Silva Was-Gorzlany Was-Dempster Ari-Lilly Ari-Wells Ari-Silva2 Ari-Grzlany2
Cin --- @Ho-Harang @Ho-Leake @Ho-Arroyo @StL-Cueto @StL-Bailey @StL-Harang2
Col Ari-Hammel Ari-Jimenez Ari-Francis* --- @SD-Smith @SD-Cook @SD-DeLaRsa
Fla SD-Johnson SD-Sanchez SD-Rbrtsn** --- Was-Nolasco Was-Volstad Was-Johnson2
Ho --- Cin-Norris Cin-Paulino Cin-Oswlt*** @Atl-Rdriguez @Atl-Myers @Atl-Norris2
LAD @NYM-Kuroda @NYM-Towrs-4* @NYM-Haeger Pit-Kershaw Pit-Bilngsley Pit-Kuroda2 Pit-Towers2
Mil Pit-Gallardo Pit-Wolf Pit-Nrvsn-5* @SD-Davis @SD-Bush @SD-Gallardo2 @SD-Wolf2
NYM LAD-Perez LAD-Santana LAD-Maine --- @Phi-Niese @Phi-Pelfrey @Phi-Perez2
Phi @SF-Halladay @SF-Moyer @SF-Hamels --- NYM-Fgroa-6* NYM-Hlladay2 NYM-Kendrick
Pit @Mil-Duke @Mil-McCn-7* @Mil-Maholm @LAD-Hart-8* @LAD-Morton @LAD-Duke @LAD-McCtcn2
StL Atl-Lohse Atl-Carpenter Atl-Garcia Atl-Wainright Cin-Penny Cin-Lohse2 Cin-Carpentr2
SD @Fla-Latos @Fla-Garland @Fla-Correia Mil-LeBlanc Mil-Richard Mil-Latos2 Mil-Garland2
SF Phi-Sanchez Phi-Wlemeyr Phi-Lincecum --- Col-Zito Col-Cain Col-Sanchez2
Was @ChC-Lannan @ChC-Hernandz @ChC-Atilno-9* --- @Fla-Stammen @Fla-Olsen @Fla-Lannan2

*-Rockies LHP Jeff Francis is expected to return from the disabled list for his first major league appearance this season Wednesday. He could replace RHP Jason Hammel or LHP Greg Smith in Colorado’s rotation.
**-After Friday’s game at Colorado was postponed because of rain and snow – the first postponement this season – LHP Nate Robertson and RHP Ricky Nolasco started in Saturday’s doubleheader. Florida indicated that Robertson would start Wednesday on three days’ rest.
***-Astros RHP Roy Oswalt might not be available to start Thursday. He has gone to Weir, Miss., where a tornado destroyed his family’s home. The off-day Monday makes it so that LHP Wandy Rodriguez and RHP Brett Myers could slide ahead a day and still pitch on their usual rest. Thus, Oswalt wouldn’t be needed until Saturday.
4*-The Dodgers put RHP Vicente Padilla on the disabled list. His replacement in the rotation could be RHP Josh Towers from Triple-A Albuquerque or Jesus Castillo from Double-A Chattanooga.
5*-The Brewers have replaced RHP Jeff Suppan in their rotation with LHP Chris Narveson.
6*-Well traveled RHP Nelson Figueroa replaced injured LHP J.A. Happ in the Phillies’ rotation Saturday, and would be scheduled to start next on Friday.
7*-Pirates RHP Daniel McCutchen hasn’t made it past the fifth inning in his last three starts. He could be replaced by LHP Brian Burres.
8*-However, McCutchen doesn’t represent the only hole in Pittsburgh’s rotation. RHP Chris Jakubauskas, who replaced injured RHP Ross Ohlendorf, went on the disabled list himself after Astros 1B Lance Berkman’s line drive struck the back of Jakubauskas’ head Saturday. Pittsburgh could recall RHP Kevin Hart from Triple-A Indianapolis, or could use McCutchen or Burres to start Thursday.
9*-RHP Luis Atilano was promoted to a starting role for Washington because of an injury to RHP Garrett Mock. Atilano allowed the dodgers only one run in six innings Friday, and would be scheduled to pitch again Wednesday.

Schedule notes
Half of the National League is scheduled for seven games this week, but just four American League teams – the Tigers, Royals, Rangers and Blue Jays – would play every day, giving their batters and relief pitchers 17 per cent more potential playing time than those on the AL’s other 10 rosters. Toronto, along with the Cubs and Cardinals in the NL, is scheduled to play all seven at home.
Wrigley Field would be the most hitter-friendly park in play all week (three games against the Nationals, four with the Diamondbacks). St. Louis (Braves four games, Reds three) would favor pitchers the most of those three everyday stadiums. Overall, the American League could slightly favor batters, with the Orioles and Rays each home for six games. The National League could be kinder to pitchers, with the Marlins and Giants home for six games.
For the record, the other NL teams playing seven games are the Diamondbacks, Braves, Dodgers, Brewers, Pirates and Padres.
Pitchers scheduled to start twice at home are RHPs Kevin Millwood, Justin Verlander, Wade Davis, Shaun Marcum, Carlos Silva, Josh Johnson, Kyle Lohse and Chris Carpenter, and LHPs Dana Eveland, Tom Gorzelanny and Jonathan Sanchez. Our highest recommendations are Marcum, Johnson, Carpenter and Sanchez, with Verlander and Marcum live longshots.

Injuries
Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler was to play in a four-inning “live batting practice” game today in Arizona, then fly back to Texas to begin a three-game injury-rehab assignment at Double-A Frisco. GM Jon Daniels said Kinsler might be the DH in one game, but would play primarily and possibly exclusively at second base.
OOO Tigers SS Adam Everett left Saturday’s game at Texas in the third inning because of a right hamstring injury. With OF/3B Carlos Guillen going on the disabled list, Detroit has used OF Brennan Boesch in its lineup for the first three games of its series against the Rangers.
OOO Royals CF Rick Ankiel has been out because of a strained quadriceps.
OOO The Angels put C Bobby Wilson on the disabled list because of a concussion and ankle injury caused when Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira ran over the catcher on a play at home plate.
OOO Athletics C Kurt Suzuki sat out because of a sore left side he injured during a workout. 3b Kevin Kouzmanoff fouled a pitch off his left foot.
OOO Braves 3B Chipper Jones left Saturday’s game because of a hip injury but returned for tonight’s game.
OOO The Rockies put OF Brad Hawpe (groin injury) on the disabled list.

News and notes
The Padres’ improvement shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who saw their Double-A farm team at San Antonio frequently during the past two years. The names in San Diego – 3B/OF Chase Headley, OF Will Venable, C Nick Hundley, LHP Wade LeBlanc, RHP Mat Latos – would be very familiar. They were among the Texas League’s best players. During the eight-game winning streak that ended with today’s 5-4 loss to the Reds, the Padres’ starters had a 1.04 ERA. LeBlanc pitched six scoreless innings to win Saturday.
OOO On Saturday, the Orioles started rookie Rhyne Hughes at first base instead of 1B/3B Garrett Atkins.
OOO To help their injury-depleted outfield, the Red Sox reacquired OF Jonathan Van Every from the Pirates’ organization.
OOO Fox announcer Joe Buck betrayed his man love for the Yankees during Saturday’s telecast. We’ll take factual or perceptual issues with two of his comments. 1. That New York had made “only” six errors. I didn’t see much of the Rangers’ series at Yankee Stadium, but Texas’ announcers indicated that on judgment calls that could have gone either way, hits were being given away like Halloween candy. 2. That the Yanks had had two “near no-hitters” this season. Granted, hardly anyone pitches nine innings anymore, but we’d really prefer to see a guy go more than eight hitless innings or pitch a complete-game one-hitter before we hear about near no-hitters.
OOO Marlins 1B/3B Jorge Cantu had his hitting streak stopped at 21 games.
In closing
This is a regular feature of our Emails and blog posts. It lets you know who’s getting saves. Equally important is telling you who’s blowing saves or putting his job in jeopardy by getting shaky saves. There’s also a FREE Article on the old fantasybaseballscout.com web site letting you know which pitcher or pitchers each team is using to close games. It will be updated whenever there’s a change or speculation about a change in a team’s closer.
Two closers blew saves Saturday. Mariners RHP David Aardsma had the more explosive collapse. He entered their game on the south side of Chicago with a 4-2 lead, and left with a blown save, a loss and a pitching line of 2/3 23311. 1B Paul Konerko pulled the White Sox within a run with a solo home run, and OF Alex Rios won the game with a two-run homer. Twins RHP Jon Rauch blew a save with a line of 231110. He stayed around to pitch the bottom of the 12th inning and was the winning pitcher in Minnesota’s 9-7 victory.
Red Sox RHP Jonathan Papelbon had a shaky fifth save. Boston led the Orioles 7-3 entering the ninth inning, but Baltimore scored once and had a runner on base when Papelbon entered with one out. He allowed that runner, plus one of his own, to escape despite a line of 2/3 31102.
Other saves were by Astros RHP Matt Lindstrom, his sixth (among seven Houston victories), 5-2 over the Pirates; Marlins RHP Leo Nunez, fourth, 4-1 at Colorado; Phillies RHP Ryan Madson, fourth, 3-2 at Arizona; Giants RHP Brian Wilson, fourth, 2-0 against the Cardinals, and Mets RHP Francisco Rodriguez, third, 3-1 vs. Atlanta.

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