5/7 Recap

I think this blog is going to turn into a Shaun Marcum love fest every five days. Seriously, I have the biggest man crush on him. The worst part is because I was hyping him so much, my brother drafted him before I could, so even though I love the guy, it's completely bittersweet. Either way, Marcum is a must start, and will stay that way for the year.

A's 6, O's 5
Not real impressive outings from either Jeremy Guthrie or Joe Blanton. Kurt Suzuki was 2-5 with a homer out of the leadoff spot, and Mark Ellis hit a walk off homer off Lance Cormier who is apparently not dead. Ellis also stole his 4th base. He struggled so far but will be better. Looking over his career numbers, they're all over the place. I'll say he hits .260 with 12-15 homers, swiping 10 bases. It's decent. Mike Sweeney got the start at DH, and had two hits. He's hitting a solid .305, but not much power. Frank Thomas is clearly going to get the vast majority of at bats, so I don't see Sweeney having much value. Kevin Millar, Ramon Hernandez, Luis Hernandez, and Nick Markakis all had multi-hit games. Markakis is a stud, which we know, but out of the rest, I like Ramon Hernandez the most. I'm not giving up on him. Kevin Millary will have some power, but the average won't be worth it. The O's are going to be in last pretty soon. It's just not a good team.

Indians 3, Yankees 0
Look, Cliff Lee is the best pitcher in the AL. I have no idea why. None. He's completely broke though. The way he keeps putting up gem after gem, I just don't see it stopping. He threw 7 innings, allowing 6 hits, striking out 7 while giving up no runs or walks. He's sporting a 0.81 average. Yikes. He's a stud. I can't imagine selling high would get full value, but if you get bowled over, think about it. Chien Ming Wang pitched well enough to win, but this Yankees just couldn't score against the pitching master that is Cliff Lee. Ben Francisco was 2-4 out of the 2 spot, and if he sticks there, he's definitely worth the pickup. I'm thinking about picking up David Dellucci too. That's not an exciting prospect. Robby Cano had another hit. Just saying.

Tigers 10, Red Sox 9
This was a wild one. Armando Galarraga and Clay Buchholz were bad, but both struck out 6 while walking only 1. They should rebound. Placido Polanco had 5 hits, and all the sudden he's hitting .270. Maybe bigger news is the Gary Sheffield experiment seems to be working a little, as he went 3-4. Matt Joyce was 2-5 as well. He has more offensive potential than Brandon Inge, but I don't think there's much potential for him this year. He won't be worse the Jacque Jones though. Kevin Youkillis had two bombs. He's been awesome this year, and I don't really see him slowing down to much. It's also nice to see Mike Lowell hitting a homer, he should be okay this year too. Not last year good, but decent.

Jays 6, Rays 2
Matt Garza threw 6.2 innings of 1 ER and lost. It happens. Especially with the Rays' pen. Garza should be fine this year, and he's just going to get stronger as the year progresses. Scott Rolen homered for the second time, and doubled as well. He looks like he's going to be a factor this year. Marco Scutaro had three hits, but that's nothing exciting. Adam Lind was sent down after going 1-19, which means Shannon Stewart has a job for now. He's basically average. I think Lind will be back this year, but I'm going to drop him when I can come up with someone to add.

Royals 9, Angels 4
Jered Weaver was clobbered. He's going to be fine, but now seems like a pretty good buy low time. He won't dominate like 2006, but he didn't turn into his brother overnight either. Zach Greinke is a stud. Especially of note are the 8 Ks over 7 IP. I've said it before, he's going to strike a lot of people out. Mike Napoli hit his 8th (!) homer, going 3-4. With Jeff Mathis' struggles, he should be seeing more time, and with that comes more homers. The average will probably fall, but if he keeps hitting homers, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Garrett Anderson is hitting again, which is too bad because Reggie Willits or even Juan Rivera would be better for fantasy purposes. Alex Gordon homered, he looks strong this year. Jose Guillen is coming back too, going 3-3. I buy into him. David Dejesus hit is 3rd homer. Yuck.

Twins 13, White Sox 0
Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle. Looks like he's going to be staying in that leadoff spot for a while. He seems very streaky, so take note. Nick Punto had 5 RBI. I'm writing that only because it'll probably be the only time I'll ever get to, so enjoy. Craig Monroe is interesting. He really has struggled against righties recently, but this year he's hitting .365 against them. With Jason Kubel's struggles, it seems like he's going to start getting more time. He can easily hit 20 homers. Livan Hernandez threw a complete game giving up one run. I can't recommend him. I just can't. He's been awesome, so he's probably owned. Mark Buehrle was miserable, but he might be somewhat of a buy low. He's a risk, and I just wouldn't be really thrilled about starting him.

Rangers 2, M's 0
Vincente Padilla threw 7 innings of shutout ball, striking out 8. I don't like him either, but that's two times in a row he's dominated. Grab if you can stash him for a while. Erik Bedard had a solid game too, but since he plays for the M's, he lost. Brandon Boggs is interesting. I'm considering him as well with Lind being demoted. He tripled and singled, knocking in a run. I don't expect a ton from him, I feel like there are better options. Milton Bradley has done nothing but rake this year. He's legit. Sell high if you think he's going to get hurt, which is very possible.