The successful run I had been on with my Star Fantasy Leagues daily lineups was bound to come to an end. After placing in the money in the freeroll four out of six times, my last lineup on Monday didn’t quite live up to those standards. With the Labor Day afternoon games, there were few options for the night games. I should have adjusted my strategy to spend more money on offense, since it was tough to find good values there. But with a heavier slate of games tonight, it’s back again to what had worked. And here are the results. Build a team for yourself at SFL and use the promo code “SJN” for a 40% deposit bonus.
(C) Wilin Rosario $6,954 – Not even matchups against two of the National League’s best pitchers have been able to slow Rosario down. He has a seven-game hitting streak and went 3-for-9 against Clayton Kershaw and Ricky Nolasco over the last two days. Now he’ll face Edinson Volquez, a pitcher against whom he is 5-for-11 in his career.
(1B) Justin Morneau $6,153 – Morneau has made the most of out his first three games in Pittsburgh with four hits in nine at bats, including a 3-for-3 day yesterday. He has also walked in each game with the Pirates, as well.
(2B) Robinson Cano $8,276 – Cano has a hit in each of his two games against the White Sox this week as the Yankees find way to score runs and win. He is a career .301 hitter against Chicago and is also hitting .313 at home this season. That is a recipe for production.
(3B) Kyle Seager $6,592 – So far, so good for Seager in September. In his first three games of the month, he has gone 6-for-12. His home run yesterday was his 22nd of the season. He has put together a very nice year and his five-game hitting streak is a good sign of more to come.
(SS) Ian Desmond $6,975 – Desmond has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games and has multiple hits in seven of those. If the Nationals have any hope of reaching the playoffs, Desmond will have to be a big part of their offense.
(OF) Shin-Soo Choo $7,745 – Choo’s six-game hitting streak came to an end yesterday, but that’s not because he had a bad day. He went 0-for-1, but still had three walks. His .417 OBP trails only his teammate Joey Votto in the N.L. He just finds ways to get on base.
(OF) Marlon Byrd $6,561 – Like Morneau, Byrd is also enjoying the first few days with his new Pirates team. In seven games, he is batting .346/.393/.615 with five extra base hits. Not bad for a guy who almost retired before the season.
(OF) Andre Ethier $5,621 – Ethier has enjoyed the thin air of Denver, going 4-for-6 with four walks, three doubles, a homer, three RBI, and five runs. That is all just in the course of two days. With another game at Coors Field tonight, he seems like a wise bet.
(U) Alfonso Soriano $7,409 – It’s been about a week since Soriano has had more than one hit in a game, but he has had a hit and at least one RBI in four of his last five. With 12 home runs in 36 games since joining the Yankees, he’s due for another soon.
(SP) Francisco Liriano $17,303 – Liriano’s resurgence continued in his last start, as he shut out the Cardinals over eight innings, allowing just two hits and striking out six. He picked up his 15th win of the season. He has a favorable matchup tonight against Milwaukee and, if he’s able to pick up another victory, he will have helped clinch Pittsburgh’s first winning season since 1992.
(SP) Jered Weaver $13,359 – Weaver has won two straight, while giving up just six hits and one run in his last 14 innings. He owns a 3.30 ERA on the season, and he’ll face a struggling Rays team tonight that is just 2-8 over its last 10 games.
(RP) Jim Johnson $2,449 – Baltimore’s road trip has been a rough one, with just three wins in five games. I suspect they’ll salvage the last game of that trip in Cleveland and Johnson will have to close it out.
(P) Taijuan Walker $4,500 – Walker will make his second career start after a nice debut on Friday. He picked up the win, going five innings, allowing one unearned run and two hits while striking out two against Houston. As a top pitching prospect who had a 2.93 minor league ERA this year, It’s reasonable to think he could have a similar outing today against Kansas City. I’m just hoping for a few more strikeouts. He did have 160 over 141.1 innings in the minors.
