Tonight, my daily fantasy lineup at Star Fantasy Leagues features a few players who aren’t even regular starters, but that can happen on a night when there are only 8 games being played. But I’m still optimistic about what these guys will do. If you want to try to do better, head on over to SFL, sign up, and enter the promo code “SJN” for a 40% deposit bonus.
(C) Brayan Pena $6,662 – This isn’t a name that pops up in many fantasy lineups, but he is in mine tonight. This pick is all predicated on him actually being in the starting lineup, but he has shown he deserves to play over Alex Avila. Pena is hitting .275 on the season, has 6 hits in his last 3 starts and is 4-for-5 in his career against tonight’s starter, Ubaldo Jimenez.
(1B) Adam Dunn $4,677 – This pick is a bit of a gamble with Dunn’s propensity for striking out. But, he seems to have finally found his stroke. In the last week, he’s hit .320 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI. If there’s ever a time to use him, it might as well be now.
(2B) Howie Kendrick $6,185 – Kendrick has been one of the few bright spots for the Angels this year. Aside from hitting .311 on the season, he has a 7-game hitting streak with 14 hits and 2 home runs in that span.
(3B) Jedd Gyorko $5,815 – Gyorko is the first of several Padres in my lineup tonight, due largely to the fact they’re facing Tyler Lyons, who is making his Major League debut. Lyons has posted a 4.47 ERA in AAA this year and Gyorko is coming off a 3-hit game.
(SS) Everth Cabrera $7,285 – Another Padre, Cabrera is dangerous when he gets on base, which he’s been doing fairly frequently lately. He’s been on base 16 times in 7 games and has 7 steals in that stretch.
(OF) Mike Trout $11,285 – One of the best young hitters in the game coming off hitting a cycle? Enough said.
(OF) Chris Dickerson $6,815 – Dickerson hasn’t been an everyday player, but has been very good when he has played. He’s hit in each of his last 4 games, which includes 3 home runs, 2 of them coming last night.
(OF) Josh Hamilton $7,995 – It’s been hard to trust Hamilton this year, but he might be starting to come around. He has hits in 7 of his last 8 games and hit his 6th home run of the year last night. We’ll take a chance on him now.
(U) Will Venable $5,446 – Venable marks the third Padre in my lineup. He hasn’t been spectacular lately, but he does have 2 home runs in 3 games and I’m hoping for another one tonight.
(SP) Cliff Lee $14,809 – Lee is having another solid season, with quality starts in 7 of his 9 outings and at least 7 innings pitched in each of those. Against the Marlins, tonight, this feels like a no-brainer.
(SP) C.J. Wilson $14,399 – Wilson has been very consistent this year, pitching between 6 and 7 innings in every start but one, while giving up more than 3 earned runs only once. He also gets the Mariners tonight.
(RP) Ernesto Frieri $1,704 – I’m piggybacking the Wilson start with the Frieri pick in the hopes I can grab a win and save from the same game.
(P) Hector Santiago $5,721 – Lately, I’ve been going with the least expensive starter as my fourth pitching option in the hopes of picking up a few points here, without having to sacrifice my offensive options with a more costly pick. Tonight, this happens to be Santiago, who is facing a Red Sox team on a 2-game losing streak.
