As Major League Baseball hands out its Biogenesis suspensions today, it’s nice to have a reason to focus on the action on the field, rather than the ugly mess off of it. So joining a Star Fantasy Leagues daily league is a great way to do it. Once again, I’m looking at good pitching and filling my offensive lineup with streaking hitters. I’m even stacking my team with several players facing one of the best pitchers in the game. We’ll see how it goes. To build a team for yourself, visit SFL and use the promo code “SJN” for a 40% deposit bonus.
(C) Jarrod Saltalamacchia $5,183 – Salty has been hitting pretty well as of late. He has at least one hit in each of his last five starts, has an extra-base hit in three of them, and has scored in four of them. He’s been a decent contributor to one of the best offenses in the majors.
(1B) Freddie Freeman $7,915 – Freeman is swinging a good bat right now. He owns an eight-game hitting streak and had a stretch of three games during which he was 8-for-12. Tonight he’ll face Stephen Strasburg. While that may sound like a tough matchup, it’s actually not. Freeman is 5-for-13 against him with a double and a home run.
(2B) Dustin Pedroia $7,509 – Pedroia still hasn’t fully broken out of the slump he’s been stuck in, but he’s getting there. He has hits in five of his last six games, and he has had a ton of success against Astros pitching. In 10 career games against Houston, he has a .538 average.
(3B) Chris Johnson $5,913 – Johnson’s streak of eight straight multi-hit games came to an end on Saturday, but he got right back on the horse yesterday with two more hits. He’s had some success against Strasburg, too, with three hits in 11 career at bats.
(SS) Stephen Drew $5,796 – Drew is probably on the best stretch of his season. He has a five-game hitting streak and has two hits in four of them. Most of them have been singles, but he’s also picked up a few RBIs and runs.
(OF) Jason Heyward $6,369 – This marks the third Brave in my lineup today, which is not something I’d have thought I’d do with Strasburg opposing them, but Heyward has hits in six of eight games and also seems to hit Strasburg well. He has seven hits against him in 15 career at bats.
(OF) Michael Saunders $6,069 – Saunders is working on a five-game hitting streak and has four home runs in his last seven games, including a two homer, five RBI performance on Saturday. He’ll face R.A. Dickey tonight. In his previous game against the knuckleballer he was 2-for-3 with two home runs.
(OF) Kole Calhoun $2,697 – I’m not sure I’ve ever spent any less on a position players and I’m not sure I ever will again. But Calhoun is as good a bet as any at this cost. He’s started the last four games for the Angels and had seven hits. In his eight games this season, he is hitting .346 with two home runs.
(U) Michael Morse $5,624 – Morse enjoyed a nice weekend series against Baltimore, with five hits over 13 at bats in four games. During that series, he had four extra-base hits, scored five runs, and had three RBI. He’ll try to continue that tonight as Seattle hosts Toronto.
(SP) Mike Minor $16,901 – Minor has been on a nice stretch over his last four starts, going 3-1 with a 1.55 ERA and 26 strikeouts. He’s gone seven innings in three starts and eight in the other. He has a favorable matchup tonight against Washington.
(SP) Hisashi Iwakuma $15,922 – Iwakuma hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 14 innings, spanning more than two starts. He also hasn’t lost in more than a month. In his last start against Toronto, he went seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out five.
(RP) Joaquin Benoit $1,955 – Benoit has turned into a reliable closer for a suddenly scorching hot Tigers team. Another lead for Detroit would mean another save chance for Benoit.
(P) John Lackey $12,093 – Lackey has been one of the most consistent pitchers for the Red Sox all season, but he has had a bit of a lull the last couple outings. After two consecutive losses, he did rebound to go seven innings against the Mariners in his last start, allowing three runs. He has gone at least six innings in nine consecutive starts. In his last outing against Houston, he gave up just one run in six innings while striking out four.
