Plenty of great match-ups from which to choose today, but keep an eye on some of the weather reports as inclement weather could affect your pitching choices. The Mets and Yankees had a 30-plus minute delay to start things off and the Rays and Phillies were postponed outright. So just double check everything before making the final decisions on your daily fantasy baseball salary cap teams. Here’s a look at some of the games you might want to invest in…
St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals (2:10pm ET)
Adam Wainwright continues his comeback season ans held these same Royals to one run over seven innings just this past Sunday. He’ll look to keep them down again and improve on such numbers as holding Jeff Francoeur to a .250 average with one home run over 16 at-bats, or keeping Alcides Escobar down with a .188 average, also over 16 at-bats. On the hill for the Royals will be swingman turned starter Luis Mendoza who went opposite Wainwright last time out and actually gave up just two runs over six innings. But can he continue his recent ascent? It’ll be tough against Matt Holliday who is batting .381 with two home runs and four doubles over his last 23 at-bats and of course Carlos Beltran who is still batting .391 over his last 23 trips to the plate.
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Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago White Sox (7:15pm ET)
Veteran lefty Randy Wolf takes the hill for the Brew Crew and is hoping to keep the ball in the yard against some of these South Siders. Adam Dunn, who already has twice the home runs this year as he did all of last season, is batting just .229 with a home run and two doubles over 35 at-bats while new Sox third baseman Orlando Hudson is batting .429 over 14 at-bats, but with no extra-base hits. The Sox will send Philip Humber to the mound and who would have ever thought this guy could throw a perfect game? He’s 1-2 with an 8.22 ERA over his last three starts and now has to deal with Ryan Braun who is hitting .423 with four home runs and two doubles over his last 26 at-bats and Aramis Ramirez who is batting .308 with three home runs of his own.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Los Angeles Angels (7:15pm ET)
While both pitchers are coming off of great starts, this one could turn into a slugfest. The Dodgers made a last minute change during the week and pushed lefty Chris Capuano back to tonight, so the numbers you saw yesterday still apply. Albert Pujols is batting .528 with four home runs and five doubles over 36 at-bats against Capuano, while Torii Hunter owns a .500 average over 18 at-bats with a home run and a double of his own. For the Angels, it’s Ervin Santana and the Dodgers do a solid job against him as well. James Loney is batting .455 over a dozen plate appearances and Andre Ethier is batting .333 with a home run and two doubles over the last 16 times they’ve faced each other.
New York Yankees at New York Mets (7:15pm ET)
Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova has won his last five starts and has a 2.48 ERA and 3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio in that span. He does a good job containing lefties, but righties are batting .317 against him and that means David Wright, who is hitting .364 over his last 22 at-bats, could have a strong night. And even though he bats left-handed, watch for Lucas Duda who is batting .313 with a home run over his last four games. For the Mets, right-hander Chris Young is on the mound and should have his hands full. Aside from Robinson Cano batting .368 with three home runs over his last 19 at-bats, Russell Martin is actually hitting .320 with a pair of doubles over 25 at-bats in his career against Young.
Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres (10:05pm ET)
While it’s not an in-state rivalry, the Mariners and Padres have faced each other plenty over the years. Felix Hernandez struggled against the Padres two starts ago, but definitely looked like his old self in his last outing. Carlos Quentin is hoping to do some damage against him though as he is batting .263 against him with two home runs and a double over 19 at-bats. Also, look for lefty Mark Kotsay to get the start as he owns a .318 average against King Felix with four doubles over 22 at-bats. On the hill for the Padres is Clayton Richard who knows these Mariners from both interleague play and his time with the White Sox. Surprisingly, Ichiro Suzuki has just a .250 average against Richard and has no extra-base hits in 16 at-bats, but Miguel Olivo is hitting .296 with three doubles over 29 trips to the plate against him.
Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks (10:10pm ET)
Although he ended up with a no decision in each, Cubs starter Paul Maholm is coming off of a pair of quality starts in which he finished with a 3.75 ERA and a 13:2 K:BB ratio. The southpaw is holding righties to a .256 average this season so it should be interesting to see how he handles Paul Goldschmidt who is batting .316 with a home run and two doubles over his last 19 at-bats. And then, of course, there’s the right-handed Aaron Hill who is hitting .417 with four home runs, three doubles and a triple over his last 24 trips to the plate. In the hill for the Diamondbacks is right-hander Ian Kennedy who is coming off one of his better starts this year. He does a better job against righties than lefties, but righties are still hitting a collective .264 against him with some power. That bodes well for a number of Cubs, particularly Starlin Castro who is hitting .375 with a home run, a double and two triples of his last 24 at-bats.
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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites, including his own, The Fantasy Baseball Buzz. You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or for direct questions or comments you can email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.
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