The slate of games isn’t completely full, but there are plenty of opportunities to pick some gems for your daily fantasy baseball MLB Lineups. A number of these match-ups feature pitchers who have recently crossed over from one league to the other, so the data happens to be a little more plentiful. Here’s a look at a few games with some notable players of interest.
Detroit Tigers at Chicago Cubs (2:20pm ET)
Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander brings his 2.69 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 93.2 innings to take on the Cubs. He’s holding the opposition to a .207 batting average so it should be interesting to see how he matches up with David DeJesus who is batting .304 with four doubles against him over 46 at-bats. Also look out for Alfonso Soriano who is batting .375 with three home runs over his last 23 at-bats. The Cubs will be throwing young Travis Wood who is allowing Prince Fielder to beat him with a .400 batting average over 12 plate appearances. He’ll also need to watch for Brennan Boesch who is batting .381 with one home run over his last 21 at-bats.
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Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants (3:45pm ET)
It’s a match-up of veteran southpaws as Wandy Rodriguez and Barry Zito take the hill for their respective teams. Over the last three times he’s faced the Giants, all at hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park, he’s got a 1.35 ERA and has held the Giants to a .235 average over 20 innings. But while he contains the likes of Angel Pagan to a .214 batting average, he could have some trouble with second baseman Ryan Theriot who is batting .297 with a home run and four doubles over 37 at-bats against him. Zito has a 4.34 ERA over his last three starts against the Astros who have batted just .254 against him. He catches a break as Carlos Lee, who hits him at a .293 clip, is still on the disabled list, but expect to see catcher Chris Snyder who is hitting a strong .444 over 23 plate appearances.
Pittsburgh Pirates at Baltimore Orioles (7:05pm ET)
Left-hander Erik Bedard returns to face his former team, and while he’s pitched well in two of his last three outings, he has his difficulties with some of his old teammates. The perpetually hot Adam Jones, for one, is batting .545 with two doubles over his last 12 trips to the plate against Bedard, and Matt Wieters owns a .333 average with two home runs over 11 plate appearances. The Orioles, in return, will send right-hander Tommy Hunter to the mound and hope that he can repeat his last performance (7 IP, 3 ER) as opposed to the two before that in which he gave up 10 runs over nine innings of work. It certainly won’t be easy facing Neil Walker who is batting .360 with a home run and two doubles over his last 25 at-bats or even the usual light-hitting Rod Barajas who is batting .333 against Hunter in his career.
Arizona Diamondbacks at Texas Rangers (8:05pm ET)
Scott Feldman is on the hill for the Rangers and he does a great job containing these Diamondbacks actually. Aaron Hill is batting just .188 against him through 16 at-bats and former Twin Jason Kubel is hitting an even worse .111 over 11 plate appearances. Willie Bloomquist doesn’t fare any better with just one hit in nine at-bats against the right-hander. For the D-Backs, Daniel Hudson takes the hill hoping to shake off the beating he took from Oakland in his last outing. Unfortunately, this is hitter-friendly Arlington and he’ll have to face Josh Hamilton who is on a seven-game hit streak, Ian Kinsler who is batting .308 over his last 26 at-bats as well as the pesky Craig Gentry who is hitting a whopping .571 over his last 15 trips to the plate.
Milwaukee Brewers at Kansas City Royals (8:10pm ET)
The Royals are sending Luke Hochevar to the mound, hoping that he can turn things around from his last two starts in which he gave up a total of 10 earned runs. It certainly isn’t going to be easy with Corey Hart batting .292 with two home runs over his last 24 at-bats or Ryan Braun who is hitting .333 with one home run over his last 24 at-bats. The Brewers will counter with veteran right-hander Shaun Marcum who is 3-0 with a 2.29 ERA over his last three starts. While he’s holding Yuniesky Betancourt to a .118 average over 17 at-bats, Billy Butler, a.k.a. Country Breakfast, is batting .333 against him over 12 at-bats.
Chicago White Sox at St. Louis Cardinals (8:15pm ET)
Jake Westbrook faces an all too familiar foe in the White Sox after years of pitching for the division rival Indians. Unfortunately for him, things haven’t been so smooth as he owns a 7.15 ERA over his last four starts against them. He might catch a break if Adam Dunn, who is batting .261 with three home runs in his last 23 at-bats, sits again with a sore ankle, but he’ll still have to contend with Paul Konerko who is batting .313 with four home runs and four doubles in 67 at-bats against Westbrook. For the White Sox, Gavin Floyd tries to right the ship after having given up four or more runs in each of his last five starts. Working to his advantage is the fact that Rafael Furcal is batting just .167 against him in a dozen at-bats and while Carlos Beltran is hitting .409 with three home runs in his last 22 at-bats, he is hitting just .167 against Floyd as well.
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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 @rotobuzzguy or you can email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.
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