This week’s games have some serious drama brewing. You’ve got potential playoff match-ups, inter-division rivalries, and some personal scores to be settled. All of which makes for exciting games with plenty of action for your daily fantasy baseball salary cap games. You’ve got plenty of action from which to choose right now and if you dig deep enough, you’ll likely find a number of sleepers and quality value plays. Here’s a look at some of the games that will be on the Daily Joust ticket, so check the data, shop around and see who you like out there. Good luck!
Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees (7:05pm ET)
With injuries so abundant, left-hander Brett Cecil has managed to keep his rotation spot in spite of his 6.75 ERA. He does a solid job against lefties, holding them to a .167 average, which is big against the Yankees and in Yankee Stadium, but he is allowing righties to bat .322 against him and the Bronx Bombers have plenty with whom to be concerned. Alex Rodriguez is batting .294 with two home runs and a double over 17 at-bats against Cecil, Derek Jeter is hitting .280 with a home run in 25 at-bats, and look for newcomer Darnell McDonald to maybe get a spot start here as he is batting .545 with two doubles and a walk over 12 trips to the plate. The Yanks will throw big lefty CC Sabathia at the Jays for his first start since coming off the DL with a groin injury. He should be fresh and ready to build on that 2.72 ERA he has against them in his last six starts. That makes for tough calls such as Edwin Encarnacion who is hitting just .240 with no extra-base hits over 25 at-bats and Jose Bautista who is struggling with a .053 average over 19 at-bats against Sabathia.
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San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves (7:10pm ET)
Could there be trouble brewing for the Giants as lefty Barry Zito carries his 5.19 road ERA into Atlanta? An interesting question considering he has a 1.93 ERA in his last two starts at Turner Field. The fact that lefties are batting just .193 against him should help against the likes of Jason Heyward and Michael Bourn, but right-hander Dan Uggla is batting .300 with one home run off Zito through 20 at-bats and switch-hitting Chipper Jones might only be batting .222 in nine at-bats opposite Zito, but he does have a home run and is actually batting .308 with a home run and a double since the break. The Braves will be going with right-hander Jair Jurrjens who has looked like a completely different pitcher since being called back up. Like 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA different. However, he does seem to give up a number of hits still and batters are hitting a combine .319 against him this who season. He’s supposed to handle righties well, but they’re batting .296 this season which means it could hurt to tangle with Buster Posey who is batting .500 with a home run and two walks since returning from the break.
Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox (7:10pm ET)
Right-hander and one-time perfect game thrower Philip Humber is coming off the DL (elbow strain) to pitch for the first time in just over a month. Unfortunately for him though, he is facing a heavy left-handed lineup and lefties are batting .282 against him this season. Adrian Gonzalez seems to be over his back issues and returned to the lineup on Sunday. He’s batting .375 with two doubles over 10 plate appearances opposite Humber. And of course, there’s always David Ortiz who is batting .286 over eight appearances against Humber but is also batting .444 with a home run and four walks in his last 13 trips to the plate this season. For the Red Sox, southpaw Jon Lester is on the mound and while he is supposed to be suppressing lefties, A.J. Pierzynski is still hitting .364 against him over 11 at-bats. Righties are batting .280 against Lester this year, so be on the lookout for Paul Konerko who is batting .429 with three home runsa nd two doubles over 29 at-bats opposite the Boston lefty.
St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers (8:10pm ET)
Young right-hander Joe Kelly is doing everything he should be doing for the Cardinals this season including holding right-handed batters to a .242 average with just a .308 slugging percentage. That should be helpful given how righty-dominated the Brewers lineup is these days. You’ll likely see lefty Norichika Aoki who is batting .296 this year and has hit safely in six of his last seven games as well as lefty backstop George Kottaras and Nyjer Morgan since they are the three strongest lefty bats on the team. The Brewers will counter with veteran southpaw Randy Wolf who is getting clubbed by righties (.330) but does a great job controlling lefties (.210) at the plate. The switch-hitting Carlos Beltran will jump to the right side of the plate where he is batting .325 with three home runs and four doubles over 40 at-bats and watch for third baseman David Freese who is batting a healthy .350 over the course of 20 at-bats against Wolf.
Pittsburgh Pirates at Colorado Rockies (8:40pm ET)
Lefty Erik Bedard brings a humbling 6.60 road ERA into hitter-friendly Coors Field, a park he’s actually never thrown in. His lefty/righty splits are pretty solid, holding left-handers to a .231 average and righties at .278, but he’s got some strong bats with which to contend. Carlos Gonzalez may be a lefty, but he’s an animal at home, hitting .389 and actually still hits lefties at a .298 clip. Right-handed Michael Cuddyer is familiar with Bedard from their American League days and Cuddyer is batting .273 against him over 22 at-bats. On the hill for the Rockies is rookie southpaw Christian Friedrich whose 8.01 home ERA is as troubling as the fact that all hitters are batting a combined .306 against him. A struggling right-handed bat like Casey McGehee (3-for-14, .214) might find a way to break out, and we all know what the right-handed Andrew McCutchen (7-for-12, .583) is capable of doing.
Texas Rangers at Oakland A’s (10:05pm ET)
Texas right-hander Roy Oswalt looks nothing like he used to back in the day. In fact, both lefties and righties are killing him at the plate, batting a combined .385 against him. That should prove positive for the hot-hitting Yoenis Cespedes who hasn’t faced the veteran before, but is batting .571 with two home runs and a double since returning from the All Star break. Also look out for first baseman Chris Carter who seems to be getting a longer look here in the second half after hitting .333 with a pair of home runs over this past weekend series. The A’s will have veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon make his second-half debut here against a Rangers team he actually shut out for eight innings earlier this season. He’s stifling right-handed hitters pretty well thus far this season, but Adrian Beltre is still batting .315 with four home runs against him in 54 at-bats while Michael Young is belting at a robust .356 mark with a home run and three doubles over 45 at-bats against him.
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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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