There were some interesting outcomes from last night’s game, weren’t there? From Zack Greinke stinking it up for the third consecutive start to the Angels bullpen giving away C.J. Wilson’s win to Chipper Jones ticking louder than a Timex watch. But, it’s all in a day’s work in the baseball world, isn’t it? But let’s stick with personal performance as that’s really all that matter in daily fantasy baseball salary cap games. It’s going to be a jam-packed weekend of games and you’ve got plenty of options coming your way. Here’s a look at some of the data for most of the night games on Saturday.
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals (7:10pm ET)
Right-hander Jake Peavy had himself an outstanding first half of the season and looks to keep the momentum going against the Royals team batting .270 against right-handed pitching. He hasn’t faced them this season, but he does have a 4.40 ERA over seven career starts against them. The funny thing though is that while he controls righties better, Billy Butler is still hitting .389 with three home runs over 18 at-bats against him. Not only that, but righty Jeff Francoeur is batting .381 through 21 at-bats against him. For the Royals, it’s Luke Hochevar will attempt to stifle the White Sox offense, but he’s allowing righties to hit .271 against him and the Sox have a good number of them in the lineup. Alexei Ramirez is batting .421 with a double and a triple over 19 at-bats while the often-struggling Gordon Beckham is batting .333 with a home run over 18 at-bats against him.
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Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins (7:10pm ET)
Lefty Gio Gonzalez hasn’t faced the Marlins this season, but took them down last year during interleague, throwing a one-hit shutout. He’s holding all batters, both lefties and righties to a .192 average and should have no problem with a team batting .234 against left-handed pitching. Not to mention, they’ve only plated 98 runs against southpaws this season. For the Marlins, it’s veteran Mark Buehrle facing another team that struggles against lefties. The Nationals are batting just .254 against southpaws this season and have scored an embarrassingly low 94 runs this year. Keep an eye on Adam LaRoche though as he happens to be 3-for-7 with two doubles against Buehrle over his career. Perhaps Bryce Harper can do the same as he is batting .272 against lefties this year.
Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays (7:10pm ET)
The red Sox will go with young right-hander Clay Buchholz who is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA over three starts against Tampa Bay this season. While he continues to stifle right-0handed bats to the tune of a .241 average, southpaws are mashing .332 against the youngster. Look fo rthe Rays to find a way to get both Luke Scott and Hideki Matsui int o the lineup. Scott is only batting .231 against him but he has two home runs and two doubles over 26 at-bats. Meanwhile, Matsui has 19 at-bats under his belt and is batting .316 with a double. The Rays will turn the ball over to lefty ace David Price who dominates everyone, but particularly lefties who are hitting just .203 against him. That would easily explain Adrian Gonzalez’ .167 mark and David Ortiz’ .182 mark. Not to mention the fact that neither of them has gone deep against Price over the years.
Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers (7:10pm ET)
Pirates righty Kevin Correia has a 3.18 ERA over one start against the Brewers this year but only a 5.94 mark for the six starts before that. Right-handed batters are hitting him at a .290 clip this season, so look out for Ryan Braun who is batting .308 with two home runs over 26 at-bats against Correia and pounded two during Friday night’s game already. Also keep an eye on Corey Hart who may only be hitting .267 against Correia, but he does have a home run and a double through 15 at-bats. On the hill for the Brewers will be young right-hander Marco Estrada who is holding right-handers to a .186 average this season. That could be why the hot-hitting Andrew McCutchen has just one hit through 7 at-bats against him.
Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners (9:10pm ET)
Yu Darvish is looking for a little redemption hereas he’s sporting a 8.38 ERA over two starts against the lowly Mariners this season and is allowing them to hit .300 against him. He’s holding righties in check to the tune of a .190 average, but seems to have his difficulties with the lefties as evidenced by the fact that Ichiro Suzuki has gone 5-for-7 (.714) with a double and a triple against him this season and Kyle Seager is batting .400 against him with a double and three RBI. On the other side is another ace in Felix Hernandez making his first start of the second half. He dominated the Rangers the last time out, holding them to one run over eight innings, and is sporting a 3.71 ERA over the 16 starts before that. He’ll have to be careful though as Elvis Andrus is batting .319 with three doubles over 47 at-bats against King Felix while David Murphy should garner the start, batting .317 against Hernandez with two home runs and four doubles over 60 at-bats.
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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a varie home run and ty 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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