The daily grind 5-23

The Daily Grind provides daily match-up advice based on my every-morning waiver wire search. I welcome advice to help make this column more effective. Ownership rates are from Yahoo!

I will be vacationing for the next five days. Look for TDG to return next Tuesday.

Today’s grind

A trio of widely available pitchers have juicy match-ups.

Marco Estrada takes on the feeble hitting Giants.

Andy Pettitte faces a Royals roster whose best hitters are primarily left-handed.

Scott Feldman is virtually unowned. He’ll start against the Mariners.

David Murphy gets a rematch with Kevin Millwood.

Carlos Gomez will get a start against Barry Zito.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis faces Charlie Morton.

Tomorrow’s grind

Only seven games tomorrow, which limits the options.

Philip Humber takes a turn against the Twins. They just got Ryan Doumit back, which makes their bad lineup a shade less bad.

Joe Blanton will face a Cardinals roster that is just a bit injury desolated. I worry about this particular match-up.

Eric Stults is one of those guys who isn’t good but always treats my fantasy roster kindly. I like the match-up against the lefty heavy Mets.

Take Matt Adams against Blanton. Matt Carpenter is dealing with a minor injury and so will not impinge on Adams’ playing time.

Ryan Doumit is only 26 percent owned and carries useful positional flexibility and a solid skill set.

Brennan Boesch’s ownership has been climbing slowly south. He’s at 45 percent owned and will face Justin Masterson. I’ve seen him crop up as an option in a league or two.

Reliever watch

J.J. Putz blew his third save of the year. It’s been a rocky season for him; his velocity and command have been off. Last night, he supposedly recovered the velocity but still failed to shut the door. The Diamondbacks have a couple of alternatives in Bryan Shaw and David Hernandez.

Henry Rodriguez has been demoted from the closer role. He will contribute to the committee that is currently in use. Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard, and Craig Stammen could also work into the mix at times.

Yesterday’s results

R.A. Dickey was unkind to the Pirates while earning the win: 7 IP, 11 K, 1.29 ERA, 0.71 WHIP

Juan Nicasio’s performance was not so super: 5 IP, 5 K, 9.00 ERA, 2.40 WHIP

Travis Wood allowed only two hits, but one was a home run: 5.2 IP, 3 K, 3.18 ERA, 0.88 WHIP

0-for-2 with two walks for Matt Adams.

Rajai Davis did his thing. He was 0-for-2 with one run and two stolen bases.

Marlon Byrd was 0-for-2.

Reed Johnson was 1-for-3 with one walk.