Thursday, May 03, 2012
The daily grind 5-3
Posted by Brad Johnson at 5:50amThe 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!
Today's grind
Ross Detwiler against the Diamondbacks might be worth a shot. The D-backs have been scorching the ball with more than 10 hits over the last four games, but they do lean a little bit left-handed and Detwiler kills lefties.
I recommend rostering Danny Duffy if he's available but not starting him against the Yankees. I recommend buying low tomorrow after he has a "meh" outing.
You could try out David Phelps against the Royals' sputtering roster. I'd expect some ratio trouble but a good shot for a win.
Randall Delgado faces a Phillies offense that is only bad when I don't recommend someone starting against them.
Speaking of Delgado, Juan Pierre should start and have a good night against the youngster.
Tony Campana faces another righty. You never know when Reed Johnson is going to get a spot start, though.
Luke Scott's ownership remains static at 37 percent. He faces Kevin Millwood today.
Lefty masher Shelley Duncan will try to mash lefty John Danks. We'll see who wins that match-up.
Tomorrow's grind
Wade Miley draws the Mets tomorrow. I've watched a couple of his starts and he's tough on lefties. The Mets rely on a few of those. I think he'll have a decent outing and he's off to a strong start. Unfortunately, that's the only pitching match-up worth a sniff on the wire. Go ahead, look for yourself.
Eric Thames meets Ervin Santana tomorrow.
It might be worth crossing your fingers and hoping Juan Francisco starts for the Braves against Guillermo Moscoso.
Lefty Bruce Chen starts against the Yankees, which equals an Andruw Jones night. Probably, anyway.
Snatch up Will Middlebrooks, since he'll face a lefty.
Reliever watch
It was the night of the vulture.
Rafael Betancourt was managed into a blown save, but he vultured the win in the bottom of the ninth.
Heath Bell gave up some base runners in the ninth and was pulled for Steve Cishek. Cishek then blew the save by allow the tying run to score. Santiago Casilla came on for the Giants in the 10th and gave up a home run to Giancarlo Stanton, giving Cishek the vulture win. Bell's job security is gone at this point. He might have one more chance, but probably not. Cishek will assume the role. Casilla is safe because he's pitched well.
Craig Kimbrel blew the save last night, but he's safe. The Braves later won but he didn't get to vulture the win.
Brian Fuentes earned the save for the A's last night. Grant Balfour had a rough week that included a loss and two blown saves, but he had also worked in five of the last eight games, so a night off was warranted. Keep an eye on the situation.
Yesterday’s results
What's this about not trusting A.J. Burnett? I'm sorry I even mentioned him: 2.2 IP, 2 K, 40.51 ERA, 4.89 WHIP
Almost a ho-hum outing for Philip Humber but he walked six: 6 IP, 6 K, 4.50 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
Daniel Bard got touched up a bit: 5.1 IP, 1 K, 6.75 ERA, 1.88 WHIP
Rajai Davis was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs.
Campana was 1-for-4.
Carlos Gomez was 0-for-4.
Ryan Sweeney was 1-for-3 with a walk.
Josh Reddick was 1-for-4 with a run.
Luke Scott was 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and one RBI.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com