The daily grind 5-17
by Brad JohnsonMay 17, 2012
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!
Today's grind
Short list of picks for today but they're all solid.
Zach McAllister draws the highly coveted Mariners match-up.
James McDonald will face the Nationals although his ownership rates have raced upwards to 38 percent. You can probably thank the splash page article about him on Yahoo for the ownership boost.
Juan Pierre will be batting leadoff against Chris Volstad.
Eric Thames holds the platoon advantage over Phil Hughes.
Raul Ibanez has a favorable match-up against Drew Hutchinson.
Andy Dirks' ownership is up to 29 percent. He faces P.J. Walters today.
Tomorrow's grind
Marco Estrada will face the Ryan Doumit-less Twins tomorrow. It's a ripe match-up for his strikeout-heavy approach.
Jarrod Parker will take on the Giants as part of the battle of the bay (it's not worthy of proper noun status).
You could try Alex White against the Mariners or Philip Humber against the Cubs if you want to throw a Hail Mary.
Stick with Ibanez, who faces Arroyo tomorrow.
Dexter Fowler is down to 41 percent owned and is available in three of my leagues. He faces Kevin Millwood tomorrow.
It's one of those days where Rajai Davis will probably start in left field for the Jays.
Reliever watch
Jon Rauch melted down in the eighth inning yesterday. It might be time to hold Bobby Parnell and hope the Mets want to demo something with upside eventually.
Jonathan Broxton blew his second save of the season. His peripherals haven't been pretty. The Royals are probably praying he holds it together just long enough to trade him.
In case you've been keeping track of the Cubs' mess, Kerry Wood blew a save in the seventh inning yesterday. Everybody blows saves in Chicago.
Jose Valverde is day-to-day with back tightness, so pick up Joaquin Benoit.
Yesterday’s results
A fair outing from Chris Capuano, but he took the loss: 6.1 IP, 6 K, 4.26 ERA, 1.42 WHIP
Mike Minor has been abysmal in four straight outings now: 4.2 IP, 3 K, 11.57 ERA, 1.93 WHIP
Felipe Paulino was masterful but the Royals couldn't shut the door (see Broxton above): 7 IP, 9 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Craig Gentry was 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Matt Diaz was 0-for-4 with one RBI.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis was 1-for-4 and was caught stealing.
Tony Campana was 0-for-2.
Jeff Keppinger did not start. He went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com
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