The daily grind 5-21
by Brad JohnsonMay 22, 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
R.A. Dickey gets the lucky Pirates match-up. Unfortunately, he's 42 percent owned.
Juan Nicasio has a decent match-up with the Marlins.
Travis Wood gets to face the Astros. I picked him up twice.
David Murphy should start against the hittable Hector Noesi.
Matt Adams' ownership has jumped to 15 percent. The match-up with Edinson Volquez isn't exciting or anything, but you might not have long to pick him up despite that. He's also plastered all over the Yahoo! fantasy splash page, so his ownership will skyrocket. He's not a lock to start any given night until he establishes himself.
Rajai Davis will get another chance to hit multiple home runs, this time against the Rays' Matt Moore.
Marlon Byrd and Reed Johnson are both set to face hitable lefties.
Tomorrow's grind
Marco Estrada is a reliable source of strike outs. The rest of the results could be anything. He faces the Giants.
Scott Feldman rarely crosses my radar, but he faces the Mariners tomorrow.
Andy Pettitte against the Royals sounds like a workable match-up. It also sounds like I'm playing an outdated video game.
Murphy's set to see Kevin Millwood.
Carlos Gomez should get a start against Barry Zito.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis faces Charlie Morton.
Reliever watch
Jason Motte picked up the coveted blown save, vulture win last night. He's pitched well despite the three blown saves.
Jonathan Broxton blew his second save. He's done well to date but there's reason for concern in his peripherals. It might be time to start quietly adding alternative Royals.
Andrew Cashner blew a non-ninth inning save. I didn't have eyes on this game, but my impression is that Cashner isn't quite polished enough for a high leverage role yet.
Henry Rodriguez was pulled from a save situation after recording one out. The Nationals are said to be considering alternatives, but there aren't many available. Tyler Clippard is probably the best reliever in the pen, but he has history of trouble in the ninth and management has been adamant that Clippard will remain the setup man.
Yesterday’s results
Great start from Felipe Paulino. He earned the win while shutting down the Yankees: 6.2 IP, 8 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.20
Jamie Moyer did not get through that outing with the Marlins. I hope you have less fantasy hubris than I and passed on that recommendation: 3.2 IP, 5 K, 14.73 ERA, 3.55 WHIP
Seth Smith was 1-for-2 with one run and a pair of walks.
Eric Thames was 1-for-3 with one RBI.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com
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