The daily grind 6-14
by Brad JohnsonJune 14, 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
Barry Zito is 31 percent owned and set to take on the Astros today.
The readership has pronounced that the Twins' offense is no longer one to stream against, so I'll wait for the next time three of their guys are on the disabled list.
Speaking of the Twins, Scott Diamond doesn't strike out many, but he should be fine against the Phillies' patchwork offense.
As a reader mentioned, Erasmo Ramirez has the coveted Padres match-up (see what I did there).
It looks like I forgot to mention hitters yesterday, which is too bad because there are a lot of options.
Gerardo Parra and Jason Kubel look like great options against Scott Feldman.
Ben Revere has the platoon advantage over Joe Blanton. Ryan Doumit is only 27 percent owned and can be plugged in at catcher or outfield if your regular guy is on the bench.
Norichika Aoki faces Luke Hochevar.
That Alex Smith start I mentioned yesterday was moved to today, so break out Seth Smith in his old stomping grounds.
Tomorrow's grind
Anthony Bass is the only pitcher who's close to stream-able tomorrow. He faces the A's, but it really seems like the league's figured out his fastball-slider combination. I picked up Wade Davis and Charlie Furbush with my streaming spots rather than use Bass.
Speaking of Bass, you can hold on to Seth Smith for another day.
Jim Thome gets to face a contact-oriented righty in DDrew Hutchison.
Tomorrow's ugly match-up of the day comes to us from Detroit, where Casey Crosby is set to take on Jeff Francis. Play any right-handed starter you can find, like Wilin Rosario, Delmon Young, or even Gerald Laird.
Reliever watch
Rafael Betancourt blew his second save of the season. He's still one of the best relievers in baseball so he's safe. Ryan Cook came on to finish the game for the A's. Cook has strong numbers but his peripherals speak of a pitcher who could have the same problems as Grant Balfour with the role. Keep an eye on Sean Doolittle, wh'se ownable already thanks to a ridiculous strikeout rate.
Shawn Camp seems to be the guy in Chicago, at least for the moment.
David Robertson will be activated in time for today's game, but Rafael Soriano seemingly has a firm grasp on saves.
Yesterday’s results
Felix Doubront had an excellent outing while earning the win: 7 IP, 9 K, 1.29 ERA, 0.57 WHIP
Nathan Eovaldi pitched well in a no-decision: 6 IP, 4 K, 1.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP
J.A. Happ took a steamer. I don't even want to talk about it.
Jason Marquis handled the Mariners' plethora of lefties just fine. Somebody should have smacked me in the head about Mike Carp getting moved to the disabled list yesterday.
Raul Ibanez was 0-for-3.
Weekend
I'm going camping again this weekend so I will once again be unavailable for updates. If you have any questions, leave them in today's comments and I'll try to squeeze them into tomorrow's column.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com
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