The daily grind 6-4
by Brad JohnsonJune 04, 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
To qualify for the daily grind, my unofficial cutoff rate is 50 percent owned. Today, Vance Worley and Jason Vargas look like decent streaming options but they are 55 and 54 percent owned respectively. Worley faces the Dodgers but likely has a 50-pitch limit. He is good to own going forward. Vargas faces the Angels and a suddenly hot Albert Pujols.
Christian Friedrich takes on the Diamondbacks. I could see this one going very well or very poorly given the Snakes' all-or-nothing mentality at the plate.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis is set to face Kyle Lohse today. I'm still confused as to why Captain Kirk's only 9 percent owned.
Ryan Doumit will square off against Will Smith.
Let's throw in a couple regulars. David Murphy will face Jarrod Parker while in the opposing dugout, Seth Smith draws Scott Feldman.
Tomorrow's grind
Drew Smyly has the friendly Indians match-up.
Chris Young is making a rare appearance between injuries tomorrow for those who are into that. I'm not buying.
A.J. Burnett against the Reds feels like today's Friedrich match-up—it could go very well or horribly wrong.
Brennan Boesch has finally been dropped enough to be useful to us grinders. He'll face Ubaldo Jimenez.
Matt Adams might get a shot against Lucas Harrell. It's going to be tough to predict when Adams sits in favor of Allen Craig.
Jeremy Guthrie makes good fodder for Gerardo Parra, but he's not guaranteed to play.
Craig Gentry will likely draw the spot start against Travis Blackley.
Reliever watch
Jose Valverde blew his third save of the season yesterday but he managed to vulture the win. Joaquin Benoit is now half a step closer to steady save opportunities although Valverde still has some wiggle room.
Kenley Jansen blew the save on Saturday night. He too vultured the win. Javy Guerra is still lurking.
Yesterday’s results
This was a long time ago, but since you're asking...
On Friday, Felipe Paulino picked up the win with six shutout frames: 6 IP, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Wade Miley wasn't nearly as good: 7.1 IP, 4 K, 4.91 ERA, 0.82 WHIP
Carlos Quentin was 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Andruw Jones was 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Michael Brantley was 1-for-4 with one RBI. I'm noticing a pattern.
Greg Dobbs was 0-for-1. So much for that.
On to Saturday: Rajai Davis went 0-for-4. As an aside, Davis is getting full time play temporarily, so I suggest snatching him up if you need steals.
Smith did not play.
Carlos Gomez was a fugly 0-for-5.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com
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