The daily grind 6-21

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!

The good news is I saw Aziz Ansari last night. The bad news is I got four hours of sleep as a result, so please forgive any Alex Smith’s today.

Today’s grind

Thin Thursday is upon us and woe to those who need to stream a pitcher for the day. Cross your fingers that Vance Worley is available (he shouldn’t be) and maybe take a look at Jacob Turner as someone who could use his rookie wizardry to eek out a quality start.

John Mayberry Jr. is set to face Jeff Francis. If he can’t handle this match-up, he probably can’t handle any.

Scott Cousins is getting regular work for the time being. He’s set to face Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Alex Presley and Pedro Alvarez are probably the best pick ups of the day against Liam Hendricks.

Tomorrow’s grind

Roy Oswalt is back tomorrow. Get him while you can.

Wei-Yin Chen will face a Nationals lineup that has a slight lefty lilt to it.

Usually I would never recommend Joe Saunders, but the Cubs might be that bad.

I feel similarly about Kevin Millwood at Petco.

Try to get Jason Kubel in the lineup against Jeff Samardzija.

It’s a Craig Gentry day against rookie Christian Friedrich.

Andruw Jones should be released into the pastures today with lefty Jonathan Niese opposing the Yankees.

Chris Heisey has quietly taken on an everyday role with the Reds and they face the supremely hitable Nick Blackburn today.

Daniel Nava and Ryan Kalish will probably find their way into the lineup against Jair Jurrjens. Cody Ross has been back a few days by the way.

Reliever watch

Jonathan Papelbon entered in the ninth yesterday and allowed a go ahead run to score in a 5-5 tie game, but Rafael Betancourt turned around and blew the save in the bottom of the inning. It’s his third blown save of the season, although it’s unlikely his job security is hurt at the moment. He’s a mid-season trade candidate, so if you own him, it might make sense to get a maximum return now.

Daniel Bard blew a save down on the farm for anyone who’s hoping he’ll take over the closing role in Boston.

Spain may have blown the save yesterday when it rejected the need for a full bailout. That game is still on-going so we’ll see how it plays out.

Yesterday’s results

Dillon Gee was superb while earning the win: 7.1 IP, 9 K, 2.45 ERA, 0.68 WHIP

Felix Doubront wasn’t great, but he did get the win: 6 IP, 4 K, 6.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP

Nathan Eovaldi had an unimpressive outing: 6 IP, 2 K, 4.50 ERA, 1.67 WHIP

Chris Archer won his debut outing: 6 IP, 7 K, 1.50 ERA, 0.67 WHIP

David Murphy was 1-for-1 with one walk, one run, and one stolen base.

Tyler Colvin was 0-for-3.

Todd Helton was 0-for-4.

Juan Pierre was 1-for-4 with one run. So much for the juicy Alex White vs. Joe Blanton match-up.

Matt Adams was 1-for-4.

Scott Hairston added a little thump. He went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Both hits were doubles.