Pretty much everything I told you in the beginning of the year about trusting your big guns and not trusting the wayward sons goes out the window in September. If you’re battling for pitching points, you need to take some chances I wouldn’t necessarily take in April, or really even August. Suddenly, Brian Duensing gets his own post and Freddy Garcia doesn’t look like Freddy Garcia, but looks like a guy who’s facing the Mariners. It’s fantasy baseball in September and the rules were made to be broken, ya’ll. So I’ve assembled two or three starters from Tuesday, the new Humpday, until this Sunday that you could take a chance on depending on how bad your pitching shituation is. I’m not completely proud of all of these guys, but their mommas are (even Momma Padilla). Anyway, here’s some borderline starters for fantasy baseball late season:
Tuesday, September 15th
Freddy Garcia – Garcia is the new blech in most cases, but he’s had four straight decent enough starts and I’d throw him vs. the Mariners in Seattle.
Robinson Tejada – Has 69 Ks in 53 1/3 innings. Goes vs. the Tigers, who he just beat. It’s risky because I don’t trust the 2nd time being the charm. Teams figure a guy out usually, but he could give you some cheap Ks.
Wade LeBlanc – Has two solid back-to-back starts and he faces a K-razy offense (Diamondbacks) in Petco.
Wednesday, September 16th
Doug Davis – Has a 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 innings vs. the Padres and hasn’t given up one earned run in Petco in two years.
Ryan Rowland-Smith – Has four straight solid starts and a serial killer name.
Hiroki Kuroda – Hasn’t had an embarrassing start since July 8th and he gets the Pirates.
Thursday, September 17th
Justin Masterson – vs. the A’s and I wouldn’t start him here unless you’re in absolute dire straits, Mark Knopfler.
Friday, September 18th
Brian Duensing – You’d think I really liked him with the amount I’m talking about him, but he’s worth a flier for a start or two.
Vicente Padilla – He actually just shut out the Giants, which scares me more than it instills confidence, but it’s still a decent match-up.
Saturday, September 19th
Brett Tomko – Shoot me now for suggesting Tomko.
Jason Hammel – Has an ERA around 3 away from Coors and he gets the swing happy Diamondbacks. This is still a risky start because Chase is a hitters park.
Sunday, September 20th
Paul Maholm – It’s not as great to face the Padres away from Petco, but it’s not that bad either.
Carl Pavano – Gets the Tigers on Sunday and has absolutely owned them this year. In over 30 innings, he has a 1.48 ERA and 4 wins. And, just think, you can tell your lady friend you had the cojones to start Pavano.
