In mythology, Hector was the Trojan prince and the greatest warrior in the Trojan war. So step aside Brad Pitt, while you were fighting the undead in World War Z, Hector Santiago was in warrior mode last night as he dominated the Royals, pitching 8.0 innings, surrendering just 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 ER and striking out 5 for his third win. Hector could be seen rallying his team in the dugout, “Troy is mother to all of us. Fight for her!” An unorthodox approach for sure, but it worked as the ChiSox managed to score nine runs of support for Santiago. The eight innings was his longest outing of the year, and it was certainly his best, the only blip being the solo home run to Eric Hosmer in the sixth inning. Even if it was only the Royals, Hector seems to have figured things out. Since taking over for the injured Jake Peavy, Sanitago has given up just 5 ER in 19.2 IP, with 2 wins and a 19/7 K/BB ratio. Not bad for the Prince of Troy. Hector is owned in just over 30% of RCL leagues and gets the Cleveland Indians next Friday. If you’re feeling brave like a Trojan warrior I’d start him, but he’s worth the add either way. As long as Peavy is sidelined, Prince Hector should see plenty of opportunities to succeed going forward, and he will fight for your fantasy team.
Here’s what else happened in fantasy baseball last night:
Anthony Rizzo 2-for-4, 11th HR. Grey told you to buy him last week and said he’d be smashing with the best of the bros. in no time. As we discussed last week, Grey said Rizzo will hit 10 homers in two weeks and yesterday was his first since late May (a 400+ foot shot at Wrigley). Bold claims from our fearless leader, but hopefully the blast got Rizzo out of his funk, because he’s got 9 more homers to hit and only 13 days to do it. Either way I’m buying, and so should you!
Matt Garza 8.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. Probably his best start in over two years. The Astros can do that for you.
Kevin Gregg 1.0 IP, K, 11th save. I’m pretty sure he’s doing this just to spite me.
Stephen Strasburg 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 9 K and his 4th win. Ahhh, yes. That’s gotta feel good Strasburg owners.
Anthony Rendon 2-for-4, 1 run. Grey told you to BUY and Rendon is batting .375 since being recalled, which might make him the hottest hitter on the Nats. That is just too depressing. Hurry back, Bryce! We need you! I need you.
Ian Desmond 1-for-3 with his 12th HR. It was his third straight game with a home run, brutha! For those wondering, I think 2012 Desmond has finally returned, he was stuck in that Hatch the whole time.
Josh Rutledge 2-for-3, run. JR had just one hit since being recalled (a home run) so this game definitely put me at ease a bit because I own Josh everywhere. Although that could have just been all the muscle relaxers I took. By the way, what a lovely day it is today!
DJ LeMahieu 2-for-4, RBI. DJ kept cranking out the hits! He drove in the only run off St. Rasburg. Hey DJ, can you play that one song–it’s like dum, dum, dum, dum. Dum dum dum dum. Arrrrr boom. Dum dum dum dum dum. Cheeeeeeeeeeeee. Chicka, chicka, chicka, bummmmm bop! It’s the hottest shizz out right now. Do you know it?
Chris Davis 1-for-4, 3-run HR, his 27th. CHRIS. THE DISH! Everyone should call him that! The Dish is a beast at The Plate.
Edwin Encarnacion 2-for-4 with his 20th HR. The Blue Jays rally to win their ninth game in a row! We knew it would happen eventually. This team has hit its groove and is cruising along. Now Jose Reyes can return and screw everything up.
Adam Lind 1-for-4 with a 2-run HR, his tenth. Why are you doing this to me? Is it because I didn’t draft you — or is it because I didn’t pick you up in time?
Munenori Kawasaki 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI. Hit the game tying 2-run HR in the seventh inning, the first jack of his career. After the game, Kawasaki got on his motorcycle, high tailed it to the beach, then jumped on his jet ski and sailed into the sunset.
R.A. Dickey 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and surrendered 3 HR. The R.A. stands for real awful, you guys. Phallic jokes aside, Dickey looked limp. *plays low slide whistle sound*
Zoilo Almonte 3-for-4, HR. Wait–WHO IS THIS? Doesn’t matter, he just has to outplay Vernon Wells, right? Keep this up and pretty soon Drake will be writing songs about him. That’s the motto, Zoilo, he bout it every day, every day, every day.
Mariano Rivera Pitched a perfect ninth inning. Yeah, I think he’s gonna be just fine.
Scott Kazmir 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 7 K. I was having flash backs to 2007 in this one. Kaz looked good but I can’t be 100% sure here, I was tripping pretty hard while watching this one. In fact, I’m pretty sure they played this game at the beach. And hey, I think Jon Hamm was there! He told me what happens in the Mad Men season finale, *SPOILERS!* Don cheats on Megan and Roger drinks too much. Cigarettes are smoked.
Eric Young, Jr 2-for-4, BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI. Oh, you were on base three times? You don’t say…………WHY WON’T YOU STEAL! You are letting down Eric Young Sr. (I’m just playing, EYJ, Grey says we should still BUY you, and you know I can’t resist that).
Cole Hamels 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Wow, 11 losses and a 4.50 ERA. If luck were a raindrop, Cole is trudging through the middle of the desert right now. That oasis you see is your BUY low opportunity. Hamels has to get better.
Chase Utley 0-for-5 in his return from the DL. But he’s no Domonic Brown.
Dayan Viciedo 1-for-5 with a 3-run HR. The White Sox scored 9 runs led by the Tank and whoever else is on this team these days. Frank Thomas, maybe?
Eric Hosmer 2-for-4 with his 3rd HR. Two homers in the past eight days, two stolen bases yesterday — Hosmer is providing some real fantasy value right now, you guys! Shhhhhhh, no wait–I don’t want to jinx anything. Carry on, people, nothing to see here.
Jon Lester 5.2 IP, 9 hits, 5 ER, 3 K, 2 BB. Allowed 2 home runs but managed his 7th win. Lestah was turrible in 2012, looked great this year in April and now has gone back to being awful again. I know it was the Tigers so we’ll give him a pass, but what if April was the anomaly and this is who Lester is? What if, instead of heaven when we die, there is only our subconscious? Trapped in thought for eternity. Whoa. Did I just blow your mind? Regardless, I’m benching Lester next week vs. the Blue Jays.
Shane Victorino 4-for-5, HR, 5 RBI. What a game for the Flying Hawaiian! But would it be good enough to beat reigning champ, Miguel Cabrera‘s 4-for-4 with a 2-run HR (20) and 3 RBI? Survey says–I guess so, but I still like Miggy more going forward.
Doug Fister 3.1 IP, 11 hits, 6 ER. Holy fister roboto, Dr. Kreiger! What went wrong here? The Red Sox tallied 17 total hits in this one, with 2-hit games from Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli and 3-hit games from Stephen Drew and Jose Iglesias.
Junichi Tazawa Manager John Farrell said Koji Uehara would get the first crack at closing, and Grey called it, suggesting you BUY him yesterday. Tazawa pitched the seventh last night, but that ain’t no closer gig, ya’ll! And Junichi cried Tazawa-wa-wa all the way home.
Norichika Aoki 3-for-4, run. Maybe he should go on paternity leave more often? Amiright?! LOL! Maybe, maybe, maybe he devours his children by consuming their energy and uses their stolen energy by channeling it into the batters box and onto the base paths. Nori, is the devourer of child souls! Too dark?
Jean Segura 3-for-4, 11th HR. It’s players like Segura that force grown men to purchase and wear jerseys. To all the haters who said Mean Jean would fall off, he’s batting .327 with 3 homers and 7 SB in the past two weeks. *Fantasy Pro Tip!* That will help your fantasy team!
Wily Peralta 7.0 IP, 2 hits, 4 BB, 4 K and his 5th win. Not sure Wily and his 5.59 ERA on the year are all that wily, maybe the Braves are just this terrible. How can they be this bad? Is it because Chipper left? It is!? I knew it! At least Justin Upton stole a base! There’s your silver lining, Bradley Cooper. But I still don’t know where your wedding video is.
Jim Henderson 1.0 IP, 2 BB, K, 10th save. Francisco Rodriguez‘s (pitched a clean 8th, 1.0 IP, 2 K) entire family was in attendance night last to watch K-Rod record save number 300, but Manager Ron Roenicke went to Jimbo instead. Because %#*% that guy. Break your silly records on your own time.
Yoenis Cespedes 2-for-4, 2 HR (14 & 15), 4 RBI. His name is Yoenis…he’s hitting his home runs. His third multi-homer game in June, the average may be ugly but the power is still there.
Jed Lowrie 2-for-4 with his 4th HR. Have I mentioned I have a love affair with Jed Lowrie? I have? Well, he hasn’t done much since the first week of April, but there’s plenty of time left to make me looks more smarter.
Bartolo Colon 8.0 IP, 9 base runners, 1 ER, 4 K and his 10th win. We both share a common love of LSD: lasagna, sopapillas and doritos.
Hisashi Iwakuma 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 6 K. Hisashi gave up 3 homers in this one but still didn’t pitch that bad. This is simply the regression we knew was coming because he was pitching redonkulously over his head. Dude is still a stud, just not a sub 3.00 ERA-stud. If you can find a panicked owner, now’s probably your last chance to buy low.
Nick Franklin 1-for-4, 3-run HR, his 4th. Grey told you to BUY and hes 100% owned in RCL, so you are listening young padawans. Gooood. As you know, Nick’s great-great-great grandfather invented the bifocals just so we could all see how awesome his nephew is at baseball.
Clayton Kershaw 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 7 K. Say it ain’t so, Kersh! It was the P-Dres! That’s a gimme, yo! It’s the contract isn’t it? Why is it the Dodgers have no problem overpaying Crawford, Gonzalez, Beckett and League but decide to be stingy when it’s time to re-sign the best pitcher in baseball. Classic Dodgers.
Hanley Ramirez 1-for-2, 2 BB, RBI. Nothing spectacular here but I want to point out that HanRam has looked outstanding since returning from the DL. It’s like he’s actually trying or something? Weird.
Yasiel Puig 2-for-4, run. ALL HE DOES IS HIT THE BASEBALL!
Pedro Ciriaco 1-for-3 and his 3rd SB. Grey said you should BUY and this is exactly the type of player who could really thrive on a team like San Diego. Hits for average, plays multiple positions, oh yeah, and SAGNOF!
Gerrit Cole 6.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 5 K and his 3rd win. Yaaawn. Yeah, so yeah he’s not quite as exciting as Zack Wheeler or Tony Cingrani, but Cole has been extremely efficient, and his fastball has looked unhittable at times. Should be interesting to see what the Bucs do with A.J. Burnett and Jeanmar Gomez returning. I suggest splitting the fifth start into thirds so everyone gets equal playing time, like in little league.
Pedro Alvarez 2-for-3 with his 17th HR. El Toro’s got 5 HRs and 18 RBI in the past two weeks. This is exactly what I was looking for when I drafted him two years ago.
Albert Pujols 1-for-4, 13th HR. Alby’s got two homers in the past four days and has been pretty hot over the past few weeks. Pujols may limp his way to 30 home runs, but there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll get there.
Jordy Mercer 3-for-4, 2 RBI and the slam & legs. In Pittsburgh, they eat their slam and legs with french fries on top and a side of Prilosec.
Logan Morrison 2-for-5 and his 1st HR. I’m not saying you should pick him up, but you should definitely follow him on twitter.
Gregor Blanco 3-for-5, run, SB. Filling in for the injured Angel Pagan, Gregor is batting over .400 with 3 SBs and a HR over the past two weeks. Grey told you to BUY and he’s owned in just under half of RCL leagues. If you’re looking for some “Meh” with some SAGNOF speed and little bit of everything go grab him.
Johnny Cueto 4.1 IP, 11 hits, 7 ER, 2 HR. Ouch. Snake bitten. Jason Kubel had four hits and Didi Gregorius had three. Hopefully just a bad night for Johnny. Dusty was happy to suck out the poison. When he mixes it with his skoal he gets an indescribable head rush. Cueto should be fine next week for his start next week in Texas.
Jay Bruce 1-for-5 with his 16th HR. Bruuuuuuce has six jacks in his past eight games! Sweet sassy molassy! Baby he was born to (home) run! If you didn’t know a stretch like this was coming for him, you don’t read razzball enough.
Joey Votto 3-for-4, 2 RBI and his 13th HR. Since his first day off of the season last week, JoVo is batting .429 with 2 homers. Rest, it’s not just for the weak.
Paul Goldschmidt 3-for-5, 2 HR (18 & 19) and 3 RBI. Au shizz! After the game, a poor underprivileged youth presented Goldy with his HR ball to sign. Oh yeah, the kid was on crutches or something, too. And had a wicked bad cough. Anyway, Paul pulled a fat stack of hundos out of his pocket and gave it to the kid. The kid was like, “Wowee! I just wanted an autograph, mister!” Pauly G. whipped out his RayBans, slid them over his eyes and replied, “Piss off you dumb kid, I gotta GTL in a half hour before heading down to the Shore. Those Jersey hotties aren’t gonna take advantage of themselves.” And it was from that point forward that that kid would always know that Paul Goldschmidt was the coolest guy in the world.
Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below, or you can get at me on twitter @dandemanco. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
