Ahhhh July. The 4th. Hot dogs. Fireworks. Sparklers and going to other neighboring states to get the fireworks. You know the good ones (I don’t know if people outside of NC will get that one). I love July. In baseball we get a little fantasy break to watch the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game. Side note – they should have an MLB skills games like the NBA. Throw a 100-MPH fastball through the target. Get down a bunt on the third base line against the pitching machine set at 120 MPH. OK maybe not the best idea.
But our friends at DraftKings have got their stuff better together than my pipe dreams, with their huge Midsummer Classic coming up on July 19th for $500,000 worth of payouts with a $125,000 winner. Must cost an arm and a leg and a first-born to get in, huh? Nope! Just play in our RAZZBALL EXCLUSIVE CAN YOU BEAT RUDY GAMBLE contest for an entry fee of $10, beat the exclusive Razzball-only players, and a ticket into the Midsummer Classic is yours! 2-10 still double up to $20 and if you’re still new, first time depositors will get a $2 Qualifier ticket that wins you a circuit to the Midsummer Classic as well. As I said on the Podcast this week, I’m gonna be back in the contest this week with my eyes on that Midsummer ticket.
Let’s time warp to last week’s picks:
SP – Madison Bumgarner PPD pushed back start
CI – Juan Francisco 2-3 1 HR 1 RBI 2 R 1 BB (21 Pts)
MI – Daniel Murphy 0-6 R (2 Pts)
OF1 – Carlos Gomez 4-5 2 RBI 2 2B R SB (27 Pts)
OF2 – Zoilo Almonte 0-1 (0 Pts)
UTIL – Norichika Aoki 3-5 2B R CS (11 Pts)
TOTAL – 61 (Previous weeks’ finishes – 34, 40.15, 47.65, 54.3, 93.85, 76.9, 68.8, 47.7, 67.3, 92.4, 75, 83, 96)
Well, loading up on Brewers was the way to go! Huge games from my three Brewers batters salvaged a second straight week where I lost a starter after the article posting. And just like Dillon Gee two weeks ago, Bumgarner goes out and pitches fantastic for a win the next day. That’s why you have to check your line-ups after picking them on Wednesday! Here’s some guys that will end up on my roster (I think I need to put a disclaimer here that price adjustments subject to occur):
SP – Corey Kluber ($6,700) – Ahhhh, my boyfriend. If you’ve been a frequent commenter or a Pitcher Profile loyalist you know I’m all in on Kluber, who actually pitched well against the Royals two starts ago then had an unlucky inning. It went broken bat bloop single, another broken bat bloop single, walk, out, first-pitch grand salami for Alex Gordon. His stuff just looked unreal against the Tigers last time out, hitting 97 multiple times with good movement, and the K upside is there for a cheap DraftKings option.
CI – Edwin Encarnacion ($4,000) – Ahhhh, so many E’s and so many to please. Look for a slight price hike, but since I’m saving at pitcher, I love Edwin hitting at Baltimore. Another spolier alert from the podcast – I love all the hitters in this game against some terrible starters, with the O’s throwing out Jason Hammel with Edwin 6-14 (.429) against with two solo shots.
MI – J.J. Hardy ($4,100) – Ahhhh, oldies be goldies. I seem to put J.J. on my line-up more often than not, and the aforementioned terrible pitcher matchup has the Blue Jays lobbing R.A. Dickey out there. His pitches are more all like Eephus – es (Eephui? Eephuieses?) than power knucklers. Thank’s MLB app for showing me that pitch while he throws on Gameday! J.J. is 5-15 (.333) against Dickey, and hit a solo shot off him last time they faced last month. I know Hardy is cooling a little bit, but buy it here.
OF1 – Nick Markakis ($4,700) – Ahhhh, a fresh face to my DraftKings line-up. I don’t think I’ve used Markakis all year, but I’m sticking with the theme of Orioles and Blue Jays hitters and Markakis is, yea, only 2-9 off Dickey, but with 4 walks to only 1 strikeout. He sees those terrible knucklers well, and I could see one of those 3-5 3 R 2 RBI type games out of him.
OF2 – Nelson Cruz ($4,600) – Ahhhh, the ridiculous year Cruz is having… I know you’re yelling “it’s the roids” to yourself, so I might as well type it too to enforce the crowd mentality. Maybe he needs controversy to keep him going! The Rangers will be at Detroit with the suddenly scuffling Doug Fister out there, who just doesn’t look right. Cruz is a career 8-19 (.421) hitter off Fister with a homer and only one strikeout. Fister gave up three homers his last start and facing Texas will be tough to try and right the ship.
UTIL – David Murphy ($3,900) – Ahhhh, ready for these numbers? Off the aforementioned Fister, who has given up 6 ER in 3 of the last 4, Murphy is a career 9-20 (.450) with 4 homers and 8 RBIs off him! He’s also occasionally hitting 2nd in the order, and look for Ron Washington to move him to that spot again Friday to get in Fister’s head and hopefully get him an extra at-bat for ya.
Shoot your DraftKings questions below or tweet me @jbgilpin – good luck this week!
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