Rhandom Phantasy Nhotes

Lastings Milledge is up. He’s what, like 13 years old? He’s considered a 32 tool player: hits, hits with power, runs, fields, throws, and owns a complete metric wrench set. Baseball Prospectus 2004 (funnier than the 2005 version) had a great line about him: his names sounds like a Dickens character. We gave him up last year, for among others…

Eric Byrnes. This guy killed us last year, batting something like minus .148 in September. All of a sudden, he’s a all-star, batting .316 with NINE homeruns and six steals. If he had hit like this just for the last two weeks of the season, we would have finished $500 richer.

Freddie Sanchez is hitting .358. What the heck is that all about? He’s playing full time for the Pirates, with 165 at bats so far. He’s always had talent, but you’ve got to assume he’s going to return toward the mean, which is a career…wait a minute. His career BA is .297. Maybe he’s just breaking out at age 28?

And just as I’m looking at the Milwaukee-Pittsburgh box score, Turnbow blew the save with 2 outs in the ninth, as Jose Castillo doubled in the tying run. The winning run is now in scoring position, and Dammit it up. Oh, that’s Doumit.

The Doc really, really liked Alfonso Soriano in the draft. Everyone, including me, was wary of his power in that huge ballpark, and he was whining about playing the outfield, but his speed was a sure thing. He hit homer #19 yesterday, bringing his season totals to 19-38-12-.297. Worth every penny at whatever was paid for him. I wonder where he’ll be next year…how about HERE!!! See ya, Ray Durham.

Dammit singles off Turnbow and wins the game for the Pirates. And the win goes to an obscure pitcher that nobody in the world of fantasy has.

Mike Vento. Isn’t that the size of a latte at Starbucks?

Aaron Rowand is back, and smacked a homer yesterday to celebrate. That was one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen. A catch that comes with flowing blood must be replayed regularly.

Cory Lidle doesn’t actually suck. His performance so far is just another sign that Mr. Leaguer has forgotten more about baseball than I’ll ever know.

That was an impressive outing by the Cardinals’ bullpen yesterday. Wainright, Izzy and Looper pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits, a walk and striking out 7. And the Giants have Scott Munter getting ready to come back any day now.

Ichiro, who I am willing to write about because I consider him to be an honorary NL player, is up to .332, and leads the majors with 77 hits. He’s not all that far off of his record pace.

Chad Hensley is 4-3 with an ERA under 4. He’s a kind of under-the-radar rookie, who has had some superb outings since taking over for the much-maligned Brazleton. He looks like a candidate for trouble the second time around the league, but at a buck, he’s keepable.

Clint Barmes got two hits yesterday to bring his BA in hailing distance of the Mendoza Line. What happened to this guy? He looked like Chase Utley last year until he got hurt.

My all-time favorite TV character was Col. Klink of Hogan’s Heroes. And Col. Klink’s favorite baseball player? That would be Snell, Snell.

Sean Casey hit a homer yesterday, number 3 in only 44 at bats. Last season: 9 homers, 58 RBIs in 529 at bats hitting in the middle of the Cincinnati lineup. It’s got to be the softest .312 in baseball history.

Jason Bay is scorching. He’ll be a big number when he next hits the auction.

Atlanta was under .500 a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly they’re in 2nd in the NL East. That has got to be the best managed franchise around. Wait until Giles, Laroche and Francoeur start to hit.

Zambrano (the good one, for Chi) had another tough loss yesterday. He’s got to be on that list of scary looking pitchers to face. The good news for the Cubbies is Derrick Lee cast off the cast, and is getting ready for his rehab. Not a moment too soon, though they did pick up Phil Nevin yesterday. He won’t hurt them.

Todd Coffey, save #2. Looks like the transition is complete.

What a pitchers’ duel yesterday in NY. Best stat: 13 inning game, complete in 3 hours, 19 minutes. Mets’ bullpen of Wagner (2 IP) and Sanchez (3 IP) gave up only 3 hits and a walk while striking out 4. The Dbacks got 5 scoreless innings from Vizcaino, Lyon, Medders and Julio before Grimsley screwed it up. And the word is Whore Hey Whooleo might be in line for the first chance at replacing Valverde as the closer. Sorry, but he’s never done it before. I don’t believe it. My vote is still Medders.

Going to Lunch.

Back from Lunch. Roast pork sandwich with sautéed onions on a seeded roll with horseradish mayo. Yum.

Miguel Cabrera has 6 steals so far this season. He has already topped his career high of 5. If Cabrera finishes with north of 15 steals, his auction price next season might challenge Pujols’ $59. And if he ever ends up in a hitter’s park like Cincinnati, the sky’s the limit.

Jason Schmidt is back. He struck out 10 before leaving in the sixth with a leg cramp. He is going to be an expensive free agent next season.

Is Jeremy Accardo turning into a pitcher? It looks like Felipe thinks so, because he has become a mainstay of the bullpen. Of course, he doesn’t have much competition, but he’s getting people out, and his ERA is down to 3.00.

I was reading the McCovey Chronicles yesterday. Grant is one funny guy, the kind of guy it would be a blast to sit next to at a game. Here is a comment he made about the Giants’ game against the Marlins a couple of days ago:

“After watching teams trip over themselves to walk Bonds in situations where Jeff Kent, Ellis Burks, or Moises Alou was waiting behind them, the Giants were content to pitch to Cabrera without any reasonable protection behind him. I'm never a fan of walking the bases loaded, but after Cabrera, the Marlins were sending up Joe Willingham. Wait, no, Will Joshingham. Something like that. Maybe it was Todd Dunwoody. I can't remember.”

Will Joshingham. I bid 2. I’d go higher if it was Brandon Joshingham.

Check out his open game threads. Guys with nothing better to do sit and chat about the game they are watching. Clearly they have no life, but they don’t seem to have a problem with that. But they are funny.

Finally, Jamid Haad, suspended 50 days. You mean that was how he hit when he’s on the juice? Apparently baseball has had it with Haad.