Fantasy Baseball Top 10 from 4.22.10: Yeah, so, Brewers
You have to feel bad for the Pirates. Not only did they get swept by the Brewers on Thursday, they suffered their worst loss ever, 20-to-nil.
The Pirates pain is fantasy players’ gain because there were several noteworthy performances from the game.
The best of the best: Ryan Braun went 3-for-4 with five RBI, three runs, homered, stole a base and walked one. Rickie Weeks scored four runs, drove in one and went 3-for-7. Jim Edmonds hit his first homer in a 4-for-6 day. He scored twice and drove in three runs.
There were several other noteworthy performances from Thursday, we’ll talk about nine:
Ubaldo Jimenez — Struck out five in 7.1 shutout innings. He’s got a 0.95 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 2010. Ace.
Livan Hernandez — With a 0.75 ERA and a 0.83 ERA after Thursday’s game and eight innings pitched, you’d expect Hernandez won. However, he was facing Jimenez and allowed two runs.
Juan Castro — Scoring twice, Juan Castro went 3-for-5. He’s hitting .353 in place of Jimmy Rollins this season. He scored two runs and drove in another.
Ike Davis — He went 3-for-4 and scored two runs. Not quite as impressive as the other performances on this list, but it’s very notable because he just got called up. He could end up being a great add for fantasy teams in 2010.
Clay Bucholz — Struck out a career-high 10 batters, but allowed six hits and three earned runs in a hard-luck loss. He’s got a 2.70 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. He’s staying in the rotation, Wakefield is getting bumped to the ‘pen.
Carlos Pena — In a 2-for-3 performance, Pena drove in four runs and scored another. He also walked twice. Pena’s hitting .269, which is like .330 for him.
Nelson Cruz — Back in the lineup after a hamstring injury. It must have been completely cleared up because he swiped two bases and had two hits. Victor Martinez is… not a good catcher.
Dallas Braden – Beat the World Champs and got in a little tiff with A-Rod about ownership of the pitcher’s mound. He only struck out two in six innings, but Braden only walked one and allowed two earned runs. He’s now 3-0 in 2010 with a 2.77 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP.
Martin Prado – He went 3-for-5, but the real reason Prado is on this list is because he’s hitting .417. A few updates ago I compared him to Ichiro without the steals or runs and he’s living up to that billing.
Well, that’s 10 performances, but we haven’t done any lineups, callups or injury news for a while, so here are a couple very notable ones from Thursday:
Ian Kinsler — On Friday, Kinsler will play in an extended spring training game. He’s doing real baseball stuff now. Should be back soon.
Justin Smoak — Called up. He made our Prospect Watch last week and is one of the top prospects in professional baseball. He’ll replace Chris Davis, who was sent to triple AA after an 0-for-3 night with two Ks. He’s hitting .188.
Jacoby Ellsbury – A CT Scan showed Ellsbury has four broken ribs. He won’t be back as soon as the team had hoped.
Brad Lidge – Threw a scoreless inning (14 pitches, one walk) at AAA on Thursday and touched 93 MPH on the radar gun.
J.A. Happ – Phillies lefty was placed on the 15-day DL with a sore forearm. The move is retroactive to April 16.
