Remember him?

CORY’S PICKS

Kendrick @ Romero
Bumgarner @ Penny
Westbrook @ W. Davis
An. Sanchez @ Ogando – if Ogando fails this test it might be time to cut bait
Gallardo @ Liriano
Collmenter @ Harden – wait and see on Harden, who will be on a pitch limit
Kuroda @ Chatwood – Chatwood upping the K’s of late
Moseley @ Vargas – Vargas is a grad
Jackson @ Wells – can’t trust either right now
Masterson @ Arroyo – tough matchup for Masterson, but he’s earned it
Nova @ Niese – not trusting Niese vs. Yankees
Guthrie @ Jurrjens
Wakefield @ Norris
Duffy @ Nicasio
Morton @ Gorzelanny

SIANO’S PICKS

Wolf @ Sabathia *Wolf’s hot so why not?

Pelfrey @ Verlander *Pelf better lately but more an NL-only play than mixed.

Volstad @ Moscoso *Moscoso is very good on the 24^th day of the month.

Westbrook @ Matusz *Matusz will get it going but until he strings a few together he is POD, ditch him here.

Karstens @ Villanueva

Lester @ Hamels *Good game to watch while at work and getting nothing done.

Peavy @ Cook *I’m not feeling it on Peavy here, bench don’t cut if he is on roster in a mixed.

Harrison @ Wandy *Harrison picking on some weaker offenses recently, Astros qualify. Recently got a Harrison or Matusz rest of the way question, still like Matusz for obvious reasons but for this day it belongs to Matty H.

Cain @ Zambrano

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ***CORY SAYS “Disagree on Wolf, Yanks are very familiar with him. Also, Karstens worth a shot in non-mixed/deep leagues.”

Hey everyone,

Before we get to Pitch or Ditch, I figured I’d share a bunch of interesting historical notes concerning last night’s Dodgers offensive eruption, besides the fact that Nick Blackburn saw his ERA rise by a half-run. We were debating whether or not to make Blackburn a grad on our latest Pitch or Ditch category chart but ultimately decided against it. Glad we did!

-Zach

• The 15 runs in a shutout are the most by the Dodgers since they defeated the Padres 19-0 on June 28, 1969.

• The Dodgers 25 hits are the most by the club since May 19, 2006, when they collected 25 in a 16-3 win over the Angels.

• The Dodgers 25 hits are tied for the second most in interleague play.  The Red Sox – with 28 on June 27, 2003 – have the most.  In addition to the two 25-hit games compiled by the Dodgers (this one and the one on May 19, 2006), only one other team – the Orioles on June 13, 1999 – had 25 hits in an interleague game.

• The Dodgers 25 hits are the most in the Majors this season, and the most since the Brewers had 26 in an 18-1 win on August 2, 2010.

• Los Angeles had nine different players have at least two hits, one run scored and one RBI.  The last time a team had nine different players do that in a game was on July 14, 1997, when the Red Sox accomplished the feat against the Tigers.  The last time a National League club did this was on May 1, 1985, when the Braves did it against the Reds.  In that game, Braves pitcher Rick Mahler was one of the nine.  Last night, the Dodgers were using a DH while visiting Minnesota.  Since the dawn of the liveball era, the Dodgers had never had nine players do this in a game.

• Three different Dodgers players – Tony Gwynn, Jr., Matt Kemp, and Trent Oeltjen – had four hits.  The last time three Dodgers players collected four hits in a game was on July 26, 2002, against the Giants.

• Matt Kemp was one of the three Dodgers players with a four-hit game.  Kemp singled twice, doubled, and hit his 22^nd home run of the year. Kemp’s 22 home runs through 80 games tie him with Roy Campanella (1953), Gil Hodges (1954) and Steve Garvey (1977) for the sixth most by any Dodgers player at this point in the season.  Hodges (28 in 1951) and Duke Snider (28 in 1955) are tied for the most.  That pair is followed by Gary Sheffield (27 in 2000), Shawn Green (25 in 2002) and Eric Karros (23 in 2000).

_____________________________________________________________________

PITCH OR DITCH FOR WEDNESDAY

CORY’S PICKS

Volquez @ Shields – Volquez is DTM

R. De La Rosa @ Baker

Lowe @ King Felix

Marcum @ Burnett – play it safe on sore-hipped Marcum

Capuano @ Coke

Carpenter @ Jakubauskas – good bounce-back matchup for Carp

Zimmermann @ Haren

Maholm @ Morrow

Nolasco @ Godfrey

Chen @ Stauffer

Carrasco @ Duke – Carrasco is a grad

Lackey @ Worley

Lewis @ Myers – Hang with ‘em

Buehrle @ Jimenez – Ubaldo 6.86 ERA at Coors this year with 1 QS in 8 starts

Lincecum @ Dempster – good matchup for erratic Dempster

Kyle Lohse

CORY’S PICKS

Greinke @ F. Garcia – tough matchup for the Chief… strength loves certainty, weakness loves risk

Dickey @ Porcello

Lohse @ Britton – Lohse drifting back to earth

Correia @ Reyes – Under Correia, see “Lohse”

Cueto @ Price

Lilly @ Duensing

Vazquez @ Gonzalez

Marquis @ Pineiro – risk/reward on both

Hanson @ Pineda

Beckett @ Lee

Wilson @ Lyles – tough matchup for Lyles, playing it safe again

Floyd @ Hammel – Hammel only trusty on the road

Tomlin @ D. Hudson

Paulino @ Richard

Vogelsong @ D. Davis  (Gm 1 of doubleheader)

Zito @ Lopez  (Gm 2 of doubleheader) – eewww

Hey guys,

Hot off the press, here’s an updated version of our Pitch or Ditch category chart:

PoD chart 6-24-11

For those of you who are new to the chart, here’s how it works.

In an effort to help you make those all important Pitch or Ditch decisions, the 411 tribunal of Mike, Cory and I have divided all the starting pitchers in the Majors into five groups: Aces, Pitch or Ditch Graduates, Pitch or Ditch guys, DTMs and Indifferents.

The difference between Indifferent and DTM  is that Indifferent refers to guys who we simply have no interest starting at this time. DTMs are pitchers who we’ve lost patience in but used to seriously consider starting at some point in the recent past.

Here’s a list of the notable changes that we’ve made since the last version of the chart posted a few weeks ago:

                                                                                                                                     PROMOTIONS

Carrasco PoD to grad

Liriano PoD to grad

Britton PoD to grad

Vargas PoD to grad

Wolf PoD to grad

Pelfrey DTM to PoD

Karstens indifferent to PoD

                                                                                                                                       DEMOTIONS

Floyd grad to PoD

Hammel grad to PoD

Correia grad to PoD

Carmona PoD to DTM

Happ PoD to DTM

Volstad PoD to DTM

Westbrook PoD to indifferent

Cook PoD to indifferent

Let us know what you think!

-Zach

Dillon Gee

CORY’S PICKS

SATURDAY

Cook @ Sabathia

Niese @ Ogando – Niese struggled last time so I’ll pass here

Gorzelanny @ Danks

Collmenter @ Verlander

Arroyo @ Matusz – could be 2-1 or 12-11, I’ll pass

Zambrano @ Duffy – do you trust Big Z? Not me

Chatwood @ Kuroda

Masterson @ Cain – good matchup for Masterson

Beckett @ Karstens – not risking Karstens here

Cahill @ Hamels – good test of Cahill’s resurgence

W. Davis @ Norris

Liriano @ Gallardo

Villanueva @ J. Garcia – Villanueva worth a look in deep/unmixed leagues

Vargas @ Volstad – Stats don’t lie: Vargas is a graduate

Jurrjens @ Moseley

                                                                                                                                                ***SIANO SAYS “I agree on all. People may want to run Collmenter out there due to his recent success but I don’t see the high reward.”

                                                                                                                                                     ZACH’S PICKS

CORY’S PICKS

Duke @ Coke

Volquez @ Jakubauskas – Edinson seems to have righted the ship in AAA

Jimenez @ Burnett – big test for Ubaldo, but hang with ‘em.

Pelfrey @ Harrison – Pelf is on a tear, but we’ve seen that before…

Dempster @ Chen

Zimmermann @ Jackson

Lester @ Maholm

Moscoso @ Worley – Worley OK in deep/unmixed leagues

Shields @ Wandy

Baker @ Wolf – Wolf keeps getting it done…

Morrow @ Westbrook – Morrow very risky

Haren @ R. De La Rosa

King Felix @ Nolasco – last chance for Nolasco?

Carrasco @ J. Sanchez

Lowe @ Stauffer

                                                                                                                                                ***SIANO SAYS “I’m benching but not cutting Ubaldo. Two poor outings + calf issues + Yankees lineup has the gut growling. I’m back on Morrow bandwagon after he shut down the Reds. CS is right it’s a little risky but the reward is there as well due to high K potential. Agree on rest.”

CORY’S PICKS

D. Hudson @ Paulino – Paulino is intriguing, but bad matchup

Pineda @ Marquis

Godfrey @ Capuano – favorable matchup for Capuano

Duensing @ Lincecum

Oswalt @ Carpenter – Carp isn’t what he once was, but worth a shot

                                                                                                                                                   SIANO’S PICKS

D. Hudson @ Paulino *Paulino seems trustworthy at home

Pineda @ Marquis *Chasing a win with Marquis but you don’t pitch him here you never will. Final score someone wins zero to negative 1.

Godfrey @ Capuano

Duensing @ Lincecum

Oswalt @ Carpenter

Jason Hammel boasts a 3.08 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in six road starts this year.

CORY’S PICKS

Richard @ Lackey

Hammel @ Tomlin – Hammel has excellent road numbers

Myers @ Lewis – both rebounded nicely last time; only one gets to face the Astros

Kennedy @ Francis

D. Davis @ Peavy – good matchup for Peavy’s DL return

Britton @ Correia

F. Garcia @ Leake – not gambling on Leake vs. Yankees

Reyes @ Beachy

Price @ Marcum – assuming Marcum is healthy

Porcello @ Lilly

Bedard @ Lannan – good spot to gamble on Lannan in deep/unmixed leagues

Pineiro @ Hand

Gonzalez @ Dickey

Lee @ Lohse

Blackburn @ Vogelsong

                                                                                                                                                    ***WHY DITCH ON BLACKBURN?

1. ERA nearly a run and a half higher on the road than at home

2. 96 hits allowed in 91 IP, with only 47 K’s… stuff is not that good

3. Ultra-lucky strand rate, combined with poor K rate, suggests an ERA at least a run higher

I get that the Giants aren’t that good, and his ground ball rate is good, and all that, but I look at his stats and see smoke’n’mirrors.

SIANO’S PICKS

Chacin @ Talbot

Latos @ Aceves *Bench don’t cut on Latos

Lyles @ Wilson

Saunders @ Hochevar

Garza @ Buehrle

Guthrie @ McDonald

Fister @ Livan

Big Erv @ Vazquez

Gordon @ Wood

Outman @ Gee

Stewart @ Minor *Stewart an AL-only play , Minor barely hanging on as an      NL- only.

Hellickson @ Greinke

Scherzer @ Billingsley

Pavano @ Bumgarner

Halladay @ McClellan

                                                                                                                                                  ***CORY SAYS “Agreed on all, including the bench/don’t cut on Latos… I benched him in NFBC.”