Bartolo Colon- LAA- Cold- The former Cy Young Award winner is not coming anywhere near that level of performance this year. After last night's subpar performance (5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 7 K) Colon has thrown only 2 quality starts and picked up one win in his last 9 outings. He has been victimized by an absurdly high BHIP% of .346 and that looks like a large component of his problems. Still, I wouldn't wait around for his luck to improve because there may be some lingering injury issues out there.
Julio Lugo- BOS- Hot- Lugo extended his current hitting streak to 8 games. It was only a 1-for-4 effort, but the hit was a double and he did knock in 2 runs. Lugo said that his turnaround was due to luck and that he was hitting the ball the same as when he was below the Mendoza line. He may be on to something. Lugo's BHIP for the season is still at a very low .189, but it has taken a big jump recently, as it was at .165 a short time ago. At this rate, Lugo is going to be the poster child for regression to the mean.
Magglio Ordonez- DET- Hot- Unlike most hitters, Ordonez looks forward to seeing Twins' ace Johan Santana on the mound. After going 2-for-3 with a double and homer against Santana, Ordonez is 19-for-43 (.442) for his career against arguably the best pitcher in the AL. Ordonez has hit 5 homers off Santana and knocked in 17 RBI. This is what people mean when they talk about a batter "owning"a pitcher.
Mariano Rivera- NYA- Hot- Rivera is looking like he is back in classic form, picking up his 4th save in his last 4 appearances and 15th of the season. He retired all 5 batters he faced after entering the game in the 8th inning. If it hadn't been an "extended"save, Rivera may not have been used, as the Yankees scored 2 insurance runs in the bott0m of the 8th. Rivera has pitched 4 times in the last 5 days, so he may need a rest today, but the Yankees' resurgence has helped put Rivera back into a position where his fantasy value goes up.
Scott Kazmir- TB- Hot- For the second straight start my favorite whipping boy (actually his manager is the whipping boy, but you get the idea) earns a campfire. In fact, last night was Kazmir's best start of the season. He gave up one run in 7 IP on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 6. Kazmir was extremely efficient, using only 94 pitches, 65 of them strikes, and Joe Maddon did not try to wring every possible pitch out of that young arm. This was the kind of performance that Kazmir should be capable of on a regular basis. Will he start doing it? I still have doubts, as his arm has a lot of mileage on it. It will take more than this single excellent start to demonstrate that Kazmir has no long term effects from his usage and that he has suddenly learned how to throw strikes on a consistent basis.
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