Esteban Loaiza- LAN- Hot- Loaiza tossed a quality start in his first outing for the Dodgers, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and a walk in 7 IP while striking out 3. It was a solid, if not spectacular, start. Still, his fastball sits below 90 mph and with his recent injury history, Loaiza would be a large risk to pick up at this point in the season.
Lance Cormier- ATL- Hot- Cormier could be one of the rare players who sneak under the radar and provide late season help to fantasy owners. He took a while to recover from a right shoulder injury suffered in spring training and his first horrible appearances once he was activated mask a solid recent performance. Cormier's overall ERA is 6.69, but it is 3.24 over his last 4 starts, in which he has posted a 1.16 WHIP, struck out 16 and walked 7 in 25 innings. He appears to be gaining strength and is poised for a strong finish to the season.
Aaron Harang- CIN- Cold- Inconsistency has become a hallmark of Harang of late. In his first 22 starts this year, 14 of them were of the quality variety. Since his start on July 23rd, in which he threw 121 pitches and went 10 innings, he has had 7 starts. The first one in that string was shortened to 1 innings due to back spasms. Only three have been quality starts. Harang seems to be either very good or very bad. In those 3 quality starts his ERA is 1.13 and his WHIP is .71. In the other 4 outings they are 8.41 and 1.33 respectively. If you are in a head-to-head league and in the playoffs, this makes Harang a very risky starter. One of his bad outings could hurt you badly.
Cody Ross- FLA- Hot- Ross has been seeing more than platoon duty lately and has performed well. He hit 3 homers over the weekend, all against righthanded pitching. After going 2-for-4 yesterday, the righthanded hitting Ross has a .292 batting average against righties to go with his phenomenal .404 mark against southpaws. He is now an everyday player and producing well.
Matt Cain- SF- Cold- Getting down to the pitcher's spot in the batting order yesterday was no problem for Cain. He needed just 31 pitches as he faced the first 8 Rockies' hitters, allowing just a single to Todd Helton to mar an otherwise perfect 2-1/3 innings. Of his 7 outs, 5 were strikeouts and Cain appeared to be cruising. Then he got to his counterpart, Jeff Francis, and the wheels fell off the cart. Francis doubled and the Rockies didn't look back. The only other out Cain was able to record before getting pulled was a sac fly. When the smoke had cleared, Cain ended up being charged with 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. The implosion broke a string of 7 consecutive quality starts for Cain. A sudden collapse like this could be an indication of injury, but the Giants have not indicated anything like that. For now, file it as one of the Coors-induced performances, but be on the lookout for any injury news from the Giants.
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