Carl Pavano (SP - Twins) - Carl Pavano will take the mound tonight against the Tigers in one of the few "playoff-like atmospheres" in baseball right now. Pavano has had somewhat of a comeback season, but the real key here is that he has started 5 games against the Tigers in 2009and has had incredible success against them. For whatever reason, the Tigers can't hit a lick against him. In those 5 starts, he is 4-0 with 5 quality starts and at least 7.0 innings pitched in each start. He has a 1.69 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP in those starts and, with 37.1IP in total, has allowed just one walk against them while striking out 22.
Jose Bautista (3B - Blue Jays) - Jose Bautista continued his hot hitting on Tuesday with another HR, his 10th of the year. More importantly, it was his 6th of September. He has 14 RBI this month with a .927 OPS and despite very mediocre numbers overall, he has been one of the hotter hitters over the past couple of weeks. If you're playing roulette with 3B,Bautista may still be unnoticed in your league. And if the last few weeks are any indication, his hot bat could continue through the final weekend.
Felx Hernandez (SP - Mariners) - Zack Greinke or Felix Hernandez for Cy Young? Popular media has all but given it to Greinke (maybe because its a better story), but I'll stack up the stats for you and let you decide. King Felix won his 18th game of the year last night, bringing his record to 18-5 compared to Greinke's 16-8. Hernandez has a 2.49 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 0.92 K/I, and a BB/9 of 2.65. Absolutely outstanding stas for the 23-year-old Mariner. As for Greinke, aside from the record, the rest of his stats are noticeably better. He has a 2.06 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 1.06 K/I, and a BB/9 of 1.97. In the same number of innings pitched (Hernandez literally has just one more inning for the season),Greinke has 237 K's versus Felix's 207. Wins and losses matter to the Cy-Young voters (even though we all know the crapshoot it takes to earn a W sometimes), but there is little wiggle room when it comes to the remaining parellel numbers. Heading into 2010, Hernandez breaks the top-5 SP list on draft day.
Carl Crawford (OF - Rays) - Crawford swiped his 60th base of the season, a career-high for him and puts him in a tie for 2nd in the majors with Michael Bourne (he's 7 behind league-leader Jacoby Ellsbury). Crawford was a speed-demon in the first half of the season, swiping 44 bases before the all-star break. Obviously he has slowed down considerably in the 2nd half with just 16 SB, but its not because of his OBP. In fact, his OBP pre and post break is exactly .367. Perhaps he lost a little sharpness after the break, with 9 CS for a success rate of just 64% (compared to 86% earlier in the season).
Nick Blackburn (SP - Twins) - Blackburn pitched well on Tuesday, allowing just 6 hits and an earned run in 7.0 IP with 4 K's. He didn't factor into the decision and remains at 11-11. The key here is that if the Twins need him, he may be the go-to-guy on Sunday on 3-days rest to help the Twins get to the post-season. It remains to be seen if the Twins will be clawing for their October life on the last day of the season, but it sounds like Blackburn will be the man if they need him.
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