Jaime Garcia (SP--Cardinals) Jaime Garcia was practically perfect on Friday but going into the 8th inning with one out against the Brewers, he allowed a walk to Casey McGhee and then Yuniesky Betancourt followed with a single to left field and it was over just like that. However Garcia picked up his fourth win of the year and remains undefeated. Garcia hasn't suffered any sophomore jinx as the Garcia has followed up his rookie season with stellar stats and appears to be the real deal. He is stingy with the long ball allowing just 0.50 per nine innings and his component stats are as solid as can be with a K/9 of 8.92 and a BB/9 of 2.48, along with a solid K rate, Garcia has a ground ball rate to back it up at 56%. Yup, he is the real deal and with the Cardinal offense starting to hit on all cylinders, you can expect many more victories this year from Garcia.
Matt Garza (SP--Cubs) It was bound to happen. Did we really think that Matt Garza was going to go the whole year without allowing a home run? Jay Bruce touched Garza up for 3-run blast in the fourth inning of Friday's game and Garza took his fourth loss of the season against one win. Garza pitched six innings and allowed a total of five earned runs on six hits, two walks and struck out seven. His ERA now stands at 4.43. Garza has been on-and-off from one start to the next; sometimes showing complete dominance and other times looking like a punching bag. Garza's biggest issue has been his ability to work deep into games having only gone beyond the sixth inning twice in seven starts. Still, whether he is on his game or off, Garza has been racking up the strikeouts and continues to average more than one an inning. Because of this and his lack of home runs, Garza has had a huge disparity between his ERA and FIP. Friday, he entered the game with a 3.96 ERA and 1.17 FIP; obviously deserving of more than just one win on the season. But because he has been giving up a better than a hit per inning, he has seen more runs come across the plate than we would like. I would expect Garza to even out and produce some very solid numbers the rest of the way. If someone in your league is unsure about him, I'd try to grab him while you can.
Edison Volquez (SP--Reds) Despite recording his third win of the season, Edison Volquez had another uneven outing on Friday against the Cubs. He struggled through five innings on 98 pitches. He allowed three earned runs on six hits, four walks and struck out three. His ERA is a pretty hefty 5.63 and it would be nice to say that he has pitched better than his ERA would suggest but with a FIP of 5.84, such is not the case. Volquez has struggled to remain healthy over the past several seasons having only pitched 150 innings since 2008. He produces solid strikeout numbers but with a WHIP of 1.56, he has been walking a fine line. Volquez has a lot of upside especially with his strikeout ability but right now he seems a risky start. If you have better options, I'd have Volquez take a seat for now until he is able to show a little more command from start to start.
Derek Lowe (SP--Braves) Derek Lowe pitched very well on Friday not allowing his first hit to come until the seventh inning when Shane Victorino singled off of Lowe. Lowe came away with his third win. Nothing fancy here with Lowe but what you do get is durability. Lowe has logged 190+ innings in his last nine seasons in a row and tends to put up more than adequate numbers. This season he went into Friday's game with an ERA of 3.72 and left with a 3.22 ERA. Lowe has a FIP that is a half a run lower than his ERA. His BHIP of .339 has been high for him where he is usually around a .294 career norm. He's been recording more strikeouts this year than usually (better than eight a game) which is largely to a lower contract rate at 74.5%. I wouldn't expect that strikeout pace to keep up as we have a large enough sampling size to indicate that Lowe is more of a contact pitcher. Still, he has been routinely solid and is a good bet to keep the game close from start to start.
Jason Bourgeois (OF--Astros) The Astros played musical chairs with their lineup Friday with Brett Wallace left standing and Jason Bourgeois with a seat. Carlos Lee was back but Bourgeois has been so hot of late that it's tough to take the guy out of the lineup. He has terrific speed with twelve stolen bases under his belt and went into Friday batting .391 on the season. In his last five games prior to Friday, Bourgeois was batting .526 with a .591 OBP and six stolen bases. This is a nice streak that will ultimately fizzle out eventually and Bourgeois will more than likely find himself coming off the bench. Daily leagues can grab him while he is doing well, but it's tough to recommend him as a lasting option since it's unlikely at this point that he will permanently replace Lee, Wallace, Michael Bourn or Hunter Pence.
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