Jhoulys Chacin (SP--Rockies) Jhoulys Chacin pitched a terrific game against the Padres on Wednesday. Chacin picked up his eighth win against four losses, allowing just one earned run through six innings of work. He was relatively on the pitch count at 97 but overall lowered his ERA to 2.81 on the season. He made just one mistake on Wednesday, giving up a home run to Rob Johnson but otherwise controlled the game. Hitters are batting just .196 against Chacin this year which among the best in the league. He has certainly been the ace on the Rockies staff this season with the struggles that Ubaldo Jimenez has been having. Chacin will face the Indians his next time out which will be his first time facing the tribe. It would be safe to say that Chacin should be a favorable option against Cleveland and continues to be a must-start as his fantasy value increases from outing to outing.
Albert Pujols (1B/3B--Cardinals) Albert Pujols' owners just might have been doing a little fist pump on Wednesday night. And the reason for the fist pumping had nothing to with anything Pujols was doing with his bat. He had to do with defense. Pujols started his fifth game of the year at third base on Wednesday and for many fantasy leagues that is typically the minimum number to be qualified to be slotted at that position. Pujols already has an elite status as a first baseman. But with so many excellent first baseman, Pujols has separated himself from the pack even more by qualifying at the hot corner. This will add to Pujols' already high value playing at an offensively scarce position where there are only a few that are elite. Pujols has been a little slow out of the gate this year batting in the .270's with 15 home runs. But we all know what he can do. He is already heads and shoulders above other first baseman in value but now at third, there is likely to be a significant drop off from Pujols to the next best player.
Livan Hernandez (SP--Nationals) Livan Hernandez manhandled St. Louis on Wednesday, shutting down their offense entirely. He pitched a complete game shutout for his for win of the year and his ninth career shutout. He allowed just three hits, struck out six and walked no one. Hernandez was able to lower his ERA to 3.77 on the season. It was his 50th complete game of his career. Hernandez can be surprising every now and then and pull out performances like he did against the Cardinals. He needed just 105 pitches to complete the task. Typically, though Hernandez is too inconsistent to count on outings like he had on Wednesday although he does drown a favorable matchup his next time out against Seattle at home where his mound opponent is slated to be Doug Fister. Nice matchup that could work in his favor, but approach with caution.
Mark Melancon (RP--Astros) Earlier this month, Mark Melancon was placed back in the setup role with Brandon Lyon coming off the DL. Even though Melancon had looked sharp as the closer, you couldn't really blame the Astros for going with Lyon. After all, they were paying big money to Lyon to be the guy with the ball who gets the final out of the game. But Wednesday, it looks like Melancon's time as the setup guy was short lived and he is back as the closer. Lyon was placed on the DL again with bicep tendinitis so those of you who took Joe's recommendation of holding onto Melancon are probably smiling right about now. He has done a solid job with six saves and a 1.67 ERA. He has a K/9 rate of 8.07 and has only given up one home run through 32.1 innings. The larger problem is that Melancon, despite being the closer, probably won't get many opportunities to save games with the Astros as they struggle for wins. But for now, Melancon is a safe bet to get back active because if the Astros find themselves with the lead in the 9th, Melancon will be on the mound.
Mat Latos (SP--Padres) Mat Latos got knocked around by the Rockies on Wednesday when he allowed four earned runs through 5.1 innings. He gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out two. His ERA went up above the 4.00 mark to 4.06 after finally managing to get it down below 4.00 over his last three starts. We haven't seen the consistency in 2011 that Latos displayed last year and his 2.92 ERA in '10 may be too much to ask for this season. His 4-8 record his discouraging but he still has a strong K/9 rate that's above 8.00. Perhaps more discouraging than the ERA and the record is that Latos has only pitched game this year longer than 6.1 innings out of thirteen starts. Where Latos has been really having problems is giving up extra bases. He has an XBH% of 8.8% compared to his career average of 6.0% where over 40% of hits that he gives up have gone for extra bases. Still there is a lot of upside to Latos despite the uneven outings he has had this year. He had been on a roll his last three starts before Wednesday with some promise of turning things around. For now, I'd be more inclined to start him at home (3.50 ERA) versus away (4.56 ERA) where he has had greater success.
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