Justin Masterson (SP--Indians) Justin Masterson had perhaps one of his best outings of the year as he manhandled the Yankees for eight innings of scoreless baseball. He scattered three hits and two walks, struck out six for his seventh win of the season. In the process he lowered his ERA to 2.66. Masterson has been on a roll having allowed just one earned run over his last two previous starts. Although he doesn't strike out the world (K/9 of 6.33), he has been stellar at keeping away from the long ball with a HR/9 of just 0.32 having allowed just 4 long balls on the season through 121.2 innings of work. Masterson is going into the break with all cylinders running and looks to be in line for a string second half that good raise his fantasy value significantly.
Michael Young (DH--Rangers) Michael Young continues to wield a sizzling bat as he went 3-for-4 on Wednesday with three RBI and two runs scored. He is now batting .328 on the season. It was Young's third, 3-hit game in a row and since June 10th, spanning 95 at-bats, Young is hitting .390 with an OBP over .400 and a SLG close .600. Fantasy owners should be having full faith in Michael Young as he has adapted to every position and role change the Rangers have thrown at him and he has proven to be the consummate player and terrific hitter. Keep him active in all formats as he has been tearing it up.
Yunel Escobar (SS--Blue Jays) Perhaps somewhat overlooked this season, Yunel Escobar has been doing a very nice job at short for the Blue Jay hitting .297 on the season. He had a 4-for-5 night on Wednesday against the Red Sox and Tim Wakefield with a double and two runs scored. He's been a solid source of power with nine home runs and could make it to 20 by seasons' end and has a .363 OBP that compliments a fairly decent weighted on-base average of .354; showing good overall offensive production. He's had an excellent EYE at 0.95 and has been contributing well. He's been a nice middle infield option, above average in fact, for those who may have paid higher for players of lesser output.
Phil Hughes (SP--Yankees) Well, Phil Hughes finally made a major-league start after spending almost three months on the DL. We last saw Hughes on April 11th against Baltimore in which he actually won that game despite being hit hard for five runs in 4.1 innings. Hughes had a weighty ERA of 13.94 going into Wednesday's start against Cleveland. And after a rocky first inning (nerves?) where he threw sub-90 fast, he pitched well enough allowing two earned runs through five innings on 87 pitches. He did manage to get his arm loose and throw consistent fastballs that were over 90 mph for the rest of his start. And he actually lowered his ERA to a mere 10.57. Not good but certainly a step in the right direction. If we take this start on its own, one would feel confident enough to get Hughes back in their rotation. But, owners should require more of a litmus test than just this one outing. Stay tuned and see if he is able to build open this positive start with another.
Guillermo Moscoso (SP--A's) Guillermo Moscoso delivered a strong outing against the Mariners on Wednesday, picking up his third victory of the season against four losses. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just two harmless singles and a walk while striking out five. He was able to lower his ERA for the season down to 2.16 having logged 50 innings altogether. He has put together six quality starts out of eight outings and has done well overall. Tyson Ross is expected to come off the DL soon, but he hasn't been doing well in rehab assignments, so for now the A's may want to think twice about removing Moscoso from their rotation. He doesn't have a strong K rate (4.60) which has bumped his FIP to 4.69 which alarmingly higher than his ERA. Although, he has done well, he is probably not a long term option at this point as he could ultimately take a turn for the worse. After all, he isn't going to be able to pitch against the Mariners every game.
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