Pardon the Colorblindness...

For those of you who don't know, I'm very colorblind. Honestly, it sucks. Picking the new layout for the blog was easy, and then picking the colors out was absolutely hellish. I think I got it the way I want it, but if there's something that doesn't look right or manly, please let me know. If the background is beige instead of green then I guess someone will comment and let me know. Anyways, speaking of colorblindness, let's start with the guy who has hitters seeing blue. (Note: That was an awesome segway.


Jimenez Shines Again
There are very few pitchers that I watch on television and just say "I really gotta see this guy pitch." That short list for me includes guys like Lincecum, Halladay, and Carpenter. Granted, it was the Astros atrocious offense that Jimenez embarrassed, it was still a very impressive outing and if he didn't get leg cramps he probably would have finished the shutout himself. The Rockies haven't been afraid to let him get into high pitch counts. He's 3rd in the majors in pitches thrown, and as a fantasy player that has to alarm you a little bit. Couple the high pitch counts with the fact that only 3 of his 9 starts have been in hitter-friendly Coors Field, and I say that he ends the year with an ERA around 2.50. This is still very solid, but the main point of me saying that is that I don't think he's going to be this good the rest of the way.

Believe it or not...
...I don't think Jimenez turned in the best pitching performance of the night. With all the emphasis on pitch counts these days, it seems like Terry Francona couldn't have asked for a better gift than Jon Lester's performance against the Twinkies tonight. Jon Lester threw just 103 pitches in his complete game, walking none and striking out 9. Despite being the two youngest pitchers on the Red Sox staff, Lester and Clay Buchholz are carrying that struggling rotation. They forced the potent Mauer/Morneau/Cuddyer combination to go 5 for 23 from the plate in the two game series. If Lester and Buchholz, two great fantasy options the rest of the way, pitch this well all year long, the Red Sox might not be out of the playoff hunt as quickly. It should be noted that the Red Sox are still way far off from that playoff hunt with the way the Yankees and Rays are playing, those two teams are on a whole other level.

Oh, The Bravery
I wasn't watching the game, but I kept checking the score. The 9th inning rolls around and I stopped checking. I get a text from friend of the blog Matthew Mull saying that the Braves won and then checked again. The Braves actually won. In one of the most astounding comebacks I've ever seen, the Braves scored 7 runs in the 9th inning. The top-off to their rally was the highlight of the day for me, which was Brooks Conrad thinking that he just had the walk-off grand slam robbed from him. As Conrad starts to head back to the dugout he sees his teammates and hears the crowd celebrating. The shock on his face when he actually realized the ball left the yard was one of the best moments of the season for me. He ran those bases like he just hit his first home run in little league and it was truly awesome to watch.

On the other end, what a terrible loss for the Reds. They have officially squandered their NL Central lead thanks to a great pitching performance by Adam Wainwright against the Marlins. I am still very high on them and think that they are still contenders for the NL Central. Mike Leake gave them another fantastic start tonight. Leake is not getting too much attention because of Strasburg, but he's been absolutely fantastic so far. From a fantasy perspective, he's a guy I'm absolutely selling high on if you can get some sort of value. Teams have a way of figuring out rookie pitchers the 2nd and 3rd time they see him in the season, and I just think Leake's lack of Major League experience has to catch up with him eventually. But that's just a hunch. All of his peripherals look ok, not great. His K/BB rate isn't fantastic and his GB/FB rate isn't so great, which is something somewhat alarming when you're pitching in the Great American Ballpark. So if you can get good value for him, I'd make a deal.

First Quarter Fantasy Thoughts
There have been some great, but unexpected fantasy players that have really stepped up and given a lot of teams a good lift in the first quarter:

-Dan Uggla- Did you know that Uggla in Swedish means "owl". Well his first quarter numbers are something to "hoot" about (I did it.). Uggla has shown that he, not Chase Utley may be the best 2nd baseman in the NL. OK, that may be a stretch, but Uggla's been very hot to start this season. He's a guy who's hit 30 HR with at least 88 RBI in each of the past 3 seasons and he looks like he's well on his way to do that this season. That Marlins lineup is looking solid, and even though he's hitting 5th he should continue to produce. He's hitting .291, which he won't maintain, but he draws walks and is a very underrated fantasy player.

- Vlad the Impaler- I talked a little bit about him the other night, but he's truly shined as the DH in the middle of the Rangers offense. He's hitting .342 with 9 Homers and 35 RBI and scoring a ton of runs. All signs were that he was absolutely finished after his last year in Anaheim, but the Rangers took a chance and it is really paying off. I have Ted Lilly on my main team and with Vlad and Nelly Cruz leading the way in the Rangers yard, there's no way I'm starting him tomorrow.

-Vernon Wells- I had a chance to get Wells, and I thought long and hard about it, but didn't do it. I didn't do it for the same reason most didn't take him, because we'd all been down this road before. Ever since his fantastic '06 campaign where he hit 32 bombs with 106 RBI and 17 steals while hitting .306, he has done nothing but disappoint. Not that the years between 2006 and now were terrible, they were injury plagued and nowhere near the value he was drafted. This year he is making up for lost time, belting 11 homers and hitting .300. He looks like he's turned back the clock to his mid-20's and he has cooled down since he hit 5 home runs in his teams first 4 games, but he has not stopped producing.

- Casey McGehee - While 3rd base has been touted as an extremely shallow position this season, McGehee owners have been very happy that he slipped through the cracks. He's given great late-round value to a very weak position. That Brewers offense around him means he's going to continue to get pitches to hit, and he will continue to hit them very far. He was never a top prospect, and this will be his first full season in the majors, but he's been very impressive at the hot corner.

Those were 4 hitters. I will get to the pitchers tomorrow night. Everybody have a great day, and thanks for reading. If you are a reader, please sign up as a follower. I would promise that you'd get extra special features, but I can't do that, so I'll just promise you that you'll have a better day than you normally would had you not signed up as a fan. Think about it. Much love.