Fantasy

With the first month of the season in the books, let’s take a look at which pitchers have benefited most from a lucky BABIP.  Who is most likely to fail?  Who will continue to thrive?  (All stats through Saturday).

1. Livan Hernandez —Washington Nationals — .180

It's time to look at the potential two-start options for the upcoming fantasy week. If I have someone rated as a three, four or five-star option, they are someone I would definitely use. A two-star option is a borderline candidate, but I’d strongly lean against it unless I have no other options. The one-star options are an absolutely-not scenario.

With that said, let’s take a look at the players available this week:

Five-Star Options:

Here’s a look at the two-start pitchers for week five.

Five Stars
Ubaldo Jimenez: @SD, @LAD (pictured)
James Shields: @SEA, @OAK

With a number of key players getting off to slow starts this season (like half of my NFBC squad), we need to stay alert and active. It is still early, so you have lots of time to make your team better.

One option is to try to buy the slow-starting players at a low price from their owners if they get impatient, but you can also get some for nothing. By keeping one eye on the waiver wire, you can get some quality guys who will turn it around.

Here’s a look at the unheralded players who played well yesterday.

Gio Gonzalez, Oakland A’s
Gio gave up 2 runs on 3 hits with 8 Ks in 6-2/3 innings to improve to 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA.

Nick Markakis is finally warming up.  Javier Vazquez continues to struggle miserably.  Daisuke Matsuzaka’s season debut was not what people hoped.  Let’s take a look at these stories and all the rest from yesterday’s games:

Hitters:

Cliff Lee made his season debut.  Ryan Zimmerman returned to the lineup.  Matt Kemp is in the midst of a major slump.  Let’s look at these stories and all the rest from yesterday’s games:

Pitchers

• Brandon Morrow (6.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 9 K, W)

Although it's extremely early, the 2010-2011 baseball regular season is well underway.

It's been a "New York, New York" beginning to this season, while the Yankees and Mets have gotten off to hot starts. The same can not be said for teams, such as the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers, who've been struggling out of the gate.

Justin Morneau made a successful return to the lineup on Friday with his fifth homer of the season.  Morneau had missed a couple of games with some back trouble but felt good enough to go tonight and made the most of it. 

It may have been his only hit, but as a Morneau owner, I will take it.  For the season, he is now batting a whopping .351 with those five homers and 17 RBI.