Fantasy

Matt Holliday is looking like one of the best hitters in the game. Ike Davis made his big league debut. Could Brandon Morrow be turning the corner?

Let’s look at 10 of the biggest stories from yesterday’s games.

Hitting

B.J. Upton (1-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R)

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

Pat Burrell, Tampa Bay Rays
Pat the Bat went three-for-four with a double. He’s hitting .270, but has just five RBIs.

Game No. 16 of 162 in Fantasy Baseball Insiders’ summer-long journey featured a pitcher’s duel between Randy Wells and Jonathan Niese, as well as Ike Davis ’ major league debut.

Game No. 16 – Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets

Brandon Webb was transferred to the 60 day DL yesterday which means he can’t be activated any earlier than May 25th.  Genuine concern for Webb set in a couple of weeks ago with me for Webb, and while in early March I thought he was a great pick I am now thinking that it could be much longer than that before he is able to come back.  At this point unless you are stashing him in an injury spot and it isn’t costing you anything at all I wouldn’t be sitting on Webb any longer.  Let him go to free agency and hopefully if he comes back healthy he

New York Mets’ prospect Ike Davis made his major league debut against the Cubs Monday night.

The 23-year-old left-handed first baseman recorded a hit in his first at-bat, a bloop single to right. In the seventh inning, Davis drove in Jason Bay on a hard-hit grounder up the middle off southpaw Sean Marshall. Davis finished the night 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Over the past two years, Jon Lester has been one of the best pitchers in the game of baseball. In both 2008 and 2009, Lester won at least 15 games while maintaining an ERA under 3.45.

Last year, Lester struck out 9.96 batters every nine innings while allowing just 2.83 walks. His 3.15 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, a statistic combining strikeouts, walks and home runs) was better than all but fours pitchers in the American League.

At the young age of 26, Lester is one of the most promising stars of the game.

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

Brett Gardner, New York Yankees

Ervin Santana just went and messed with everyone’s head in fantasy baseball.  After two very subpar outings in the beginning of the year, Santana went the distance today allowing just one run and fanning six, giving up just four hits. 

So what can you expect from Santana for the rest of the season?  In 2008, he was one of the better pitchers in the American League and in 2009 he was a exploding tire fire.  So now in 2010, he has been a little of both. 

For those of you who drafted Martin Prado, or at the very least picked him up off the waiver wire, you’ve got to be happy with his current hot streak—and 14 game hitting streak—despite the streak coming to an end Saturday night thanks largely in part to Ubaldo Jimenez’s no hitter.

But as with any hot player in fantasy baseball, the trendy question is always whether or not the player is the real deal, or just another popular flare up.

Here’s a look at the two-start pitchers for week 3.

Five Stars

None

Four Stars