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Today’s pitch count is 10.

1. For the second straight time Rich Harden walked more hitters then he struck out Wednesday night. In those two games he’s given up nine earned runs in 10.1 innings. In related news, Harden hasn’t won a game sine May 12th.
2. David Ortiz hit another home run on Wednesday night. He has three over his last seven games and is batting .363 over that same time period.
3. The Phillies bullpen screwed Joe Blanton big time on Wednesday.  Blanton struck out ten and walked two over seven innings and only gave up two earned runs. On the other hand J.C. Romero and Chan Ho Park combined to give up five earned runs in the final two innings. Blanton has pitched well as of late. Over his last seven starts he’s 3-1 with a 3.42 ERA and 44 strikeouts with ten walks.

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Today’s pitch count is 15.

1. Closer by committee situations are never good in terms of fantasy baseball. That’s not stopping Tampa Bay from utilizing the strategy while Troy Percival is injured. Last night J.P. Howell got his second save of the year and R.J. Anderson wrote a post yesterday stating that Howell has some pretty exciting numbers. Better numbers in some regards then Papelbon and Rivera, to name a few.
2. You don’t see this very often. Both pitchers in last night’s Cincinnati versus St. Louis game pitched a complete game. Aaron Harang took the loss giving up three earned and striking out four. Chris Carpenter won his fourth game and has an ERA of 0.71 in six starts this season. He’s struck out 31 batters in 38 innings of work and only walked five.
3. David Wright stole his 13th base yesterday and is looking like he’s going wild on the base paths like he did in 2007 when he swiped 34. Unfortunately, he’s only jacked three home runs in the Mets’ new Grand Canyon like ballpark. Wright’s HR/F ratio of 5.8% is miserably low and show rise bringing his home run total up soon. But don’t look for him to approach 30 homers this season. With a hit rate of 44.4% I’m not even sure that his .326 batting average is safe. When his hit rate normalizes back towards his normal 34.7% we might see a huge drop in his average. Consider yourself warned.
4. Andrew McCutchen had a nice major league debut yesterday. He went 2-for-4 scoring three times and stealing a base. He’s owned in 13% of Yahoo! leagues right now but that number is sure to rise shortly. He’s NL-only worthy right now and you may consider taking a mixed-league flier on him too, especially in keeper leagues.

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Today’s pitch count is 6.

1. Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn pitched seven strong innings last night giving up only one earned run and six hits. He still took the loss as Mariners’ hitters failed to score him any runs and only managed two hits. Washburn hasn’t won a game since April 21st and his last two starts have been successful in the fact that he’s pitched 13 innings and only given up one run. But the lack of run support is killing him. Even though Washburn’s season ERA is 3.22 he’s not a great fantasy option. He’s going to get knocked around at times and when he’s on, his team just isn’t scoring runs.
2. Ouch. J.J. Putz gave up four hits and three earned runs last night without recording an out. Over his last two appearances he’s given up five earned runs in 0.1 innings of work. If he’s reverted back to the reliever who lost his job in Seattle, the Mets may look for other 8th inning options.
3. He’s only owned in 7% of Yahoo! fantasy leagues but he’s batting .304 on the season and over the last month he’s .359/.427/.511 with two home runs and 15 RBI. His name is Andy LaRoche, and you might consider taking a look at him in your fantasy league.

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Today’s pitch count is 4.

1. If this is news to you, you need to climb out from under that rock and start paying attention. Baltimore Orioles prospect Matt Wieters is set to make his major league debut tomorrow night. The 23-year-old catcher is batting .305/.387/.504 with five home runs in his second year as a professional. Combining last years numbers with 2009, Wieters has accumulated 578 pro at-bats and is hitting .342 with 32 home runs and 121 RBI. He’s already owned in 69% of Yahoo! leagues without a big league at-bat. That number will skyrocket this weekend.
2. Jake Fox was called up this week and got a base hit in his first big league at-bat this season. Before his call up by the Cubs he was batting .423 with 17 home runs in 149 at-bats. Wow! He’s likely not to get a huge amount of playing time in Chicago, but if he does,and continues with those Triple-A numbers in the bigs, watch out.

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Today’s pitch count is 4.

1. Not that a hitter with a batting average of .167 and an OPS of .433 through 84 at-bats deserves to be in the big leagues, but it’s big news that Alexi Casilla got sent down to the minors today. Casilla has 30+ stolen base potential but has been unable to put together a full season of any real fantasy value since hitting the scene in 2007.
2. For those of you who dropped Chris Iannetta or are in fantasy leagues where the owner who drafted him let him go, you may consider picking him up off of the waiver wire now. He has nine RBI over the last week and is batting .333.
3. Speaking of hot hitters who could help you out in the stolen base category, take a look at Willie Bloomquist and Manny Burriss. Bloomquist is SS/OF eligible in many leagues has stolen three bases in the last week while hitting .474. Burriss got off to a super slow start but has also stolen three bases in the past week  and is batting .471.
4. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada was sent to the disabled list with a hamstring injury. He will likely be out for two to three weeks.

Today’s pitch count is 5.

1. The set-up man to closer hand off (sorry for mixing sports vernacular) when working, is a finely tuned work of art and an incredibly valuable tool to a team’s bullpen. Last night, the tandems of Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg (Cubs) and Jose Arredondo and Brian Fuentes (Angels) took steps towards reestablishing that solid 8th and 9th inning knockout punch needed to finish games. These four ERA’s are still pretty high, but signs are leading towards a recovery.
2. Zack Greinke maintained his strangle-hold on the title of best pitcher in the majors right now. His complete game shutout of the White Sox last night lowered his ERA to 0.40. Did I mention he had ten strikeouts without a walk?
3. The good news is that he never lost consciousness. The bad news is that Rick Ankiel tripped on the warning track last night and face planted into the outfield wall. He spent the night in the hospital, but hopes to be released today.
4. The Blue Jays top pitching prospect Brett Cecil will start this afternoon and make his Major League debut against the Indians. He was a first-round selection in the 2007 draft and went 8-5 last season with a 2.88 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 118.2 innings.
5. There are five afternoon games today. Two start before 1:00 PM ET. Get your rosters set early.

Today’s pitch count is 5.

1. Bill Center of the Union-Tribune says that the San Diego Padres are stacked as an organization at third base. He gives some good info on 3B prospects for you guys in deep keeper leagues and leagues that use minor leaguers. He also talks about the injury to Kevin Kouzmanoff and how that’ll effect Chase Headley.
2. By trading Garrett Olson, the Baltimore Orioles have created a long list of potential rotation fillers. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the 1989 classic baseball movie “Major League”
   

   Board Member 1: I’ve never heard of half of these guys and the ones I do know are way past their prime.
   Charlie Donovan: Most of these guys never had a prime.
   Board Member 2: This guy here is dead.
   Rachel Phelps: Cross him off then.

3. Upon being traded to the Orioles, Felix Pie said that he is looking forward to being able to play “every day”. I don’t see that happening, and neither do Baltimore Sun reporters Jeff Zrebiec and Dan Connolly. That is unless Pie is sure that he’s headed back to Triple-A in 2009.
4. Instead of playing winter ball, Colby Rasmus hit the gym this off-season and significantly bulked up. This seems like good news, and very well could be. But also remember that Jeff Francoeur did the same thing prior to the 2008 season. Also in that same article, Ryan Ludwick semi-jokes about his time in the gym this off-season, and what he hoped to accomplish from it, ”I’d like to hit 50”.
5. I’m sure that everybody has heard the Prince Fielder to Boston trade rumors. Gerry Fraley, writing for The Sporting News, doesn’t think a trade will happen this season, but gives a number of reasons why the Brewers should trade Fielder.