Thank goodness Hank Steinbrenner is alive, well and on the quote warpath again. It's been a couple of weeks since the whole "the National League needs to grow up and join the 21st century" rant, and we hadn't heard from him since. Good to have you back, big fella. Since you're talking again, what do you think about the Rodriguezes marriage problems?
First pitch: The Dodgers and Astros get the NL slate started at 2:05 p.m. ET, while there are a couple of 7:05 starts in the AL. Here's the full schedule.
Pitcher to start:Attaboy, Ricky Nolasco. I don't like any of today's home team selections, so let's go back to Washington's John Lannan (2.5 percent owned) against the Reds.
On to the news:
Pirates closer Matt Capps will miss a couple months with a bum shoulder, and manager John Russell basically said that anyone and everyone would be in the mix for saves. Looking at the numbers alone, John Grabow and Damaso Marte seem to be the most likely choices, and Marte closed a bit for the White Sox, so if someone's going to lead the commitee it'll probably be him.
Last week I suggested picking up Indians closer Joe Borowski, and that's not working out. His status is going to be in jeopardy if the Indians pull the plug on their season today, and it appears that Masa Kobayashi is the likely successor. Stay tuned.
It looks like Astros ace Roy Oswalt (hip) will have his Saturday start pushed back to Sunday or Monday. Nothing to worry about, at least for now.
So much for the Clayton Kershaw experiment in L.A. - he's on his way back to the minors. In other miserable Dodger news, SS Rafael Furcalwill have back surgery today and miss a "minimum" of eight weeks. You can hit the EJECT button on him now.
Jeff Francis' miserable season continues in Colorado - he's on the DL with shoulder inflammation. He should be back in a couple of weeks to stink up his remaining fantasy rotations.
A's 3B Eric Chavez is back on the shelf with a bad shoulder. You know how I always say "third basemen are everywhere?" If you own Chavez, you can almost certainly find a better replacement in the free agent pool.
If you're in an NL-only league and were holding out hope for SS Alex Gonzalez to return to Cincinnati, it's over. He's having knee surgery next week.
Closer note: Dan Wheelergot the save as they Rays closed out their sweep of the Red Sox.
In other Pirates news, SP Ian Snell should be ready to return to the rotation early next week.
Another stolen base for Yankee rookie OF Brett Gardner. I have a feeling that Melky Cabrera is going to get Wally Pipped here.
I've always complained about bad fantasy luck with closers, but owning K-Rod this season has been unbelievable. He got save No. 34 yesterday, and I'm hoping for 60, because I'm greedy.
The Cubs expect to welcome back 3B Aramis Ramirez and OF Reed Johnson tonight. Big Z is expected to follow tomorrow.
The Braves' Web site has a story saying the team is at least considering sending OF Jeff Francouer to the minors.
See you tomorrow with a star-spangled weekend preview. What, are you taking the day off or something?
