Happy July! We have a full slate of games with two double headers so there is a ton of baseball to be played.
Last night the familiar faces of New York came out to play. deGrom struck out 12 as the Mets edged the Phillies out in a tight one. For the Yankees, Brett Gardner jacked a grand slam to open up the game and beat the best team in baseball.The Yankees have now called up Clint Frazier another young prospect they got for Andrew Miller last year. He is hitting just under .300 with 12 home runs this year. The Yankees young talent is unreal, however they are dropping like flies. Let’s see if Clint can fill in and help them in a playoff push.
There’s a couple of afternoon games so get those lineups in early.
Low-Scoring Plays
Boston Red Sox @ Toronto Blue Jays – This game went into extra innings last night at 4-4 so there wasn’t a ton of scoring by either side. Toronto is still the worst team in the AL East after they got off to a terrible start. They have been climbing but are still in the basement. Toronto is going to run into trouble in this game because Chris Sale is pitching for the Sox. It seems that Sale is about to get the start in his 2nd straight All-Star Game, as he is putting up another dominant season. As for the Red Sox, Jackie Bradley Jr. has quietly been putting up great numbers for them. After John Farrell benched him for a series a couple of weeks ago, he has been on fire. That move will probably John Farrell another 5 years of job security. Mitch Moreland went 0-6 last night with 3 strikeouts. If he isn’t benched look for him to come back big in this game.
Targets: Sale, Bradley Jr., Moreland
Washington Nationals @ St. Louis Cardinals – The Cardinals aren’t having a typical Cardinal season as they are 21st in the league in runs scored and batting .256 as a team. Gio Gonzalez takes the mound for the Nationals who is underrated in my eyes. Yes he is the 3rd highest priced pitcher however when you look at the Nationals’ pitchers you think of Scherzer and Strasburg, Gonzalez flies under the radar. If you don’t want to take the “risk” on Sale for his price point, than Gonzalez should be your guy. St. Louis shouldn’t make any noise in this game they are 3.5 games out of the division and 8 in the wild card. July will be a huge month for the Cardinals to determine if they will be buyers or sellers.
Targets: Gonzalez, Rendon, Harper
Colorado Rockies @ Arizona Diamondbacks – The Rockies are a strong ball club which makes Greinke my least favorite of the three top pitchers of the day. However pitching at home Greinke should shine in this ball game. Look for him to go deep into this game and hand the ball off to Rodney who is having a great year as the D-backs’ closer. No one for the Rockies is red hot right now. They have great players don’t think this will be an easy game for Greinke however in a big game at home will bring the best out in him and will have a great game.
Targets: Greinke, Owings, Goldschmidt.
High-Scoring Plays
Miami Marlins @ Milwaukee Brewers – Koehler takes the mound for the Marlins who isn’t a fantastic pitcher so the Brewers match up well in this one. Eric Thames has been given some time off as he started to slump as this season went on. If he is in the Brewers’ lineup pick him. The ballpark should be packed for 4th of July weekend, and the fans will give him a huge ovation. Thames is a very emotional player that will thrive on that energy. If he is there he is a must play. Travis Shaw will be another great play as he is batting .333 with 4 home runs over the last week. Shaw was a player that got away from Boston and is making a nice home for himself in Milwaukee.
Targets: Thames (if there), Shaw
Atlanta Braves @ Oakland Athletics – Oakland has fallen off after they were mashing the ball early this season. They are 5.5 out of the wild card, 9 games under .500 and the 2nd worst team in the American League. However Oakland is still 8th in the league in home runs. R.A Dickey takes the mound for the Braves. If you read our page regularly, you know I hate R.A. Dickey and think is garbage. Look for Oakland to crush the ball off of Dickey and bounce him out of this game early. Atlanta doesn’t get any better with their bullpen, as their ERA is up near 5. Stack Oakland batters as they should have a big day.
Targets: Lowrie, Healy
L.A. Dodgers @ San Diego Padres – The Dodgers are one of the hottest teams in baseball and are lead by a rookie, Cody Bellinger. The Padres are sending Overton to the mound who has an ERA of 6.68 and only 8 strikeouts on the year. He is usually coming out of the bullpen but he has 17 innings pitched and only 8 strikeouts. Coming out of the pen-you don’t pitch everyday and you are going against batters that have been playing for 2 plus hours already- you should be striking out a lot more batters than that. The game got heated last night in San Diego where Dave Roberts came out of the dug out to protect his team. Look for the Dodgers to feed off of that and win this one big.
Targets: Bellinger, Turner, Gonzalez
Undervalued Plays
Granderson – NYM – OF – Grandy is batting .346 with 4 home runs over the last week as the Mets continue to hit the home run. If they don’t pick it up Grandy could be a nice piece for another team to pick up from the Mets. He has some pop in his bat and can run the bases.
Reddick – HOU – OF – Reddick has been red hot. Over the last week he is batting over .500 with 2 home runs and 3 stolen bases. Houston got beat up by the Yankees last night, look for them to come back big tonight with Reddick being a major reason why.
Davies – MIL – SP – He averages 10 points a game and has 55 strikeouts on the season which isn’t a ton. I like the Brewers to win this game big so Davies should get points for the win. He is 8-4 on the year which is a solid record. His WHIP is 1.51, you would like that lower and again his strikeouts aren’t common. However he could show up and have a great night. Gonzalez, Sale, and Greinke will all be owned more than 20%, Davies is cheap and could help you pick up big time batters to make up for the points you might miss out on with the other 3 bigger pitchers.