I want to be in Hawaii. Right now. Not in two months – I will be there then – but right now. We've had lots of heat in California, I've been working on my tan, and I always enjoy thinking about the warm winds, a Lava Flow drink and hula dancers. Don't worry, I didn't day dream all day. I still was able to put my Daily Trends article together for you.

DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
 
Nolan Arenado is batting .333 with a .915 OPS against lefties. He's also got six hits in 10 at-bats against Eric Stults. Troy Tulowitzki is batting .412 with a homer and six RBIS in 17 at-bats against Stults. He's also in possession of a 1.775 OPS in home games this season.

Ryan Braun has two homers, five RBIs and seven hits in 16 at-bats against Jeff Samardzija. That's good for a .438 average and with three walks he also has a .526 OBP.

Miguel Cabrera hits everyone and Jon Lester, no matter how well he's pitching right now, has long been a pinata for Cabrera to take whacks at. Miggy is batting .526 in the matchup with 10 hits in 19 at-bats. Guess Lester can take solace in the fact that he's allowed only one homer. Torii Hunter also dismantles Lester with surprising skill as he's hit .478 over 23 at-bats. Victor Martinez brings up the rear... and he's hit .462 over 13 at-bats (includes a homer).

Josh Donaldson is 5-for-11 against Zach McAllister and Josh is hitting an impressive .321 with a 1.013 OPS on the road this season. The game Friday is in Cleveland.

Edwin Encarnacion has had success against Yu Darvish with five hits, including two homers, leading to a .417 batting average and four RBIs over 12 at-bats.

Jedd Gyorko has seven hits in nine at-bats against Jorge De La Rosa. That's pretty impressive, no?

Gut call. Matt Holliday has two homers and four hits against Ervin Santana in nine at-bats. The right hander has allowed only two homers this season for a 0.44 HR/9 mark. For his career that number is damn near triple at 1.20.

Miguel Montero is having a nice bounce back season and he's also the possessor of a .333 batting average with two homers against Zack Greinke.

No one can get David Ortiz out right now. Don’t expect Max Scherzer to either. In 15 at-bats all Big Papi has done is bat .467 with three homers and six RBIs. Wowzahs. A.J. Pierzynski is no Ortiz, but he too has had a ton of success with a .333, homer and seven RBIs in 33 at-bats.

Anthony Rizzo rips up Kyle Lohse with eight hits in 17 at-bats (.471).

Cheap play alert. Skip Schumaker has hit .346 with two homers in 26 at-bats against Kyle Kendrick.

Scott Van Slyke might see some work Friday since he's 5-for-13 with two homers against Wade Miley. Matt Kemp is hitting .333 with two homers in the matchup as well.

DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day

Jose Bautista has only one walk in 13 plate appearances against Yu Darvish and he's also produced only one hit.

Starlin Castro is having a solid 2014 but his efforts against Kyle Lohse have been lacking (.207 in 29 at-bats).

Chris Davis can hit anyone, we all know that, but for some unexplainable reason he's simply been completely inept when facing, of all people, Jeremy Guthrie. In 16 at-bats Davis has struck out six times while producing a mere hit (at least it was a homer). Adam Jones has only eight at-bats in the matchup but he's seeking his first hit.

Paul Goldschmidt has hit just .267 against Zack Greinke without a home run. He's also whiffed in six of his 15 at-bats. Martin Prado (.200 in 20 at-bats) and Eric Chavez (1-for-14) do nothing in the matchup either.

Chase Headley hasn't had any success against Jorge De La Rosa. That's pretty easy to say when you note he has 11 Ks in 36 at-bats to go along with a .222 batting average. Struggling Everth Cabrera isn't any better with seven strikeouts an a .190 batting average over 21 at-bats.

Jonathan Lucroy you're a very impressive hitter, but I could literally do as well as you have done against Jeff Samardzija. Check out the work folks: one hit in 15 at-bats with seven Ks.  

Ryan Ludwick stinks, surprisingly, against Kyle Kendrick. He's got two hits, though one is a homer, in 17 at-bats. Todd Frazier has also initially struggled in the matchup with one hit in eight at-bats.

Brian McCann faces the somewhat lost Edinson Volquez Friday but McCann has hit .203 at home this season and is batting just .205 against right-handed pitching.

Jayson Werth it batting .250 with a .586 OPS over 21 plate appearances against Jonathon Niese. He's also got a rather awful eight punchouts. Teammate Ian Desmond, who has struggled for most of the year, is hitting just .176 with five Ks in 17 career at-bats against the lefty.

The Cardinals must really be hoping that Kolten Wong is healthy enough to play Friday since Mark Ellis is batting .216 with a .514 OPS against Ervin Santana over the course of 54 plate appearances. Jhonny Peralta hasn't had much success either – understatement – with three hits in 25 at-bats (.120/.179/.120).

Bookmark the following three sources to check daily after you read this piece.

Fantasy Alarm Lineups

Batter Versus Pitcher

Daily Projections – For every single day of the season.

MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target

Zack Greinke has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his eight starts this year and that string includes a a 5.1 inning, one run outing against the D'backs on April 12th an a six inning, one run, outing on April 18th. And yes, I know the two earned runs or less streak goes back to last year.

Jeremy Guthrie has held current Orioles to a .200 batting average, a .537 OPS and one homer over 130 at-bats. I don't believe it either, but there it is. Back on April 26th he tossed seven innings of two run ball against them as well.

Jonathon Niese faces a Nationals team with no Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman or Adam LaRoche. He's also held Desmond/Werth to a combined .216 batting average in 37 at-bats. Niese has also allowed three or fewer runs in every start this season and has gone at least six innings in each of his last six outings.

Jose Quintana has tossed a quality start the last four times he's take the hill, and over his last five starts he's not beating himself at all as he's issued four walks total. The Astros team is also middle of the pack when it comes to hitting lefties (their OPS is 18th), so it's far from a scary matchup for Jose.  

Jered Weaver is always a solid start when at home. He's posted a 3.42 ERA and 1.22 WHIP there this season, nearly identical numbers to his overall work this year (3.22 and 1.13). The last time he allowed more than two earned runs was six starts ago, and in four of the last five it's been one earned run allowed. He takes on the Rays.

MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Drew Hutchison has stumbled a bit of late with a 5.59 ERA over his last three starts and now he heads to Texas. The Rangers are only 20th in OPS against righties and 18th in OPS at home so it's not an overly scary matchup on paper. Still, the recent down turn for the young Hutchison is a concern, at least for me.

Kyle Kendrick has a career 4.41 ERA against the Reds over 49 innings. He's also struggled in three home starts this year going 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.67 WHIP. Plus, he's just boring.  I mean, look at that K/9 rate of 5.65.

Zach McAllister has pitched well this season and he's been particularly impressive at home where he takes on the Athletics Friday: 0.89 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, better than 8:1 K/BB ratio over 20.1 innings. Still, he struggled against the A's in his first start (10 base runners, three runs in four IP), and he's failed to make it out of the fourth inning in two of his last three starts.

Wade Miley faces the potentially potent Dodgers Friday, and through nine starts this year he has a 4.82 ERA and 1.21 WHIP to go along with a 3-3 record. He's faced the Dodgers a couple of times, allowing four runs in 11 innings, but given his stuff familiarity likely will bring success to the batters. Oh yeah. He's also got an unsightly 7.48 ERA and 1.48 WIHP in four home starts this season.

Eric Stults is pitching in Colorado. Do you really need me to keep going? How about this. The Rockies, as a team, are hitting .353 with a .998 at home this season. That is SHOCKING. So much for the humidor.


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