Another day, another dollar. That's what the kids say, right? Plowing through matchups is my game. My name, the Oracle. Let's see if we can dig into the matchups for Monday the 11th and help you to start/sit players with confidence.

* NOTE: Players are listed in alphabetical order for the sake of making them easily sortable/findable. The matchups are also generated based on Batter vs. Pitcher data. Just because a player is not listed does not mean that he is a bad or good play. The players listed below are mentioned merely because of the BVP data for the matchup.

DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
 
Alexi Amarista has five hits in nine at-bats against Jordan Lyles

Marlon Byrd has hit .400 with a big fly in 15 at-bats against Jonathon Niese. Carlos Ruiz, lookie here, has hit .370 with a homer in 27 at-bats. 

Starlin Castro is hitting .378 over 37 at-bats against Yovani Gallardo. Who doesn't like that? Luis Valbuena has hit .332 over 15 at-bats. Over his last 19 games he's also hit five homers with 13 RBIs. 

Stephen Drew has six hits in 13 at-bats when facing Bud Norris. Also walked four times leading to a .588 OBP. Impressive. Carlos Beltran has hit .308 with five doubles in 26 at-bats.

Garrett Jones has two homers an a .538 batting average over 13 at-bats when Shelby Miller is on the bump. That's lots of success, even if the sample size is small. 

Of all the ways to ask someone to spend their life with you...

Travis Snider has a homer, two doubles, an a .385 batting average over 13 at-bats against the vaunted Justin Verlander.

DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day

Chris Carter is 1-for-11 against Tommy Milone. Only has two strikeouts though. 

Shin-Soo Choo has four strikeouts and just one hit when Drew Smyly is on the hill. 

Nick Hundley has five punchouts in nine hitless at-bats against Chris Capuano

Can't make this stuff up.

Dioner Navarro has hit .241 with no runs batted in over 14 at-bats. Danny Valencia has two hits in 11 at-bats... with four strikeouts. 

Chase Utley is having a great season. He's not having a great career against Jonathon Niese. He's hit .107 over 28 at-bats. That's barely better than Ryan Howard who has hit .167 with 11 strikeouts in 24 at-bats. Oh heck, you suck Jimmy Rollins - .220 over 50 at-bats. 

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

DFS PLAYBOOK

Fantasy Alarm Lineups

Batter Versus Pitcher

Daily Projections – For every single day of the season.


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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target

Can't remember the last time someone asked me about David Buchanan of the Phillies. He faces the Mets Monday in Philly. Over his last three starts he's tossed 3-quality starts. Moreover, the last time he allowed more than three earned runs in an outing was back on June 8th. Boring but way more stable than he's being given credit for. 

Jesse Hahn has made five starts at home with a 2.43 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. In 10 starts overall he's actually been even better than that – 2.28 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. Toss in 57 strikeouts in 59.1 innings and you've got an ace-like performer in Hahn who has allowed five or fewer hits in each of his last nine starts. He faces the beat up Rockies at home. 

Felix Hernandez at home against the Blue Jays. In 12 home starts he owns a 2.01 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. He's also gone 8-2. The last time he allowed more than two earned runs was May 12th.  

Shelby Miller – what do you know, he remembered he could get big league batters out. Over his last three starts, since returning from a demotion to the bullpen, Miller has allowed just five runs. He also walked just one batter in that time. Throw strikes and success follows. Almost always the case. He faces the Fish in Florida. 

Jonathon Niese allowed six runs last time out. He's also lost his last four outings. So start him Monday? He has a 3.0-3 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in his 18 starts against the Phillies and that includes a six inning pitched three run outing on May 11th an a seven inning, one run affair on April 29th. 

Bud Norris is pitching at home against the Yankees. Did you know he has a 2.61 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over eight starts at Camden Yards? Yeah, I know. The last time he faced the Yankees was back on June 21st he allowed one run, a solo homer, over five innings. Norris has also been solid his last two outings with two runs and three walks allowed.

Justin Verlander is recommended, with trepidation. He's thrown 4-straight “quality” efforts, but he's still allowed four homers in that time while failing to strikeout out more than five batters. Folks, the last time Justin Verlander had more than five strikeouts was June 27th. The Pirates are 5th in baseball in OPS against righties, but there's no Andrew McCutchen to deal with.

MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Chris Capuano has allowed one and two runs in two of his three starts for the Yankees. He also has a 3.91 ERA an a 1.42 WHIP this season and is facing the Orioles, the 7th best team in baseball according to OPS against lefties. 

Jeff Locke against the Tigers in a game in Pittsburgh. Doesn't sound good off the hop, does it? Don't care that his WHIP is 1.16. I see the lack of elite skills. I see a total of eight homers allowed his last four starts. I see 25 hits his last 19 innings. I also see the Tigers. Pass. 

Tommy Milone will start at home against the Astros. The club from Houston is 4th in baseball in OPS against lefties. Milone last started on July 4th in the big leagues. He made five starts in the minors since the start of July and posted a 5.14 ERA with a 1.61 WHIP. You wanna start that?

Drew Smyly has a 4.18 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in 11 road outings. His last two starts he's been beat up for 18 hits and seven runs over 10.1 innings. He did throw six shutout innings against the Rangers back on June 24th, but in five of his last seven outings he's not even made it to six innings of work which makes wins tough to come by.


Make sure you tune in to the Drive at 7 PM EDT, Monday through Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius210, XM87), to hear Ray Flowers pontificate about the world of sports.