The world is falling. At least people's attention is on the wane. Why? Fantasy football is at the starting line ready to blast off. With that it seems like the passion for fantasy baseball has lessened. We don't agree with that at Fantasy Alarm. Ray Flowers certainly doesn't agree with that. Here are the BVP matchups that Ray found to help you with your lineups for Friday, August 29th. 

* 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
 
Jose Bautista has hit .368 with two homers an a 1.309 OPS over 24 plate appearances against Chris Capuano

Jay Bruce has six hits in 11 at-bats against Edinson Volquez. That effort includes a homer. 

Alberto Callaspo has a .375 average over 16 at-bats with Jered Weaver on the bump. Eric Sogard has a shiny .364 mark in 22 at-bats. 

Evan Gattis has five hits in nine at-bats against Tom Koehler. Justin Upton has five hits in 13 at-bats. 

Brian McCann has a .429 average an a homer in 21 at-bats when facing wily veteran Mark Buehrle in his career. Brett Gardner is just behind with a .423 batting average an a homer in his 26 a-bats. Stephen Drew is right there with a .429 average in 14 at-bats. He also has a homer. Ichiro Suzuki is batting .431 with a homer in 58 at-bats. Derek Jeter is batting .348 with two homers in 46 at-bats. Mark Teixeira is batting .300 with a homer in 50 at-bats. Yowzahs. 

David Ortiz has hit .417 with a homers over 12 at-bats against Chris Archer. Good stuff. Toss in eight RBIs and it becomes great stuff. 

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Aramis Ramirez has been one of the best hitters in baseball in August and he's also batting .381 with two homers over 21 at-bats against Ryan Vogelsong

Neil Walker has 11 RBIs, a .314 batting average and .432 OBP over 42 plate appearances against Mike Leake. He hits him well. Russell Martin is even better at .370-1-6 over 27 at-bats. Jose Tabata has hit .304 over 23 at-bats.

DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day

Coco Crisp, what happens to you against Jered Weaver? In 63 plate appearances Crisp has hit .180 with a .452 OPS. Brandon Moss has two hits, and six strikeouts, in 16 at-bats while Josh Donaldson is 1-for-11. 

Gordon Beckham has a .111 average and 33 percent strikeout rate in 18 at-bats against Jon Lester

Adam Dunn has 14 punchouts in 33 at-bats against Justin Verlander. He's batting .212 in the matchup. Alejandro De Aza has a .214 average and eight Ks in 28 at-bats. Alexei Ramirez has a .618 OPS over 69 plate appearances. Paul Konerko is at .172 over 58 at-bats. Does that matter with the way that Verlander has been pitching this season?

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Jacoby Ellsbury is hot as a dickens at the dish, but he's also long struggled against Mark Buehrle batting .233 with a .281 OBP over 31 plate appearances. 

Edwin Encarnacion has just three hits, two homers though, in 20 at-bats against Chris Capuano. He's also struck out in six of the at-bats, a high ratio for him.

Freddie Freeman has no walks, seven strikeouts and a .250 batting average in 16 at-bats against Tom Koehler

Ryan Ludwick has hit .154 with seven strikeouts in 13 at-bats against Edison Volquez.

Starling Marte has a mere .236 batting average and six strikeouts in 17 at-bats against Mike Leake. Ike Davis has a .214 batting average and no walks in 14 plate appearances.  

Mike Napoli has a 60 percent strikeout rate an a .100 batting average against Chris Archer (10 ABs). 

Hanley Ramirez is a total no-show when Andrew Cashner is pitching. In 14 at-bats HanRam has one hit. Yasiel Puig is 1-for-11 while Matt Kemp is hitless in seven at-bats. 

Denard Span has two hits in 22 at-bats, along with eight strikeouts, against Felix Hernandez. Asdrubal Cabrera has a .417 OPS over 21 plate appearances. 

Giancarlo Stanton, Superman, must have Kryptonite around his neck when Ervin Santana is hurling the pelota. Stanton has one hit and six strikeouts over 10 at-bats. Casey McGehee is 1-for-11 while Marcel Ozuna is hitless in seven at-bats. 

Will Venable against Dan Haren: .118 with seven Ks in 17 at-bats. 


The most updated fantasy football rankings anywhere!! Over 600 players ranked with auction values, tiers and latest ADP data right there on the same page. It’s all a part of the 2014 Fantasy Football Draft Guide from Fantasy Alarm.

 


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.

MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target

Andrew Cashner should be starting on your squad when he's healthy. Through 13 starts this season he has a 2.43 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. In seven of his last eight outings it's been two or fewer earned runs allowed. In seven home starts he has a 1.39 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. The last time he faced the Dodgers they scored one run in six innings. 

Felix Hernandez, sore hip or not, always starts. He faces the Nationals at home where he has a 1.96 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, not to mention a 9-2 record, this season. 

Brett Oberholtzer faces the Rangers at home Friday. In 10 home starts he has a 3.96 ERA and 1.30 WHIP this season. Moreover, he's been pretty solid of late. Over his last eight outings he's allowed more than three earned runs just one time as he's lowered his ERA from 4.66 to 4.01. He's walked a total of four batters over his last six outings. He has 13 strikeouts in his last 12 innings. A moderate start.

Wily Peralta allowed eight runs last outing but he had allowed eight runs in his previous seven outings. He pitches on the road (7-3, 3.00 ERA, 1.36 WHIP) against the Giants (1 ER over 6.2 IP last matchup on August 7th).

Jered Weaver at home is always a solid play. He has a 2.89 ERA and 1.10 WHIP over 15 starts. He's also pretty much owned the A's in his career with a 2.58 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over 29 starts. He allowed three runs over 6.2 innings to the Athletics in his last start August 24th. 


Jason Vargas faces the Indians at home Friday. With a 3.17 ERA on the year, it's not a shock to see that he's allowed a total of five earned runs over his last four outings. The Indians are the 4th worst team in baseball against lefties according to OPS and Vargas held them to three runs over 7.2 innings at home back on June 10th. 

Jordan Zimmermann's only negative is that he's facing King Felix. In 26 starts this season he's walked 24 batters. He's also allowed 10 runs over his last six starts. He's been solid, shocker, on the road this season as well with a 3.10 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 69 Ks in 69.2 innings. 

MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Mark Buehrle is a mess against the Yankees. Current Yankees' batters have annihilated him. Check out the slash line: .332/.362/.509. That's over 390 plate appearances. Masochist you are if you start Mark against that track record. 

Dan Haren has a 4.84 ERA and 1.38 WHIP on the road this season. Can't trust him even against the Padres who scored four runs against him over four innings back on July 11th. 

Kyle Hendricks was bad in his last outing allowing five hits and two runs while recording only two outs. He did allowed one run over 6.1 innings to the Cards back on July 27th, but the Cards are 9th in baseball in home OPS and Hendricks can't keep rocking that 84 percent left on base percentage forever.  

What is coming up from the ground in Mexico?

Shelby Miller versus the Cubs in St. Louis. He allowed two runs to the Cubs back on July 26th, but he has not looked good of late allowing 12 runs over his last 17 innings to watch his ERA swell back to 4.26 on the year. He also has a 4.12 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 13 outings at home this season.

Danny Salazar is on it now. Over his last three outings he's only walked three batters, and that's huge for him. At the same time he's gone five or less innings in two of his last three starts so he's far from a certainty to go deep into a game. At the same time he's allowed two or fewer earned runs in three of his last four outings. Risky as all get out, but huge upside. He face the Royals in Kansas City. 

Justin Verlander is my favorite whipping boy. With good reason. If you hate Tim Lincecum, and I know most of you do, why don't you hate Justin Verlander? Did you realize Verlander is 11-11 with a 4.82 ERA and 1.44 WHIP? Hell folks, Lincecum is 10-9 with a 4.64 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. Verlander has allowed nine runs over his last two starts which lasted a total of 6.2 innings. He faces the White Sox in Chicago.



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.