HITTERS

Yoenis Cespedes had three hits to push his average up to .300 on the year and he also stole his third base of the campaign. He’s only walked eight times leading to a poor .327 OBP and you have to be concerned about his ability to keep up his batting average given his 0.21 BB/K ratio and career .265 batting average.

Lucas Duda hit two homers off left-handed pitching Thursday. He hit two homers off of lefties all season last year. He actually has four homers against lefties this season. His improvement against lefties has been pretty amazing. Can he keep it up all year?

Jason Heyward has a .688 OPS after another 0-for-3 effort Thursday. What a disappointment he’s been in his first season in St. Louis.

Ryan Howard last 17 games: .367 with five homers and 11 RBIs.

Justin Morneau will not return from the 7-day concussion DL when first eligible and manager Walt Weiss said that JM is “at least” a few days away. Morneau has an extensive history with concussions, and I’m very nervous about his outlook moving forward. In 2010 he missed 94 days with a concussion. In 2011 he missed 24 days with a concussion at the start of the year and then 31 at the end of the year. Through 27 games this season he’s batting .290 but has only three homers, nine RBIs and a .317 OBP. Wilin Rosario should continue to see the majority of work at first base.

A.J. Pollock became the 30th player since 1914 to have a game of three hits, three steals and four runs when he pulled off the trick Wednesday night. He then went out and rapped out two more hits Thursday to push his average up to .301. Why on earth the D’backs aren’t playing him every single day is beyond me.

Giancarlo Stanton has 12 homers and 39 RBIs, tremendous numbers, but his .239 batting average and .324 OBP certainly leave a lot to be desired.

Yasmany Tomas has had at least two hits in 6-straight games after two more hits Thursday. That’s one shy of the Diamondbacks record held by Luis Gonzalez (2001). He’s hitting .349 on the year. Where is Jake Lamb going to play when he is healthy? Tomas has to play daily at this point, and with Pollock, Ender Inciarte (hitting .308) and Mark Trumbo (.279 with six homers) it sure doesn’t look like there’s a spot in the daily lineup for Tomas in the outfield. Sorry Lamb owners – he’s looking like, at best, a platoon option at third at the moment.

PITCHERS

Archie Bradley didn’t look sharp Thursday as he walked two batters and allowed nine hits and four runs over five innings. That effort pushed his ERA up to 4.00 and his WHIP to 1.44. He’s allowed 14 hits and eight runs over seven innings in his two starts since he was hit in the face by a line drive. He shouldn’t be started until he earns his way back into your starting lineup.

Madison Bumgarner hit a homer off Clayton Kershaw Thursday. That’s the first homer that Kershaw has ever allowed to a pitcher. It’s the seventh homer of MadBum’s career (308 at-bats).

Jacob deGrom dominated the Cardinals – something many a pitcher is seemingly doing of late. Jacob allowed a single hit over eight scoreless innings as he didn’t walk a batter while striking out 11 (only three other Mets’ hurlers have had a game with no walks, no runs and 10 Ks – Tom Seaver, R.A. Dickey and Matt Harvey). He retired 23 batters at one point in a row and lowered his ERA to 2.75 and his WHIP to 1.11. To this point Jacobs’s looked every bit the pitcher he was last year. I’m surprised/impressed.

Jaime Garcia allowed two runs over seven innings. He also walked five and he is still Jaime Garcia. For more see Daily Trends, May 21st, 2015.

David Price allowed three runs, two earned, over 6.2 innings against the Astros. He was sharp, as he often is, with only one free pass issued and a big time 12 strikeouts. Price didn’t get the win after Joakim Soria allowed one run to blow his first save of the season. Soria has a 1.42 ERA and 0.68 WHIP. He will be fine.

Drew Smyly finally got some good news. Turns out the labrum issue he has is not a significant scenario so it appears he will be able to avoid surgery. Sounds like rehab should take about eight weeks which means he could return in August. Can’t hold him unless you have a DL spot or if you’re in an AL-only league, but it’s good news nonetheless.

Finally… you gotta like this show of gamesmanship

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).