Daily baseball is all the rage in the fantasy sports world, so I will be covering the game a couple of times a week here at BaseballGuys.com. To that end, I’ve partnered with DraftDay.com to give all my wonderful followers, that’s you, the chance to play the game on a daily basis. On Tuesday and Thursday’s here at the site, every week, I’ll be giving you some insight into the mind of The Oracle as I will give you some of my best plays for the day – even if I’m willing to admit that daily games are a bit of a crap shoot given the difficulty in predicting how a handful of at-bats will work out.
To join a daily league remember to visit DraftDay.com by clicking on the link to their site.
One other source for those of you on Twitter. @MLBDailyLineups – lists all the lineups in one spot so you can make sure you don't have someone in your lineup that is sitting on the bench that day.
CATCHERS1. Yadier Molina2. Victor Martinez
Molina has six hits, five RBIs and four runs scored his last three games as he's pushed his average up to .346. He's also hitting .363 on the road this year and has hit .330 in 29 games against the Royals.
V-Mart is 1-for-2 against Jeanmar Gomez and he's hit .042 points higher this year vs. right-handed pitching (.259). Martinez is also hitting .345 over the past week with five RBIs.
FIRST BASE1. Adrian Gonzalez2. Mike Napoli
AGone faces Mr. Blanton Tuesday, and you can read about Joe B's struggles below. Gonzalez is hitting .368 with two homers in 19 at-bats against Blanton, and Adrian is hitting .435 with two homers and eight RBIs the past week.
Napoli has a difficult matchup against the Phillies' Lee, but he's hit .313 against him in 16 at-bats. He's also knocked in 20 runners in just 103 at-bats at home this season.
SECOND BASE1. Kelly Johnson2. Marco Scutaro
Johnson is crushing it to the tune of a .471 average the past seven days and he has two homers and seven RBIs the past two games. He's also managed two hits in four ABs against Mr. Slowey and he's batting .317 in home games this season.
Scutaro has hit .323 on the season and he's batting .325 on the road. He faces Jarrod Parker, who he is 0-for-3 against, but Parker has bombed at home this season with a 7.43 ERA and 1.69 WHIP over five starts.
THIRD BASE1. Josh Donaldson2. David Wright
Donaldson is batting .318 at home with a .947 OPS and has hit .337 with a 1.036 OPS and six bombs in 24 May games. He faces rookie Mike Kickham.
Wright is hitting .353 in 17 at-bats against Hiroki Kuroda but it should be noted that he has hit only .234 with one homer in 94 at-bats at home this season.
SHORTSTOP1. Everth Cabrera2. J.J. Hardy
Hardy has hit in 6-straight games as he's driven in five runs. He's slated to face rookie Nate Karns Tuesday.
Cabrera has scored four runs in his last four games while driving in five runs. He's also hitting .296 on the road this season, has hit .304 against the Mariners in his career and has at least two hits in five of his last nine games on the year.
OUTFIELD1. Andre Ethier2. Raul Ibanez
Ethier was recently called out by his manager, and he's found himself on the bench a couple of times. Still, he faces Joe Blanton who has allowed an unfathomable 93 hits in 56.2 innings. Ethier is also 7-for-17 (.412) with two homers against the righty.
Ibanez has a .868 OPS with seven bombs in 87 at-bats against righties. He faces Edinson Volquez who has a 6.08 ERA and 1.76 WHIP, not to mention a terrible 1.00 K/BB ratio, in five road starts.
STARTING PITCHERS1. Cliff Lee2. Zach McAllister3. Jeremy Hellickson4. Kevin Gausman
Lee has a 2.48 ERA and 1.02 WHIP on the year, and he's allowed two runs in his last three outings. He's also gone at least seven inning in 4-straight starts and he's the owner of a 4-1 record, 1.60 ERA and 0.82 WHIP on the road this season. He travels to Boston to take on the Red Sox.
McAllister has a 2.89 ERA and 1.21 WHIP for the Indians and he's allowed three or fewer earned runs in all nine of his starts this year. He does have a 3.97 ERA and 1.54 WHIP on the road, so traveling to Cincy to take on the Reds isn't likely to be a cakewalk.
Hellickson has been all over the place this season. Still, he has a 1.21 WHIP and 50 Ks in 63.2 innings. The Marlins, you may have heard, suck. They've gone 1-8 with 17 runs scored in that time.
Gausman faces a Nationals team that has hit .221 while averaging 3.0 runs over the past 15 games. He has the talent to keep those struggles going.
By Ray Flowers