I know.. I know.. I am not Howard Bender, such a travesty for you the reader but before I get into the day’s action Howard wanted me to convey that because he cares about the FA Nation he “asked” me to pinch-hit for him here on a Saturday night and write up this article for your reading pleasure.  First, let me start off by saying that I sit here writing this slightly on tilt as I watch the inevitable Kyle Hendrick regression happen against a Brewers lineup without Ryan Braun and thus flush my DFS night down the toilet.  So, if as you read this and sense a sort of negative tone you know why.

Let’s talk about this Kyle Hendricks guy though shall we?  Hendricks had an average ADP of 65.8 heading into the season as he came off a career year in 2016 which saw him go 16-8 with a 2.13 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP.  Those numbers are absolutely outstanding but he was also very fortunate to own a .250 BABIP and an 81.5 percent strand rate.  His FIP was also more than a run higher than his ERA and while a 3.20 FIP is still pretty good it shows that Hendricks was a bit fortunate. Heading into the draft season many articles were written about Hendricks being a high regressive candidate and his 2017 is not off to a good start.  As of writing this Hendricks has allowed four runs over five innings against the Brewers after giving up a leadoff home run to Jonathan Villar and then a two-run home run to Nick Franklin of all people just an inning ago. 

Moving on to another pitcher who saw his 2017 season get off to rough start would be Francisco Liriano who allowed five earned runs on three hits while walking four over just 0.1 innings in his debut on Friday against the Rays.  Liriano was solid for the Blue Jays after being acquired from the Pirates at the deadline last season and was coming off a really strong spring training which led many to have high hopes for him against the strikeout prone Rays.  Unfortunately, Liriano couldn’t have hit the strike zone if it was the size of a barn and any ball that he did get over the plate was rocketed back at him.  He is one of the worst Jeklly and Hyde pitchers in all of baseball and Hyde reared his head on Friday.

Joining the club of poor starts is Jeremy Guthrie, who like Liriano, failed to get out of the first inning on Saturday as the MLB powerhouse known as the Philadelphia Phillies tagged him for 10 earned runs on six hits over 0.2 innings.  Making things even worse for Guthrie is that Saturday is actually his birthday....yikes.  I’m not sure what exactly Guthrie wished for on his birthday but if it was a quick hook then it came true.  Guthrie last pitched a major-league game back in 2015 for the Royals and was dreadful, going 8-8 with a 5.95 ERA over 30 games (24) starts. It will be interesting to see just how many more starts the Nationals will give him this season, especially since they optioned Joe Ross at the start of the year because they did not have a need for five starters. 

Two players who Howard was very down on heading into the season in Gary Sanchez and Trea Turner both left their respective games with injuries today.  Sanchez left with a strained biceps and is already heading to the disabled list.  Turner left Saturday’s game in the first inning with what is being called a leg injury but no additional reports have surfaced as to what exactly the injury is.  Either way both of these players were being hyped to the moon heading into the fantasy season after their limited sample sized rookie seasons made it seem as if they were sure fire hall of fame players.  Turner had an ADP of 13.8 coming into the season.  That’s right folks.. Turner was a border line first rounder after playing just 73 games as a rookie.  Sanchez had an ADP of 55 after he put on a power display that would have made Barry Bonds think he was on something.  Both players were being over drafted and both were regression candidates.  Prior to their injuries on Saturday Sanchez was hitting just .150 with one home run and two RBI over 20 at bats while Turner was hitting just .158 with 0 runs, 0 home runs, 0 RBI and three stolen bases.  Totally worth those early round picks.

Quick scoring update here.. the Phillies hang 17 runs on the Nationals as they win 17-3.  Philadelphia has some solid young hitters in their lineup but the Nationals were done in by the likes of Howie Kendrick and Michael Saunders who combined to go 6-for-10 with five runs, six RBI and one stolen base.

Is there a full moon out?  Just looking over the box scores from tonight and as shocking as seeing the Phillies scoring 17 runs is, I also see that Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin went and tossed 6.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out five and allowing just three hits to the Giants.  The Giants started Madison Bumgarner who has allowed two runs over six innings and is in line for the loss.  Back to Jhoulys Chacin though, this guy allowed nine earned runs over 3.1 innings during his first start and was among the laughing stocks of the DFS world today as stacking the Giants hitters was a popular play and he went on to have one of the better pitching nights on the slate.  Just goes to show that there is no certainty in sports.

Whelp that’s all I got for you tonight. Time to go watch the UFC PPV and prepare for Masters Sunday.