A small slate of games Monday as there are only seven games a going. There's still some data to be mined off course, and Ray Flowers has done just that in today's Daily Trends column.
DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Chris Denorfia is giving pitchers fits this season. He's also got a history of success against Madison Bumgarner as he's hit .341 over 44 at-bats. He hasn't gone deep but he has stolen three bags.
Adam Dunn is batting .294 with a 1.010 OPS versus right-handed pitching. He faces Jake Odorizzi who hasn't exactly impressed this season. Tyler Flowers is batting .347 against right-handed pitching this season. Can't explain it so I wont try.
John Jay has 10 hits, including two bombs, in 28 at-bats versus Yovani Gallardo.
Brandon Moss is a star against right handers. We all know it. What you may not know is that he mashes Yu Darvish to the tune of four homers and six RBIs in a mere 18 at-bats. He's not the only Athletic to have success against the K machine that is Darvish. Coco Crisp is hitting .353 with seven RBIs in 17 at-bats. Alberto Callaspo is batting .333 in 21 at-bats. Hell, Daric Barton has five hits, including a homer, in 10 at-bats of his own right.
Wilin Rosario has eight hits in 16 at-bats against Wade Miley. One of those hits was a bomb. Make sure he's playing though as he's got a sore hand.
Joey Votto has been a star since his shift to the two hole, but the matchup Monday might slow him a bit. He faces Jeff Samardzija who has held him to a .214 batting average and eight strikeouts in 28 at-bats. Jay Bruce has nine strikeouts in his 25 at-bats in the matchup and has yet to go deep.
Tampa takes on righty Andre Rienzo, he of the 4.83 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over 63.1 career innings. James Loney is hot right now, and he's hit .322 against righties. Oh, and Matt Joyce, yeah he crushes righties. Check out the slash line (.400/.522/.660).
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Erick Aybar has two hits in 18 at-bats against Justin Masterson. He's also got seven punchouts. Teammate Raul Ibanez is even worse with one hit in 14 at-bats.
Brandon Belt is batting .220 with a .614 OPS at home. He's also hitting just .241 against right-handed pitching. He faces righty Tyson Ross.
Ownage. Everth Cabrera meet your daddy. Madison Bumgarner hasn't allowed one hit to Cabrera in 16 at-bats.
Matt Holliday (.267 with 8 Ks in 30 ABs) and Yadier Molina (.242 with eight Ks in 33 ABs) have both struggled against Yovani Gallardo in their careers. Gallardo has been pitching pretty well this season as well in case you didn't notice (more on that below).
Martin Prado is hitting .185 at home with a .437 OPS. That's flat out embarrassing. Even with a guy I'm not impressed with on the bump in Franklin Morales, just don't know how you could start Prado with any degree of confidence.
Josh Reddick has been warming after a slow start, but he's struck out in half of his 16 at-bats against Yu Darvish. He's also got a mere single single hit.
Anthony Rizzo faces the hot Alfredo Simon Monday. Righties have given Rizzo issues on the young season as he's hit just .241 with two homers in 54 such at-bats. He's also hit .175 on the road this season. Not good.
Batter Versus Pitcher
Daily Projections – For every single day of the season.
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Madison Bumgarner has been terrible in two home starts with a 5.23 ERA and 1.94 WHIP. It's a mirage. No only does he own a 2.95 ERA at home for his career, but he's also sporting a 1.15 WHIP and 349 Ks in 359.2 innings. Toss in the Padres and it's green light city.
Sonny Gray is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 31 Ks in 32 innings. The Rangers are hitting .273 as a club, and the game is in Texas, but they only have 14 homers and that .397 team SLG is far from impressing.
Jeff Samardzija went seven innings back on April 18th against the Reds (three runs, one earned). He's also excelled in two outings on the road this season (0.64 ERA, 0.93 WHIP).
Tyler Skaggs has a 3.21 ERA through four starts, and he's averaged seven innings an outing. He's also allowed only two big flies thanks to an impressive 58 percent ground ball rate. That's a fact that should serve him well with his start coming against the Indians.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Yu Darvish. Hey, go big or go home as they say. Current Athletics batters have hit .260 with an .823 OPS off of the tall righty, and they've gone deep nine times in 169 at-bats. He also struggled the last time he faced them last week allowing four walks, eight hits and three runs in six innings.
Yovani Gallardo has always been annihilated by the Cardinals. The career numbers are staggering: 1-11, 6.48 ERA, 20 homers allowed in 92 innings). Don't care how well he's pitching right now.
Wade Miley is just boring. He's 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.28 WHIP over six starts. He's also allowed five long balls, which helps to explain the inflated ERA. The Rockies come to town, and even though Carlos Gonzalez and Wilin Rosario aren't exactly ripping it up, it's still hard to trust Wade Miley (that's the name of a country music singer, isn't it?)
Michael Wacha struggled mightily last time out walking five guys in four innings (he did have 10 Ks, but he was just all over the place). He's lost his last two starts. He faces a Brewers club that got to him in their matchup last year (three runs in an inning of work). Not running from Wacha, but also not giving him the full thumbs up either.
Make sure you tune in to the Fantasy Alarm's Daily Game Show at 6 PM EDT, Monday through Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius210, XM87) as Jeff Mans and Ted Schuster will help you to set your daily lineups.