Who do you need to avoid on the bump? Which batters are poor options at the dish. Which hurlers appear to have solid matchups. Which batters seem like they see the ball awfully well against the hurler they are facing? Ray Flowers breaks it all down. 

* 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. 

DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
 
Small sample size in the extreme but Oswaldo Arcia has two homers and four RBIs in five at-bats against Trevor Bauer. 

Adrian Beltre has two homers an a 1.345 OPS over 14 plate appearances when Hector Santiago. 

Jacoby Ellsbury batters Chris Archer to the tune of eight hits in 12 at-bats. He's also swiped two bags. Meanwhile Brett Gardner has a .333 average and a steal over 16 plate appearances. 

Alex Gordon has a .412 batting average with three homers against Max Scherzer. He also has a .512 OBP in 41 plate appearances. That's astounding. 

Jason Heyward has 17 plate appearances against Jordan Zimmermann. In the battles he's hit .357 with a homer an a 1.143 OPS.

Matt Holliday is back on the field, and he's hit .400 over 30 at-bats against Mike Leake with a homer and seven runs batted in. 

Matt Joyce has nine hits in 23 at-bats. That's good for a .391 batting average and three home runs when Hiroki Kuroda is on the bump. Evan Longoria also has had success with 10 base knocks in 24 at-bats. That's a .417 batting average. He also has a homer and seven runs batted in. Ben Zobrist has a 1.126 OPS with two homers and four RBIs in 25 plate appearances. 

Ian Kinsler has hit .321 with a .916 OPS over 56 plate appearances. He's gone deep twice and stolen two bases as well against Jason Vargas. 

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Buster Posey has been killing it of late, and he's always crushed Wade Miley. Over 20 at-bats he has a homer, five RBIs an a .450 batting average. 

Denard Span has hit .400 with a .973 OPS over 31 plate appearances against Ervin Santana. 

Juan Uribe has five hits in 11 at-bats against Andrew Cashner. 

DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day

Elvis Andrus has three hits in 14 at-bats. That's a .214 batting average when Hector Santiago is on the hill. 

Jose Bautista has 10 at-bats against Jake Arrieta. He has four strikeouts and not a single hit. Edwin Encarnacion has seven hitless at-bats too. 

Marlon Byrd has a .235 batting average and six strikeouts in 17 at-bats against Edinson Volquez. 

Matt Carpenter is batting .200 with one RBI and a .227 OBP over 21 plate appearances against Mike Leake. 

Freddie Freeman has hit .250 without a homer in 17 at-bats against Jordan Zimmermann. B.J. Upton has two hits, and six strikeouts, in 14 at-bats. 

Eric Hosmer has nine strikeouts going along with a .194 batting average in 31 at-bats. Mike Moustakas has a .143 average over 28 at-bats, Jarrod Dyson is 2-for-16 and Lorenzo Cain is hitless in 12 at-bats. 

James Loney has a .182 batting average over 22 at-bats. Yunel Escobar has a .190 batting average in 21 at-bats. Those numbers are against Hiroki Kuroda. 

David Ortiz has a mere two hits 21 at-bats against Chris Tillman. That's way better than the 16 hitless at-bats that Will Middlebrooks has put up there. Xander Bogaerts has nine hitless at-bats too. 

Hunter Pence has two hits in 18 at-bats against Wade Miley. He's also struck out eight times. 

Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce have 10 strikeouts and 21 hitless at-bats against Michael Wacha. 

Yasiel Puig has one hit in 11 at-bats against Andrew Cashner. Matt Kemp has one hit in 10 at-bats. Dee Gordon has seven hitless at-bats. 

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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target

Collin McHugh pitches on the road against the Mariners. The last time he faced that club, June 30th, he allowed five runs in six innings (including three homers). Since then though he's pitched extremely well allowing two or fewer earned runs in each of his last seven starts. Oh yeah, there's also that 1.96 ERA and 1.16 road WHIP too that should catch your attention. 

Wade Miley has a 3.09 ERA and 1.16 WHIP versus the Giants in eight games. He's also sporting a 2.55 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 15 road starts this season. 

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Yusmeiro Petit faces the Diamondbacks Tuesday coming off the only bad outing he's had in forever (6 ER, 4 IP). Even with that rough outing we're still looking at a guy who has a 1.04 WHIP with 101 Ks in 90.1 innings. In 47.2 innings at home this season Petit has a 2.64 ERA, 0.94 WHIP an a 6.63 K/BB ratio. 

Chris Tillman faces the Red Sox. In 14 battles he owns a 2.76 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. In 10 starts since the All-Star break he's gone 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and a 4.15 K/BB ratio. Batters aren't even hitting .195 against him in that time. He's posted a 2.81 ERA against the Sox this season but that 1.81 WHIP over three starts is troubling. 

MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Jake Arrieta has allowed two or fewer runs in four of his last five starts. He has a somewhat elevated 3.71 ERA on the road this season but his 1.19 WHIP and 82 Ks in 70.1 innings – those are solid numbers. However, the Blue Jays lead the AL in OPS against righties at .760 and their .770 OPS in home games is third in baseball. 

Andrew Cashner has only two wins all season. That stinks. The last time he faced the Dodgers he allowed one run in six innings and that was August 29th. Can he do it again? In six starts on the road he has a 3.75 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. Not a great look.  

Roberto Hernandez has finally started to pull back to the pack. Over his last three starts he's allowed four homers, 11 runs and only struck out nine batters in 15.1 innings. The start he made three games ago was against the Padres. 

Tom Koehler has a 4.80 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in 15 road starts this season with a mere three wins. The lat time he faced the Brewers has allowed seven runs over five innings (May 23rd).  

Mike Leake has never had much success against the Cardinals. Over 12 outings he has a 4.75 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. He's also gone 3-5. He does pitch well at home – a 3.34 ERA and 1.18 WHIP – so there is that. 

Colby Lewis faces the Angels. He's allowed at least four earned runs in each of his last four starts and he's permitted 32 hits over the 28 innings. Did I note that seven of those hits were homers?

Hector Santiago faces a Rangers club that is batting .267 against lefties. Santiago has a 4.02 ERA and 1.42 WHIP on the road. The last time out he allowed four runs in five innings. He's also allowed three homers in three outings. Nothing crushing at all, and Santiago did allow just one run to the Rangers on August 17th. 


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.