Jay Bruce has hit .181 with a .297 SLG in 38 games with the Mets. He’s been an abysmal failure after a really good run with the Reds. Can’t be starting him in the fantasy playoffs, totally get that, but he does have a .242-29-91 line that is pretty much what anyone who rostered him should have expected. Bruce got a mental health day Monday as was out of the starting lineup.

In 62 plate appearances that have ended in a line drive this season for Chris Carter he has a 2.016 OPS, the best mark on line drives in baseball. Overall Carter has hit a career best 36 homers with 87 RBI and 77 runs scored. He’s set a career bets in runs scored and is one away from tying the career best RBI mark. Same all or nothing slugger as always.

Adam Duvall has 31 homers and 92 RBI – straight off the waiver-wire. He’s hit just .225 in the second half but he’s also walked 20 times, four more times than he did in the first half, despite appearing in 29 fewer games. Still posting a mere .304 OBP in the second half, but it’s something.

The best player in baseball at home this season, according to wOBA, has been DJ LeMahieu at .450. Well, he’s tied with David Ortiz at .450, so let’s just say that DJL leads the National League. There are three others over .420: Nolan Arenado .424, Mike Trout .422 and Mike Napoli .421.

Brad Miller has a terrible .203 wOBA the past two weeks with a .120 batting average as he’s really slowed. Miller has hit 28 homers with 73 RBI and 68 runs scored while hitting .245. The homers are a surprise, I admit I was hoping for 20, but Miller has been just what I hoped he would be when I pushed him on folks this preseason. The shortstop eligible player also added to his value as he’s appeared in 41 games in the outfield this season meaning he will qualify at both spots next season.

Odubel Herrera had two hits Sunday and is batting .500 over his last 24 at-bats. The run has boosted his slash line to .285/.361/.419 just off his career levels of .291/.353/.419. He’s also one homer from a 15/20 season though as his owners know it hasn’t been much fun the last two months.

Evan Longoria has a career best 35 homers leaving him six RBI short of hitting 100 for the first time since 2010. His .857 OPS is the best it has been since 2012.

Victor Martinez has stopped hitting. Over his last 58 games he’s driven in 25 runs while batting .260. Worse, he’s not driving the ball at all as his .395 SLG suggests. Not surprising for a player of his age, and injury track record.

Remember when I was an idiot for daring to suggest that Mazara wasn’t an all-star level player? I was hammmmmered on Twitter for saying just that. Mazara has hit .250 with a .313 OBP and .735 OPS in the second half with a mere 23 RBI, 18 runs scored and no steals over his last 55 games. Jose Maier has a .755 OPS this season folks. #JustSayin

Beer goggles are real. Hard to think we need science to “prove” something that we all already knew.

Joe Panik has stopped hitting. Over his last 11 games he has five RBI, but he’s batting .162 with a .197 wOBA the past two weeks. Up and down it goes with Panik.

Martin Prado is hitting .311 with a .365 OBP. Continue.

Strange but true… Albert Pujols walked Sunday for the first time in 109 plate appearances. He had never gone more than 61-consecutive appearances without a walk before. He has a mere .320 OBP this season but you drafted him for the 30 homers and 112 RBI. He has just 66 runs in 144 games though since he’s never on base.

I broke down the Week’2 two-time starters in the Daily Trends article in four categories for those of you looking for additions this week.

Ryan Schimpf has hit 19 homers this season with 16 singles over 246 at-bats. The only two players to ever have more homers than singles over a season of more than 200 at-bats are Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.

Marcus Semien is another guy who I was high on this preseason given the draft day cost. Just like with Miller, he’s been really solid. In fact, he’s produced nearly identical numbers with a .235-26-70-67 line as he’s also stolen nine bases, three more than Miller. I kinda doubt the power growth, after three years with a HR/FB ratio in the single digits the mark is 15.5 percent this season, and the rest of his game really hasn’t shown much improvement. He’s a compiler though.

Giancarlo Stanton has one hit in seven at-bats since he returned from a groin issue. He’s struck out five times.

Trea Turner has 27 steals his last 57 games. Wow. The only man in baseball with more steals in the second half is Billy Hamilton (36). Hamilton has zero homers and five steals in that time while Turner has 11 and 34. Can Turner still 60 bases in the big leagues? This run suggests yes. My Spidey Sense says no. I’m also pretty sure he’s not going to hit .355 especially since he has a .404 BABIP, a terrible nine walks and a 0.18 BB/K ratio, not to mention his insane 27.2 percent line drive rate. He will likely be overdrafted, much like Carlos Correa was this season, in 2017.

I watched The Shallows again last night. All things considered it’s a very solid flick, and Blake, well, what needs to be said there?

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).