You Gotsta Know

How good has Antonio Bastardo been this season for the Phillies? Amongst NL relievers he is first in batting average against allowing a mere .119 average. He's also 8th in K/9 at 10.93 while his 1.99 ERA is 10th. Amazingly, he's been even better of late with the strikeout ball. Over his last 7.2 innings he's posted 15 Ks leading to an unheard of 17.60 K/9 mark in that time.

Emilio Bonifacio leads the NL with 31 hits since August 23rd. Yes, I'm just as shocked as you are. Emilio also leads the NL with 40 infield hits, just three behind the major league leader Juan Pierre (43). The good news continues with Bonifacio as he leads NL leadoff batters, minimum 50 games in the leadoff spot, with a  .381 OBP. He's also third at the spot in batting average at .306, behind only Starlin Castro (.333) and Jose Reyes (.330). I know, totally out of nowhere has been this effort, and as a result, everyone who took a stab at him off waivers in mixed leagues ended up with one hell of a player.

Ryan Doumit and the Pirates face the Dodgers for the next four games. This year Doumit has hit .583 against the Dodgers (7-for-12) and in 33 games in his career against the club he is batting a resounding .358 with 22 RBI in 33 games. Doumit is also locked in right now. He's picked up 15 hits in his last 33 at-bats that has led to a .455 average and .1,258 OPS in the month of September. What are you waiting for? Grab him if he is on waivers right now.

Danny Espinosa has hit a poor .231 this year helping to drain his value. Still, the second sacker has scored 64 times, knocked in 60 runs, and stolen 14 bases. He's also hit 19 long balls. While that last number doesn't jump out at all, it's a borderline historic number actually. I know it's hard to believe, but only two second basemen in the history of baseball have hit 20 homers in their first season. The only two second baseman to have hit 20 in their inaugural campaigns are Alexi Ramirez (21 in 2008) and Dan Uggla (27 in 2006).

Justin Turner of the Mets is batting .385 in September (15-for-39), the 7th best mark in the NL. Just another hot name to ride if you're desperate. By the way his teammate, Jason Bay, is hitting .340 in that time, 15th best in the NL. He returned to action last night after missing a game with a sore shoulder.

Looking for an arm to considering streaming? Take a gander at the Cubs' Randy Wells. Yes he's an uninspiring option on the surface, but that doesn't mean that he isn't pitching well right now. In fact, over his last eight starts he's 5-0 with a 3.02 ERA. The only other pitchers with at least eight starts, five wins and no loses since August began are the soon to be AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander (8-0) and the Yankees' Ivan Nova (6-0). I wouldn't lead you wrong would I?

By Ray Flowers