Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Friday 5/13/11

----Sorry this is too late to be helpful.  Blogger was down at normal posting time last night.

Thursday's Recommended Starter's Stats – Ivan Nova – 3.0 Innings Pitched – 2 Strikeouts – Loss – 12.00 ERA – 4.00 WHIP

Week 5 Starters' Stats – 21.1 Innings Pitched – 17 Strikeouts – 7.17 K/9 – 1 Win in 4 Starts – 5.91 ERA – 1.88 WHIP

Cumulative Starters' Stats – 309.2 Innings Pitched – 244 Strikeouts – 7.09 K/9 – 18 Wins in 51 Starts – 3.87 ERA – 1.23 WHIP

Starters' Stats Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

A second bad start in a row butchers my ERA and WHIP on the week through the halfway point here, so I'm going to be “chasing” here late in the week and going to offer two starters for you on Friday. My alternate pitcher was fine yesterday, and if you played Vargas you have to be happy with the nine shut out innings and four strikeouts, even though you have to be upset that you didn't get a win out of him. That's life with the Seattle Mariners' Offense backing you up. Luckily we'll be playing against that trend with one of the recommendations here on Friday...

Friday's Recommended Starter One – Fausto Carmona – Cleveland Indians vs Seattle Mariners – 7:05 PM ET – 24.7% Owned in ESPN Leagues

Carmona is riding a three start hot streak and is getting a game against the Mariners on Friday. The rest of this paragraph shouldn't be necessary after that statement. Carmona has gone seven innings in all but two of his starts on the year, so you know you are going to get the innings, and he's been in control and taking care of business for his last three starts. No reason to think that wont continue here with the Mariners' horrible offense coming to play against him. I expect a seven or eight inning “quality start” with a shot at a win and he'll give you a five or six strikeouts to go with it.

Friday's Recommended Starter Two – Philip Humber – Chicago White Sox at Oakland Athletics – 10:05 PM ET – 7.1% Owned in ESPN Leagues

Humber, like Carmona, has also strung together three straight solid starts in a row and draws a solid matchup in a better park. He had a no hitter going against Yankees just three starts ago, and has been pitching so well that the White Sox are trying out a six-pitcher rotation in an attempt to keep Humber as a starter in the majors. I wouldn't have been starting two pitchers here today if Humber wasn't the second option I was offering. I only like him less that Carmona because I trust the Sox offense less, but he should give you more or less the same stat line as Carmona will.

Deep League Starter – Dillon Gee – New York Mets at Houston Astros – 8:05 PM ET – 0.1% Owned in ESPN Leagues

Gee is 2-0 over his three starts for the Mets here and has been strong in all of his appearances save one against the Phillies. Gee should be owned more that he is, because he's a decent spot start option in mixed leagues and should probably be owned in your NL-Only league. He'll give you five or six solid innings on the year, and give you a couple strikeouts to go along with it.