Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Thursday 8/4/11

Tuesday's Starter Stats - Rich Harden - 5.2 Innings Pitched - 7 Strikeouts - Loss - 6.35 ERA - 1.41 WHIP
Cumulative Starter Stats - 676.1 Innings Pitched - 502 Strikeouts - 6.68 K/9 - 46 Wins in 108 Starts - 3.43 ERA - 1.20 WHIP
Cumulative Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

There were a few player moves in the NFL today, but I'm not going to write an NFL moves article today, as none of them really warrant me writing the column up.

On the subject of this post, Harden marked one of the few bad starts I've had over the last month.  An ERA over 6 is never helping your fantasy team.  The seven strikeouts is nice, but it can't be considered a successful start by any means when you let the Seattle Mariners score four runs on you.

Going to pick it up here today hopefully.  It's a short day of selections because it is a travel day, but I have a good option coming up...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Tuesday 8/2/11

Sunday's Starter Recommendation One - Freddy Garcia - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 6 Strikeouts - Win - 3.00 ERA - 1.17 WHIP
Sunday's Starter Recommendation Two - Brandon McCarthy - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 9 Strikeouts - Win - 4.50 ERA - 1.33 WHIP
ESPN Week 16 Final Starter Stats - 43.2 Innings Pitched - 49 Strikeouts - 10.10 K/9 - 5 Wins in 7 Starts - 3.09 ERA - 1.24 WHIP
Cumulative Starter Stats - 670.2 Innings Pitched - 495 Strikeouts - 6.64 K/9 - 46 Wins in 107 Starts - 3.41 ERA - 1.20 WHIP
Cumulative Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Sunday capped off a nearly perfect week on Sunday night.  Both starters picked up wins and plenty of strike outs in the process.  The ERA and WHIP on the week were both very good, and five wins in seven starts is a great rate, especially when you are throwing for more than a strikeout per inning.

Unfortunately, I have to try and follow up that amazing week here in Week 17 as i start on Tuesday.  As always, the recommendation is available in more than 50% of ESPN leagues....

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Friday 7/1/11

Tuesday's Starter Stats - Freddy Garcia - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 1 Strikeout - Win - 3.00 ERA - 1.33 WHIP
Thursday's Starter Stats - Carlos Zambrano - Stats Not Available As Of Posting. Will Update.
Cumulative Starters' Stats - 508 Innings Pitched - 356 Strikeouts - 6.31 K/9 - 32 Wins in 83 Starts - 3.70 ERA - 1.24 WHIP
Starter Stats Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Apologies for the lack of a recommendation on Wednesday and the shorted recommendation for Thursday.  I was still recovering from my overnight work and was exhausted but couldn't sleep.  I seem to have straightened myself out now, so hopefully I'll be able to work uninterrupted moving forwards.

Freddy Garcia delivered six innings of average ERA and WHIP ball on the way to picking up a win.  Nothing to write home about, but still a quality outing from a spot started pitcher.  Yankee starters are always good for wins, so keep an eye on Phil Hughes when he comes back to the rotation.  If he returns to form he'll be ownable in basically all leagues.

Onto Friday's pickups.  We've reached July and you would think that the good pitchers would all be owned by now and yet there are still quality options available to us every day that are owned in less than 50% of leagues...