The Fantasy Baseball Hitting Planner is the essential guide to setting your lineup for the upcoming week. Every Saturday, we provide you with favorable hitting matchups for teams, as well as which hitters are hot or not. The Pitching Planner, complete with upcoming two-start pitchers, will be posted on Sunday.
Taking BP: Pedro Feliz had to play catcher late in the game against Oakland after Bengie Molina (baseball decision) and Eliezer Alfonzo (knee) left early. In leagues that need just one game played for eligibility, Feliz immediately becomes a viable No. 2 catcher in mixed formats because of his .263-8-29-20-0 hitting line ... Chone Figgins has an eight-game hitting streak going, bringing his batting average up to .234. He also stole three bags on Friday, putting him at 11 in just 124 at-bats ... After such a hot start, the luster has worn off a bit for D-Backs rookie Mark Reynolds. Since June 1, he's hitting only .120 with no homers or RBI and Chad Tracy (ribs) about to take back his starting position at third base. Reynolds' batting average has dropped nearly 100 points since the end of May ... There is still no timetable for the return of OF Scott Podsednik (strained right abductor) from the 15-day disabled list. He's playing at Triple-A Charlotte for now on a rehab assignment ... Joe Mauer (strained left quadriceps) returned from the DL Friday to play for the first time since May 4 ... Rookie phenom Hunter Pence (strained hip flexor) left Friday's game at the White Sox. Check his status over the weekend before setting your lineup Monday ... SS Yuniesky Betancourt has a career-best 19-game hitting streak going, and he's still only owned in 30 percent of CBS SportsLine's Fantasy leagues.
Projections are for June 11-17 games. All stats are through Friday's games.
| This week's matchups | |||
| Intl early | Intl early | Intl late | Intl late |
| ATL@MIN | TOR@SF | FLA@KC | STL@OAK |
| WAS@BAL | CLE@FLA | ARI@BAL | TB@COL |
| ARI@NYY | TEX@PIT | NYM@NYY | LAA@LAD |
| MIL@DET | CHW@PHI | MIL@MIN | CHW@PIT |
| COL@BOS | LAA@CIN | SF@BOS | DET@PHI |
| SD@TB | OAK@HOU | WAS@TOR | TEX@CIN |
| STL@KC | SEA@CHC | ATL@CLE | SEA@HOU |
| NYM@LAD | SD@CHC | ||
| There are no four-game series this weekend. | |||
| The Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros will play a game on Monday, June 11, as a makeup game from an April 11 rainout. And Seattle plays at Cleveland for a makeup game of an April 7 snow out. | |||
| The following teams play seven games this week: Chicago Cubs, Cleveland, Houston and Seattle. | |||
Taking into account all games with at least a 50 percent chance of precipitation according to the Weather.com, the following might be threatened by poor weather: Atlanta at Cleveland (60 percent chance), Texas at Cincinnati (60) on Saturday; N.Y. Mets at N.Y. Yankees (60), Atlanta at Cleveland (60), Florida at Kansas City (60), Arizona at Baltimore (60), Chicago White Sox (60) and Detroit @ Philadelphia (60) on Sunday.
| B E S T H I T T I N G S C H E D U L E | ||||||
| BOSTON RED SOX | ||||||
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
| -- |
COL Cook |
COL Fogg |
COL Francis |
SF Zito |
SF Cain |
SF Morris |
| ' 06 Stadium stats: Fenway Park, 10.3 RPG (6th). | ||||||
| COL pitching: 4.69 ERA overall (25th), 4.18 Road ERA (11th), 4.71 June ERA (18th). | ||||||
| SF pitching: 3.73 ERA overall (6th), 3.71 Road ERA (6th), 3.47 June ERA (6th). | ||||||
| The Red Sox are at Fenway for six straight games this week and they'll tee off against two young pitching staffs in interleague play. | ||||||
Five other favorable hitter schedules
- Pittsburgh Pirates -- vs. TEX (3), vs. CHW (3)
- The Bucs get six home games against the worst staff in the majors (Texas) and a White Sox staff that ranks 19th in ERA.
- The Brewers have a 4.79 ERA this month and Citizens Bank Park is a solid hitter's venue.
- Granted, six road games aren't ideal, but the Twins have a 5.85 ERA in June and the Indians are struggling too with a 5.37 ERA this month.
- The Padres go up against a horrible Devil Rays staff and they'll get to add a DH on top of it.
- Six home games for the Royals against two staffs that are not above average.
| H O T H I T T E R S | ||||||
| We aren't suggesting you start these players no matter what, but you might consider starting them over struggling stars. The following eight hitters have extremely favorable matchups and/or are in the midst of hot streaks: | ||||||
| Josh Bard, C, San Diego: Only Russell Martin has more basic Head-to-Head points among catchers this month than Bard, who is playing amid a three-game suspension appeal. | ||||||
| Carlos Pena, 1B, Tampa Bay: The former Tigers slugger leads the Devil Rays in homers with 12, and he's hitting .348 in June. | ||||||
| Brendan Harris, 2B/SS, Tampa Bay: Harris leads all second basemen and shortstops in Head-to-Head points this month, batting .368 with two homers, nine RBI, six runs scored and a stolen base. | ||||||
| Cristian Guzman, SS, Washington: Only Harris and Hanley Ramirez have more Head-to-Head points among shortstops than Guzman since June 1. In that span, he's hitting .484 with nine runs scored. | ||||||
| Ryan Braun, 3B, Milwaukee: The Brewers' rookie at the hot corner has more Head-to-Head points than all third basemen not named Alex Rodriguez or Chone Figgins this month. In his past 25 at-bats, he has three homers and six RBI with a .400 batting average. | ||||||
| Alfonso Soriano, OF, Chicago Cubs: Look who's hitting like a top-five Fantasy pick! Soriano leads all batters in Head-to-Head points in June. He has six homers and nine RBI, with 10 runs scored and a .514 batting average. | ||||||
| Felix Pie, OF, Chicago Cubs: The other Cubs speed/power man has hit safely in each of his six games since returning from Triple-A Iowa, batting .393 with a homer, eight RBI, eight runs scored and two stolen bases. | ||||||
| Victor Diaz, OF, Texas: Diaz has three homers (one grand slam) and 12 RBI in his past five games with the Rangers, while batting .333. | ||||||
| W O R S T H I T T I N G S C H E D U L E | ||||||
| L.A. Dodgers | ||||||
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
|
NYM Hernandez |
NYM Kuo |
NYM Penny | -- |
LAA Santana |
LAA Weaver |
LAA Escobar |
| ' 06 Stadium stats: Dodger Stadium, 9.9 RPG (15th). | ||||||
| NYM pitching: 3.34 ERA overall (3rd), 2.11 Away ERA (1st), 3.27 June ERA (5th). | ||||||
| LAA pitching: 3.77 ERA overall (8th), 4.55 Away ERA (17th), 3.57 June ERA (7th). | ||||||
| The Mets are the second-best pitching staff in the NL and the Angels are a top-eight staff in the majors. | ||||||
Five other below-average hitter schedules
- N.Y. Yankees -- vs. ARI (3), vs. NYM (3)
- While the Yankees are at home in the Bronx, they face two of the top eight staffs for the month of June so far.
- The Cardinals get six road games in AL parks and Oakland is the best staff in the AL, while the Royals are surprisingly strong in June (3.04 ERA).
- The M's are on the road this week in the NL, so they lose their DH, and the Cubs have the best June ERA in the NL (2.92).
- The Nats travel all week and their opponents are in the top nine in the majors with home ERAs under 3.90.
- The D-Backs will see Roger Clemens and the Yankees this week, at Yankee Stadium, and the Orioles have a 3.49 ERA at home, which is the fourth-best in the majors.
| C O L D H I T T E R S | ||||||
| We aren't suggesting you sit anyone, but take a look at your roster to see if you have a better alternative. The following eight hitters have poor matchups and/or are in the midst of cold streaks: | ||||||
| Johnny Estrada, C, Milwaukee: The Brewers' backstop has only four hits so far in June with a .217 batting average. | ||||||
| Justin Morneau, 1B, Minnesota: The 2006 AL MVP is having a rough month, batting only .179 with no homers and only one RBI. | ||||||
| Jeff Kent, 2B, L.A. Dodgers: The slugging second baseman is hitting .206 with just one homer and three RBI in June. | ||||||
| J.J. Hardy, SS, Milwaukee: He has only one homer and four RBI since May 25 after a great start to the season. | ||||||
| Mike Lowell, 3B, Boston: The Red Sox are home for six interleague games, so Lowell will stay in the lineup, but he's hitting just .192 in his past 26 at-bats. | ||||||
| Elijah Dukes, OF, Tampa Bay: The rookie hasn't had a hit this month (24 at-bats) and it's becoming apparent that he should be in the batting cage more -- and playing video games less. | ||||||
| Mike Cameron, OF, San Diego: Cameron sprained his wrist Friday -- but he was hitting only .160 over his past 25 at-bats before that anyway. | ||||||
| Bill Hall, OF, Milwaukee: Hall has just one RBI and a .191 batting average for the month of June. | ||||||
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