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: Carlos Beltran (abdominal) is sidelined indefinitely, according to MLB.com. Manager Willie Randolph is intimating that Beltran will be out until at least Tuesday's game at Milwaukee ... Carl Crawford (wrist) was out of the lineup Saturday after diving for a ball on Friday night against Boston. Check his status before setting your Monday lineup ... Prospect Danny Richar takes over at second base for the White Sox after Tadahito Iguchi was sent to Philadelphia. Chase Utley is expected to miss at least a month, and Iguchi should have a huge August in this Phillies lineup and in Citizens Bank Park ... Dmitri Young signed a two-year extension with Washington, so it's likely that he'll move to left field once Nick Johnson (broken leg) returns to play … Robinson Cano struggled in the first few months of the season, but he has taken off in the past month. For July, he leads the Yankees in hits (36), total bases (56) and batting average (.379).

Projections are for July 30-Aug. 5 games. All stats are through Sunday's games.

This week's matchups
AL early NL early AL late NL late
TOR@TB PHI@CHC BAL@TB PHI@MIL
KC@MIN CIN@WAS KC@NYY CIN@PIT
LAA@SEA STL@PIT LAA@OAK STL@WAS
DET@OAK COL@FLA BOS@SEA HOU@FLA
TEX@CLE HOU@ATL TEX@TOR COL@ATL
BAL@BOS NYM@MIL CLE@MIN NYM@CHC
CHW@NYY ARI@SD CHW@DET ARI@LAD
SF@LAD SF@SD
Bold indicates a four-game series.
The following teams play seven games this week: Chicago Cubs, Kansas City, L.A. Angels, Minnesota, Oakland and Philadelphia.

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: Houston at Florida (60 percent chance) on Friday; Colorado at Atlanta (60) on Saturday; Colorado at Atlanta (60) on Sunday.

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B E S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
CHICAGO CUBS
MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
PHI
Hamels 		PHI
Eaton 		PHI
Moyer 		PHI
Durbin 		NYM
Hernandez 		NYM
Maine 		NYM
Glavine
' 06 Stadium stats: Wrigley Field, 9.9 RPG (14th).
PHI pitching: 4.78 ERA overall (26th), 4.61 Road ERA (17th), 4.23 July ERA (11th).
NYM pitching: 3.90 ERA overall (5th), 4.04 Road ERA (6th), 4.78 July ERA (24th).
The Cubs are one of only two NL teams that play seven games this week. The Phillies have the highest ERA of any NL staff and the Mets rank in the bottom 10 for the month of July.

Five other favorable hitter schedules

  1. Toronto Blue Jays -- at TB (3), vs. TEX (3)
  • The Jays might only have six games this week, but the Rays are still a horrible pitching staff and the Rangers aren't too far behind.
  • Milwaukee Brewers -- vs. NYM (3), vs. PHI (3)
    • The Brewers are in the same situation as the Cubs, but they only have six games this week.
  • Minnesota Twins -- vs. KC (4), vs. CLE (3)
    • The Twins are at the MetroDome for seven games this week, and the Royals' pitching staff still resides in the lower third of the majors.
  • Pittsburgh Pirates -- vs. STL (3), vs. CIN (3)
    • The Bucs are at home all week and they face two staffs in the lower third of the majors.
  • Oakland Athletics -- vs. DET (3), vs. LAA (4)
    • The A's face a couple decent pitching staffs, but they are one of only four AL teams with seven games -- and all are at home.
    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:
    Mike Piazza, C, Oakland: In 25 at-bats since returning from injury, he is batting .400 with two homers and eight RBI.
    Carlos Pena, 1B, Detroit: Since the All-Star break, Pena has only been outscored in Head-to-Head play by Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols among first basemen.
    Robinson Cano, N.Y. Yankees: He's batting .406 with two homers and 13 RBI over his past 64 at-bats.
    Aaron Hill, 2B/SS, Toronto: He's hitting .345 with nine RBI over the past couple weeks.
    Chone Figgins, 2B/3B/OF, L.A. Angels: The speedster is hitting .479 with a .535 OBP since the All-Star break.
    Manny Ramirez, OF, Boston: He's finally hitting like a superstar, with six homers and 19 RBI in his past 57 at-bats, with a .421 batting average.
    Pat Burrell, OF, Philadelphia: He's hitting .475 with two homers and 15 RBI since the break.
    Brian Giles, OF, San Diego: Over his past 58 at-bats, the elder Giles brother is hitting .362 with seven runs scored.
    W O R S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
    ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
    MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
    -- @SD
    Webb     		@SD
    Owings     		@SD
    Petit     		@LAD
    Tomko     		@LAD
    Billingsley     		@LAD
    Hendrickson
    ' 06 Stadium stats: Petco Park, 8.0 RPG (30th); Dodger Stadium, 9.9 RPG (15th).
    SD pitching: 3.42 ERA overall (1st), 3.15 Home ERA (1st), 4.84 July ERA (25th).
    LAD pitching: 3.94 ERA overall (7th), 4.11 Home ERA (15th), 4.52 July ERA (17th).
    The D-Backs are facing two staffs that are struggling a bit, but all six games are on the road and Arizona is the third-worst scoring offense on the road this season.

    Five other below-average hitter schedules

    1. Baltimore Orioles -- at BOS (3), at TB (3)
    • Even three games against the Devil Rays' brutal pitching staff won't soothe a six-game road week for the O's -- with three against the hottest pitching staff in the AL (BOS).
  • New York Mets -- at MIL (3), at CHC (3)
    • The Mets are on the road for six and they end the week against the best pitching team in the majors for the month of July.
  • Chicago White Sox -- at NYY (3), at DET (3)
    • The ChiSox are on the road for six against two staffs that are pitching above-average in the month of July.
  • Houston Astros -- at FLA (3), at ATL (3)
    • The Astros are away from home for six games and they rank in the lower third in the majors in scoring on the road.
  • L.A. Angels -- at SEA (3), at OAK (4)
    • The Halos do get seven games -- but they're all on the road and the A's have the best home ERA of any pitching staff in the AL.
    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: He's hitting just .184 with two RBI since July 13.
    Kevin Youkilis, 1B, Boston: Since the break, Yuke is batting just .188 with a .313 OBP.
    Rickie Weeks, 2B, Milwaukee: He still hasn't gotten on track. Since July 11, he's batting .194 with no RBI.
    Khalil Greene, SS, San Diego: Only three other shortstops have more homers than Greene -- but he has just one since the All-Star break, and he's hitting .175 in that span.
    Casey Blake, 1B/3B/OF, Cleveland: After batting .276 with 14 HR and 48 RBI in the first half, Blake is batting only .233 with no homers and two RBI since.
    Nick Swisher, 1B/OF, Oakland: He's hitting just .219 with six RBI since the All-Star break.
    Barry Bonds, OF, San Francisco: He's just two homers away from breaking Hank Aaron's homer record, but he's batting just .200 since July 13.
    Alfonso Soriano, OF, Chicago Cubs: After a decent May (.302 BA-4 HR-11 RBI) and a great June (.336-11-18), Soriano is limping through July (.245-1-7).

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