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: Andruw Jones wasn't in the lineup against Colorado Saturday because of a sore left elbow. He got a cortisone shot Friday after dealing with it all week. He might sit out Sunday too so that he can be ready for Week 19, but check his status … Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in major league history to hit 500 home runs Saturday -- which might signal that he's ready to break out of his slump … Kurt Suzuki was hit on the top of his right hand against the Angels Friday and he will have X-Rays on Saturday … Vernon Wells has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games … Nelson Cruz has hit safely in every game since his recall July 28, batting .400 with three homers and seven RBI in that span … Geoff Blum is batting .400 since the All-Star break and he's getting a lot of playing time at second base for the struggling Marcus Giles. Blum has started six of the team's last seven games, with five coming at second, where he has started 12 games since the break … Pat Burrell's hitting streak reached 12 games Friday and he has reached base in 24 consecutive games … Since Chase Utley broke his right wrist, Ryan Howard is hitting just .172 (5-for-29) with three RBI and 18 strikeouts in eight starts … Chipper Jones injured the thumb of his left hand when he was jammed by a couple pitches Thursday night. It's in a different place than his May injury, but it will obviously still affect him a little … Mark Teahen has not homered over the past 53 games, since May 29. He dropped from third to fifth in the lineup … Robinson Cano is hitting .462 (36-for-78) with 20 runs scored, five homers and 20 RBI in his past 20 games. He even has three homers in his past four games … Mark Grudzielanek is batting .412 in 85 at-bats since coming off the 15-day disabled list on July 6 … Billy Butler was named the AL Rookie of the Month and Ryan Braun was named Rookie of the Month and Player of the Month in the NL for July -- quite the rare Daily Double.

Projections are for Aug. 6-12 games. All stats are through Friday's games.

This week's matchups
AL early NL early AL late NL late
NYY@TOR CHC@HOU NYY@CLE CHC@COL
TB@DET SD@STL OAK@DET SD@CIN
CLE@CHW MIL@COL SEA@CHW MIL@HOU
OAK@TEX WAS@SF TB@TEX PIT@SF
BOS@LAA FLA@PHI MIN@LAA ATL@PHI
SEA@BAL ATL@NYM BOS@BAL FLA@NYM
MIN@KC LAD@CIN TOR@KC LAD@STL
PIT@ARI WAS@ARI
Bold indicates a four-game series.
The Indians play at Minnesota Monday, Aug. 6, to wrap up a four-game series from this weekend. So both teams have seven games on their schedule.
The following teams play seven games this week: Chicago Cubs, Cleveland, Colorado, Detroit, Minnesota, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Washington.

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: San Diego at Cincinnati (60 percent chance), Oakland at Detroit (60) on Saturday; Florida at N.Y. Mets (60), Seattle at Chicago White Sox (60), L.A. Dodgers at St. Louis (60), San Diego at Cincinnati (60) on Sunday.

B E S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
WAS
Lannan 		WAS
Bacsik 		WAS
Redding 		WAS
Hanrahan 		PIT
Morris 		PIT
Gorzelanny 		PIT
Maholm
WAS pitching: 4.52 ERA overall (19th), 5.01 Road ERA (25th), 3.83 July ERA (4th).
PIT pitching: 4.68 ERA overall (23rd), 5.24 Road ERA (26th), 5.07 July ERA (28th).
Barry Bonds should be able to tee off against these pitching staffs and Giants hitters will have seven home games to do so.

Five other favorable hitter schedules

  1. Detroit Tigers -- vs. TB (4), vs. OAK (3)
  • The Tigers have a seven-game homestand against the worst staff in the majors on the season (TB), and the A's had a 4.85 ERA in July.
  • Chicago Cubs -- at HOU (3), at COL (4)
    • The Cubbies might be on the road for seven games -- but they are all at hitter-friendly parks and the Astros are the second-worst pitching staff in the NL right now.
  • San Diego Padres -- at STL (4), at CIN (3)
    • The Padres' hitters get to leave spacious Petco Park to face two of the bottom-three pitching staffs in the NL -- and three games at The Great American Ballpark.
  • Texas Rangers -- vs. OAK (3), vs. TB (3)
    • The struggling Rangers get six home games against two of the worst pitching staffs for the month of July.
  • Arizona Diamondbacks -- vs. PIT (3), vs. WAS (3)
    • The D-Backs only have six games, but they are all at home and they are against two pitching staffs that are in the lower echelon.
    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:
    Chris Snyder, C, Arizona: He's emerged as the regular starter at catcher in Arizona, and he hit .326 for the month of July.
    Mark Teixeira, 1B, Atlanta: Big Tex is paying off already for the Braves. He hit a homer in his first two games with the Braves and since he returned from a quadriceps injury, he has hit safely in 14 of 17 games and homers in his past three games.
    Mark Ellis, 2B, Oakland: Only two hitters at any position have more homers over the past two weeks than Ellis' five.
    Michael Young, SS, Texas: He has four two-hit game in his past five games. He is 8-for-20 (.400) with two RBI in that span.
    B.J. Upton, 2B/3B/OF, Tampa Bay: Since returning from the 15-day disabled list, Upton has reached base safely in 18 of 20 starts with 15 RBI.
    Chris B. Young, OF, Arizona: Only five other outfielders have more Head-to-Head points than the rookie outfielder over the past couple weeks.
    Milton Bradley, OF, San Diego: Since coming over to the Padres in early July, Bradley has hit safely in 17 of 21 games, but he injured his hamstring Friday, so check his status.
    Jason Bay, OF, Pittsburgh: He's finally coming around! Over the past two weeks, Bay is hitting .364 with three homers and 11 RBI.
    W O R S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
    HOUSTON ASTROS
    MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
    CHC
    Hill     		CHC
    Marshall     		CHC
    Zambrano     		-- MIL
    Bush     		MIL
    Suppan     		MIL
    Vargas
    CHC pitching: 3.89 ERA overall (5th), 3.80 Road ERA (2nd), 3.26 July ERA (1st).
    MIL pitching: 4.24 ERA overall (13th), 4.69 Road ERA (20th), 4.63 July ERA (19th).
    They only have six games this week, and the Cubs were the best staff in the majors for July with a 17-9 record and a 3.26 ERA.

    Five other below-average hitter schedules

    1. Pittsburgh Pirates -- at ARI (3), at SF (3)
    • The Bucs are among the two lowest-scoring teams on the road in the majors and they have six games against two pretty good staffs.
  • L.A. Angels -- vs. BOS (3), vs. MIN (3)
    • The Halos will play in Anaheim six times this week, but against two very solid pitching staffs, including the Red Sox, who pitch better on the road than any other AL team.
  • Cincinnati Reds -- vs. LAD (3), vs. SD (3)
    • The Reds only have six games, albeit all are at home, but they face two of the top pitching staffs in the NL.
  • Kansas City Royals -- vs. MIN (3), vs. TOR (3)
    • The Royals have just six games on the docket this week, and the Twins and Jays were among the top 10 staffs for the month of July.
  • Washington Nationals -- at SF (4), at ARI (3)
    • The Nats are on the road all week and they are among the worst scoring teams away from home 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:
    Ryan Doumit, C/1B, Pittsburgh: The luster has come off of Doumit's solid start to the season. He hit .190 in July.
    Todd Helton, 1B, Colorado: His batting average has declined in each month this season, until finally hitting .253 for the month of July.
    Luis Castillo, 2B, N.Y. Mets: The Mets picked him up in trade on Tuesday, but he has struggled over the past couple weeks, hitting .194.
    Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado: The rookie hit .303 in May, but his average has declined since, and he hit just .262 in July.
    Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B, San Diego: The rookie is hitting just .220 since mid-July and now he has to deal with Morgan Ensberg stealing at-bats.
    Raul Ibanez, OF, Seattle: Over the past couple weeks, he's hitting under .200 for the Mariners and now it looks like super-rookie Adam Jones will start taking at-bats from him.
    Ken Griffey Jr., OF, Cincinnati: He's hitting only .200 in his past 49 at-bats, with just two homers.
    Brad Hawpe, OF, Colorado: Yet another Rockies hitter -- this RBI machine has only five over the past two weeks.

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