Week 23 Hitting Planner

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: With rosters expanding on Saturday, teams are bringing up prospects in waves this weekend. Fantasy owners should realize that some teams out of playoff contention are going to start playing more rookies as they begin to make decisions for 2008. With that said, some veterans on those teams will begin to lose at-bats. Keep a close on eye on the playing time these call-ups get initially. And don't forget that some good prospects might not get called up immediately because their minor-league team might still be in the playoffs ... Jack Hannahan has an active 12-game hitting streak. He's starting at third base for Oakland now that Eric Chavez (shoulder, back) is out for the season. He's only owned in one percent of CBSSports.com leagues. He's not a great prospect and is hitting only .268 on the year, but he should be picked up in larger AL-only formats ... Conor Jackson took a hard grounder off his left wrist Friday night against Colorado and had to leave the game. His teammate, Mark Reynolds, also left the game with an elbow injury. Tony Clark and Jeff Cirillo could see more at-bats if these day-to-day injuries linger ... Juan Encarnacion was hit in the face by a foul ball while waiting in the on-deck circle against the Reds Friday night. He was down for a few minutes, with blood dripping from his nose before being helped off the field. Rick Ankiel was already seeing more time in right field before this event, but depending on the severity of the injury, the Cardinals might lean on the former pitcher more ... The Cardinals also acquired Russell Branyan on Friday. He'll help replace Scott Rolen (shoulder) at third base for most of September ... Richie Sexson is sidelined indefinitely with a tight left hamstring. "We're going to have to shut him down for a while and get him strong," manager John McLaren said. Ben Broussard will get the starts at first base until he returns ... Hank Blalock (shoulder, neck) was expected to be activated Saturday. Blalock should be healthy enough to start in a game sometime on the next road trip, which begins Sept. 11 in Detroit ... Josh Barfield was back in the lineup at second base for Cleveland Friday. He was relegated to bench duty recently, with Asdrubal Cabrera getting the starts. Expect manager Eric Wedge to go with the hot bat, whomever has it, over the next month ... Manny Ramirez's MRI had positive results, according to manager Terry Francona. But keeping him reserved through this scoring period is still advised. Eric Hinske has been playing left field for Boston -- and he had four RBI against Baltimore on Friday. He's only owned in one percent of leagues, so consider him for some cheap at-bats in a stellar lineup.

Projections are for Sept. 3-9 games. All stats are through Friday's games.

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 N.Y. Mets (60 percent chance), Florida at Philadelphia (60), Boston at Baltimore (60), Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (60) on Saturday; N.Y. Yankees at Kansas City (60), Florida at Philadelphia (60), Oakland at Texas (60) on Sunday.

Five other favorable hitter schedules

1. Cincinnati Reds -- vs. NYM (3), vs. MIL (3)

• The Reds get six games at home against two pitching staffs that struggled in the month of August.

Texas Rangers -- KC (3), OAK (3)

• They get six home games against two staffs that are average on the road.

Houston Astros -- at MIL(3), at NYM (3)

• While six road games are not ideal, their opponents have not pitched well this past month.

Boston Red Sox -- vs. TOR (3), at BAL (4)

• The Jays have a solid pitching staff, but the O's were the worst in the majors in August and the Red Sox have seven total games.

Colorado Rockies -- vs. SF (3), vs. SD (3)

• The Rockies get six home games at Coors Field where grounders in the gap are easy doubles, although their opponents have pretty good road ERAs.

Five other below-average hitter schedules

1. Arizona Diamondbacks -- vs. SD (3), vs. STL (3)

• The Padres and Cardinals rank among the top 10 in ERA for the month of August.

Kansas City Royals -- at TEX (3), vs. NYY (3)

• The Rangers have actually been a stellar staff in August, and the Royals will have to deal with a Yankees team that is battling for a playoff spot.

San Francisco Giants -- at COL (3), vs. LAD (3)

• The Giants might be headed to Coors Field, but the Rockies have the third-best ERA in the NL for August and the Dodgers have the second-best ERA in NL on the road.

Cleveland Indians -- at MIN (3), at LAA (4)

• The Twins and Angels were both solid staffs in August, and the Tribe is on the road all week.

Florida Marlins -- at WAS (3), at PHI (3)

• The Fish are on the road for six games this week, granted, the games are against two mediocre staffs.

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