Saturday, July 12, 2008

Lugo out 4-6; Oswalt a mystery


News and notes as we turn the corner to the All-Star break...

Julio Lugo owners, and I know there have to be a few of you still out there, the news is not good. Lugo suffered a severe quad tear Friday night and will reportedly miss 4 to 6 weeks. Only in AL-only leagues is he even worth keeping on the DL. Jed Lowrie's the pickup here and if he rocks, Lugo's fantasy value is near the equator.

Roy Oswalt owners, the news is not much better. After doing his best Mark Mulder impersonation, pitching just one inning, Oswalt, the Astros ace who had already been struggling with a minor hip injury, left the game with a left hip strain and went on the record saying he doesn't know when he'll pitch again. After a 4.54 ERA this season, your owners are almost relieved of that news.

Alex Rodriguez passed Mickey Mantle in 13th place with his 537th HR Saturday. Suddenly, his 19 HR, 54 RBI numbers don't look half bad, considering he missed three weeks earlier. But in the light of last year's 30-86 numbers at the break, you have to almost need a search warrant to find a happy ARod owner this year. Hey, at least he has 13 SB and he ran more the second half last year, so there's an outside chance he can swipe 30, which would redeem himself to at least a few investors.

Rich Harden threw 96 mostly-brilliant pitches, striking out 10 and giving up 5 hits over 5 2/3 shutout innings. Wrigley, obviously, sent him off with a rousing standing O as the Cubs led 7-0. Somehow, the Giants rallied off Carlos Marmol with 5 runs in the 9th and Harden gets the dreaded ND. Still, owners have to be thrilled and look for lots of Ws, so long as Harden's shoulder stays attached.

If you can't take the gory scenes from Grey's Anatomy (and don't act like you've never seen an episode), stop reading now. Arizona's Mr. Hustle Eric Byrnes said yesterday that his hamstring is tore two-thirds off the bone. Byrnes ballparks the tear at 98 percent. Somehow, he's not ruling out returning this year, but let's be honest here. Basically, this means no platooning for Mark Reynolds, Chad Tracy and Connor Jackson, so all three just got a small uptick in value.

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