Karstens' career reborn in Pittsburgh

Who is Jeff Karstens, you may be asking yourself.

Coming from almost total obscurity, Karstens carried a perfect game with two outs into the 8th inning Wednesday, before Chris Young of Arizona broke it up with a double.

Karstens came over from the Yankees in the Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte deal and since, he has thrown 15 scoreless innings for the Pirates.

Before Wednesday, he was best known for throwing six scoreless innings in November as Team USA beat Mexico 3-0 to kick off World Cup play.

In fact, one fantasy web site called him nothing more than a poor man's Bronson Arroyo, which may be one of Arroyo's biggest compliment in years.

Karstens is probably nothing more than a journeyman-type pitcher, but he's showing the Yanks that they made a mistake by giving up on him so quick.

He showed promise in 2006, starting six games and finishing with a 3.80 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP.

But the 6-foot-3 righty showed no signs of flirting with perfection some 23 batters into a game.

Fantasy spin: Don't believe the hype, but if you need to fill a pitching hole (possibly for Joba Chamberlain, then jump on the Karstens bandwagon as there are plenty of good seats available still. Don't expect much in the way of wins (as he pitches for the Pirates) or strikeouts as Karstens has just 6 Ks in those 15 scoreless frames.

Waiver Wired: Add Tatis, Mora

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Fernando Tatis, OF/IF, Mets

In a season filled will feel-good stories, Tatis is the flavor of the month, coming  out of left field - literally - to lead the Mets back to playoff contention.

Perhaps you missed Tatis' huge night Tuesday that included two HR and 4 RBI as the Mets held off the Padres, 6-5.

Tatis, who has only played in one season since 2003 has bounced around the minors and finally was called up by the Mets on May 13. Playing sparingly for the first month, Tatis has taken over in the outfield and is becoming a cult hero.

Mets fans are calling him superman and why not, after 9 HR, 33 RBI and a .316 in 177 at-bats.

Here's a game-tying home run 10 days ago, video taken from possibly the worse seat in Shea Stadium, which will be torn down after the season.

Melvin Mora, 3B, Orioles

Quick question? Check back in the last month and see if any hitter on your team has driven in 28 runs. The answer is almost always no. Yet the O's Mora has 28 RBI and is still sitting on my waiver wire - and likely yours.

Along with his 4 HR in the past 30 days and a .330 average, Mora is not only red hot, he's also taken over the third spot in the Orioles lineup, which makes him a prime candidate to keep the turnstiles moving.

Ibanez, Byrd feasting on grand salami

This is not why they call it the wild, wild west.

But Monday night, while most of you were sleeping, the A.L. West was as wild as its ever been.

Raul Ibanez: How often does a player drive in 6 runs in one inning? We'd have to call Elias for that answer, but it's rare. And Ibanez's 7th inning, including a grand slam fueled a 10-run bonanza that brought Seattle back from the dead, down 6-0. Ibanez is quietly putting up solid fantasy numbers: 16 HR, 73 RBI, .284. Owners surely soured on him after last year's putrid start, but in an age where prospects are wanted by everyone, every team needs a few steady guys like Ibanez.

Marlon Byrd: All the Rangers OF needed was a walk, but instead he opted for the walk-off grand slam, another rare feat, although not as rare as the 6-ribbie inning. Still, the Rangers climbed to within 2 1/2 games of the Yankees in a wide-open A.L. wild card race. Joba Chamberlain owners, take note: The fireballer left the game in the fifth inning with a sore shoulder and Joe Girardi sounded doubtful that he would be able to make his next start. Stay tuned.

Chone Figgins: Now here's the walkoff walk we were hoping for. Figgins' third walk of the game came against Baltimore closer George Sherill, who had only given up 27 walks in his previous 45 IP. Of note, Francisco Rodriguez blew a chance to get his 46th save, but did pick up the vulture win. K-Rod is still well on pace to break Bobby Thigpen's save record (57).

Yanks' Nady finding fantasy niche

Show of hands: How many owners have ever grabbed Xavier Nady off the wire?

Now, how many have dropped him three weeks later? Same signal.

For so many years, Nady has flirted with fantasy relevance. 

First with the Padres. Then with the Mets. Then the Pirates...

And now with the hallowed New York Yankees.

Nady has been the ultimate trading piece GMs have used throughout the years. 

In 2005, he was dealt from San Diego to New York for CF Mike Cameron. In 2006, he was shipped to Pittsburgh on trading deadline day for SP Oliver Perez.

With decent power and average numbers, Nady has been a promsing prospect for years. Now, at 29, it's time for him to put up or shut up and Sunday he wasn't very quiet.

Just a 4-for-5 day with a HR and 6 RBI ... not a bad day at the office for this borderline journeyman.

So, what's this mean if you're an owner? I'm guessing you'll see two months of primetime Nady, hitting behind Abreu, ARod and Giambi in what is still one of the Top 5 MLB lineups. He could be an RBI bonanza in the making.

It's hard to label any batter who hitting .334 with 16 HR and 67 RBI as a buy-low candidate. But if you can pry Nady off his owner, I say there's more upside to come this year.

Obviously, it's a little tricky trading for a guy the day after a 6 RBI day. But with the fantasy trade deadline looming for most leagues in about a week don't wait too long. 

Nady's a great target to be thrown in a package deal.

After all, that's what he's been his entire life.

K.C.'s Butler making up for lost time

OK, so maybe it was just lousy White Sox pitching.

Or maybe the big fifth-inning brawl added fuel to the Kansas City hitting attack.

But something has gotten into the Royals the past couple days: 23 runs on 38 hits in only two games.

That's right, 38 hits in two games. Sometimes, the Royals are lucky to get that many hits in a week.

Part of the explosion can be directly linked to the second-half redeeming of Billy Butler.

You know what I'm talking about if you spent a mid-round pick in the draft on the can't miss kid, who was sent to AAA for a month to work on his swing.

In the past week, Billy B. has five multi-hit games, 2 HR and 9 RBI. Better yet, he's raised his average from .253 to a palatable .271. And he's hitting in the heart of the order, albeit usually a quiet fantasy order.

It's not too late to make a run in HR and RBI. Find that weakest on your team (Butler qualifies in both the OF and 1B) and make the switch today.

Manny, L.A. a perfect fit?

So much for that Dodgers hair policy.

Manny Ramirez, complete with the dreadlocks, made his debut on Friday after a somewhat surprising trade from Boston, who gave up a lot just to rid themselves of the Manny headache.

The irony is now Manny is playing for former Yankees manager Joe Torre. But now maybe they both can bond about being anti-Red Sox.

Trying to make a quick impression, Manny smacked a first-inning home run on Saturday, and celebrated as if his star was going down on the walk of fame.

Now, he's saying he wants to retire as a Dodger.

Huh?

Perhaps, it's just Manny being mouthy. Or maybe he's relieved that he's finally free of those awful Red Sox, who actually had rules against him pushing down and fighting with other employees.

The nerve.

Evidently, the Dodgers have either relaxed their policy of no long hair or Manny can't get an appointment with Frederick Fekkai until Monday.

Liriano called up; Livan cut

Time to call off the dogs.

The investigation into why Francisco Liriano was still in Rochester and not in Minneapolis can be put to rest.

The Twins called up Liriano, cutting ties with veteran Livan Hernandez, who was 10-8 but had a 6.44 ERA in July.

Liriano's agent, Greg Genske, was asking the players’ union to investigate why the 2006 fantasy phenom not been recalled, saying conspiracy to slow Liriano's arbitration clock was the motive.

Liriano, was 10-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his last 11 AAA starts, will start Sunday's series finale against Cleveland.

Fantasy spin: If by chance he's still out there, hit the button. It's possible he could be suspiciously hanging around the waiver wire. If that's the case, you likely are winning your league anyway and don't need Liriano's services.