Fantasy Baseball

BY ADAM RONIS

Adam LaRoche is a very streaky hitter and is off to a slow start like last season. He is hitting .212 and went 2-for-3 with his fourth homer and two RBIs in the first game of a doubleheader against the Braves today. He is someone to think about buying low on.

Mark Teixeira left the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with back spasms.

Tim Hudson threw another good game today in the second game of the doubleheader. He went seven innings and allowed just two hits, no earned runs, walked two and struck out five. He is 6-2 with a 2.54 ERA.

Alfonso Soriano hit his fourth homer. Time to buy low is dwindling, so hurry up!

Randy Wolf was hammered by the Cubs. He'll have an occasional game like this, but he's worth owning.

The most impressive thing about Carlos Zambrano this season is his ability to keep his pitch count low. He used to throw more than 110 pitches incessantly. He threw 96 pitches in seven innings and is 6-1 with a 2.03 ERA.

A.J. Burnett is showing signs of improvement, He lost, but pitched well against the Indians in Game 1 of the doubleheader. In 7 2/3 innings, he allowed five hits, three runs, walked three and struck out seven. Don't give up on him yet.

Fausto Carmona continues to defy logic. He has a horrible WHIP, but has kept his ERA down. He threw a five-hit shutout and walked four with three strikeouts. He is 4-1 with a 2.40 ERA. His BB/K ratio is 35/18. His ERA is bound to go up, so I'd look to trade him while the rest of his numbers still look good.

In Game 2, two of the hottest pitchers in baseball pitched in a great duel. Shaun Marcum allowed two hits, no walks and struck out five in eight scoreless innings. He has a 2.22 ERA. Cliff Lee pitched nine scoreless innings, allowing seven hits, two walks and struck out five in a no-decision. He has a 0.67 ERA!!! Rafael Betancourt allowed three runs in the 10th to take the loss. He's making it easy for Joe Borowski to get his job back when he returns from injury.

One of the biggest surprises so far is Livan Hernandez. He is 6-1 with a 3.90 ERA after being awful in the NL last season. His ratios indicate this won't continue. Don't be convinced he has turned things around.

Clay Buchholz has been very inconsistent and had a bad performance against the Twins. He could be the odd man out when Bartolo Colon is ready to pitch.

Jeremy Hermida is heating up. He homered for the second consecutive games and has five RBIs the last three games. He is batting .309 with four homers and 19 RBIs.

Dan Uggla hit his 12th homer. Mike Jacobs missed his fifth consecutive game with a quad injury.

Aaron Harang has received very little run support, but the Reds finally scored for him against the Marlins. He did allowed three home runs, though. He is 2-5 with a 3.32 ERA.

The Yankees offense has struggled without Alex Rodriguez and he will be out longer after an MRI revealed he's not ready to return. Ian Kennedy will be called up and start in Thursday.

Matt Garza threw his third straight good game. He threw seven scoreless innings against the Yankees. He should be owned in mixed leagues.

If you were worried about Ryan Braun, he has helped quell those worries. He hit two homers and has nine with 27 RBIs. Eric Gagne pitched two innings and allowed two hits, two walks one run and struck out one. Guillermo Mota got the final out on a strikeout for his first save.

The Angels optioned Brandon Wood to Triple-A. He went 4-for-26 with a homer for the Angels.