Fantasy Sports

BY ADAM RONIS

Put on a Cardinals uniform this year and you will succeed. I really want to test the Cardinals positive karma. Send them Moises Alou, Pedro Martinez, Ryan Church and Orlando Hernandez. I guarantee they will all be healthy. That's how good things are going for the Cards even without Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright on the DL and very little from Jason Isringhausen. The Cardinals were supposed to be awful and they are in the NL Central race.

No one wanted to sign Kyle Lohse and Dave Duncan has turned him into a very good pitcher. He improved to 12-2 with a 3.35 ERA. He went seven innings and allowed seven hits, two runs, walked two and struck out four.

Ryan Franklin allowed a run, but got his 13th save.

Rick Ankiel hit his 21st homer.

Troy Glaus could be in for a big second half. He started slow in the power department and hit two against Jake Peavy. He has 17 homers and 61 RBIs. Peavy allowed four runs, all on homers, eight hits, walked none and struck out seven in seven innings to fall to 7-6.

Adam LaRoche went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. He has heated up lately and is usually a second-half player. Buy.

Ubaldo Jimenez looks like a different pitcher. He has turned his season around in a big way. He went seven innings and allowed five hits, three runs, two walks and struck out four. He is 5-9 with a 4.20 ERA.

Brian Fuentes struck out the side for his 15th save.

The Mets won their 10th consecutive game as David Wright hit a tying two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning. He went 2-for-5 with four RBIs and has 18 home runs and 74 RBIs with a .284 average.

Carlos Delgado continued his resurgence with a 3-for-4 game, a homer and three RBIs. His average is up to .254 and the good sign is he is hitting mammoth home runs, like the 438-foot shot tonight. He has 18 home runs and 55 RBIs.

As long as Fernando Tatis is playing consistently and hitting, ride the hot streak. He went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. He is hitting .306 with five home runs and 22 RBIs.

Edwin Encarnacion has hit real well this month. He went 3-for-5 with his 16th homer and his average is up to .265.

Adam Dunn hit his 27th homer.

Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save. Grady Sizemore and Evan Longoria didn't face him.
David Ortiz went 1-for-3 with a home run and walk in his first rehab game at Triple-A.

Francisco Cordero recorded the first out of the ninth inning before allowing six straight hits in blowing his fifth save. He allowed four runs.

Marcus Thames doesn't do much outside of hitting home runs, but hey sometimes you just got to take what you can get. He hit his 18th homer and has 41 RBIs with a .271 average in just 188 at-bats.

Todd Jones allowed an unearned run in his 18th save.

Pedro Martinez was scheduled to start Sunday, but will miss the start after receiving a cortisone shot to his hip.

The Yankees signed Richie Sexson. It was only 61 at-bats, but he did hit .344 against lefthanders and in a platoon, he could have value in AL-only leagues.

The Reds placed Jerry Hairston Jr. on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury.

Andrew Miller was placed on the DL with right knee tendonitis.