Happy Birthday America! While we all celebrated today with parades, barbeques, and fireworks, let's not forget what this day is about. This is the day that we declared our independence from England, and the greatest country in the world was formed. We live in a place where anything is possible if you have a dream and work hard. Be thankful for the freedoms and the opportunities that are afforded us here in America, there is truly no other place like it. And of course, be thankful for the men and women who protect our country and keep us safe. Our Armed Forces are a special group and perform an important job. I have the utmost respect for each and every one of them and a special thank you goes out to them on this day. So again, Happy Birthday to the United States of America, the greatest nation in the world! Now, what's more American than baseball? Let's find out what happened today.

Josh Hamilton will not return to the Rangers on Sunday. His rehab game on Saturday was rained out, delaying his return to the majors at least one more day. There is still a chance that Hamilton might return on Monday, but nothing definite has been announced. I will give the news on this again tomorrow, because I am a Hamilton owner as well and I am very curious to see if I will be able to play him in my one league with weekly transactions. Hopefully he will be back on Monday.

Despite pitching less than great in a rehab assignment, Oliver Perez will be back in the Mets' rotation on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Perez allowed three runs over five innings, walking four and striking out four. I understand that given the Mets' situation that they need to get their starters back from injury as soon as possible, but this start doesn't instill any confidence in me that Perez will be any better than he was before he went on the DL. I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole before this start unless you are really desperate for help in pitching.

Kevin Slowey was placed on the 15 day DL, right after he had his worst outing of the season. Slowey allowed six earned runs over just three innings, but he got off the hook for the loss. Slowey has been diagnosed with a strained wrist. I have been unable to come up with a timetable for his return as of now, hopefully it will just be the required 15 days.

Howie Kendrick has been recalled by the Angels, and they optioned Sean Rodriguez. Kendrick hit .346 with two homers, 11 RBI, and four steals while he was in the minors. I would likely give Kendrick a try if he is available in your league. He has always supposed to be a great talent but has struggled in his time in the majors. He should hit for a good average with 10-12 homer power and a dozen steals. Not great, but if you need help at middle infield he could be worth a shot.

Erik Bedard is set to start on Tuesday against the Orioles. Bedard has been great when he has been able to stay on the mound, however he has had trouble staying healthy throughout his career. If you own him, definitely have him ready to start on Tuesday, Bedard is the kind of pitcher that you start against anyone.

Chien-Ming Wang allowed four runs over 5.1 innings, and after the game it was announced that he was diagnosed with a strained shoulder and bursitis. He will be re-evaluated on Sunday, but it seems likely he will miss his next start. I doubt he is owned in too many leagues, but if he is, it might be time to let him go.

Rich Harden had his worst start in who knows how long, and I am struggling to come up with an explanation for why he is pitching so poorly. I have speculated that he could have some sort of injury, but there is absolutely no sign of a report of anything wrong with him. Harden gave up seven earned runs in just two innings and struck out only one. All you can do is keep pitching him every time out. Harden is better than this, and it has to be just a matter of time before he starts to pitch like it.

Although the bullpen couldn't hold the lead for him, Tommy Hanson was great again. It might have only been against the Nationals, but Hanson allowed just one run over seven innings, striking out five. In five of his six starts, Hanson has allowed two runs or less, including three in which he allowed no earned runs. The walks are higher and the strike outs are lower than I expected, but Hanson has been everything else that he was supposed to be, and has to be the early front runner for the NL Rookie of the Year. Continue to start him every time out with extreme confidence.

Francisco Liriano might not have gotten the decision, but he had his third straight start that his owners had to be happy with. He allowed just three runs over seven innings and struck out eight. He has been much better over the last six weeks or so, and hopefully he will continue to improve and he can get back to the form that once made him one of fantasy baseball's most coveted pitchers. I have said before that I don't see his rookie year statistics coming back, and that hasn't changed, but it would be nice to see him pitch like this more often.

David Price was terrible again, and I don't know where the guy who pitched in the playoffs last year went. Price lasted just 1.1 innings, allowed six runs and walked five. Coming into the year I thought that Price was that rare young pitcher that wouldn't be susceptible to the growing pains that most rookies go through. Obviously that won't be the case. Keeper league players, I'm sorry to tell you that you just have to live through these tough times. Price has all the skills, and he will be awesome, who knows when that will be. Honestly, this might be a good opportunity for those who don't own him in keeper leagues to buy low on Price. Seasonal leagues I still wouldn't drop him, but I might see if there was someone in the league who might give you a good deal for him.

Jimmy Rollins is starting to show some signs of life, with five hits in the last three days. He also has three doubles and has driven in four runs over those games, and PERHAPS this is the start of something good. He's still hitting .213, so don't get too excited, but for those of us who have owned him all season long this is about as exciting as it has been all year long.

Is Emilio Bonifacio working his way back to fantasy relevance? He was 4/4 on Saturday and stole his 17th base of the year. He now has a hit in ten of his last eleven games, and six bases over that stretch. I would say if you need stolen bases that he is worth adding to your roster, but just be ready to cut ties with him if another cold streak starts to show.

ESPN.com has relaunched the ESPN Arcade with hundreds of games for you to play. Regardless of your interests there is sure to be something to get you addicted. Sports games, driving games, cards, puzzles, and even action sports. So far I have played Carniball (skeeball), a basketball shooting game, a baseball game in which you try to make a comeback in the bottom of the Ninth, and of course, some video poker. However, my favorite game so far is the Hair & Staches Concentration. This is a timed memory game in which you try to match up cards with some of the more interesting looks in baseball history. Not only fun but funny as well.

Mailing List

I'm not going to stop bringing up the mailing list until I get a day where I don't get a request to join it. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, when I find news earlier in the day I will send an email to you about whatever it might be. If you were on the mailing list you would have found out about the callups of Matt Wieters, Fernando Martinez, Nolan Reimold and others. The trade of Nate McLouth, and injuries to Jose Reyes, etc. This mailing list is your way to get a step up on your competition. Anyone who is on the list, please leave a comment below on whether you think that you have benefitted from the list. Send an email to either fantasybaseballtonight@gmail.com or fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com and put Mailing List in the subject line.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don't miss the "Fantasy Baseball Tonight" podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can't miss if you plan on winning your league.

Labels: chien-ming wang, david price, emilio bonifacio, erik bedard, francisco liriano, howie kendrick, jimmy rollins, josh hamilton, kevin slowey, oliver perez, rich harden, tommy hanson

Jhonny Peralta homered for the second time in three games, and now looks like he might be rounding into shape. He homered for the second time in three games, and now has eight hits in his last five games. He still has a ways to go to get anywhere near the stats he had last season, but ne no longer looks like someone you should drop. In fact, if you need shortstop or third base help, Peralta should be a solid option going forward.

David Huff had his best start as a pro on Wednesday, as he threw eight shutout innnings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had been showing some improvement, allowing just three runs in each of his last three previous starts. He was ranked as the eighth best prospect in the Indians organization coming into the year, but struggled at AAA in '09. He wasn't an elite strikeout pitcher in the minors, but his stats were fairly impressive. In pieces of four seasons he was 20-9 with a 2.95 ERA, with 229 strikeouts in 253 innings. Huff is worth a flier if you are in need of starting pitching, or could be a good spot starter against favorable matchups. At worst, at least keep your eye on him.

There are a handful of Toronto Blue Jays that I don't believe in, no matter what kind of season they are having. Marco Scutaro hit his sixth homer of the season, but it was his first since April 30th. His career high in homers is nine, and while I expect him to eclipse that, he won't do it by much. He has rarely been a full time player in his career, He is certainly not peaking at age33. Rod Barajas has had a few good seasons in his career, but he is another guy who has generally been a part of a platoon during his major league career. He hit his seventh home run of the season, but if he is able to get past 15 I will be very surprised. Scott Rolen has a longer track record of success, and his his fifth home run of the year. It isn't that I don't have faith in Rolen's abilities, but he hasn't played more than 115 games in the past two seasons. As he gets older I don't gain more confidence that he will be on the field all year long.

David Price did not pitch well again, and I'm not sure exactly what is his issue. Price allowed five earned runs (ten total) over 4.1 innings, walked two, and struck out two. He is now 1-2 on the year, with an ERA just under 4.50. He is not going deep into games, he is walking too many and not striking out enough. Seasonal leagues I might try to capitalize on his name and see if you can still get a great trade for him. You likely will have at least one person who is drooling over his potential. Not saying he won't live up to the hype, but if it isn't a keeper league, the risk is limited. I still wouldn't consider dealing him in a keeper league. The ceiling is just too high.

Tommy Hanson threw 5.1 shutout innings against the Yankees on Tuesday, but he continues to struggle with his control. He did strikeout four, which is good, but walked five.......not so good. However, Hanson is now 3-0 with an ERA just over 3.00 in his first four starts. Do I need to tell you to keep starting him no matter of the matchup? I didn't think so.

Chien-Ming Wang was likely good enough to remain in the rotation again, but he fell to 0-6 on the season after allowing three runs over five innings and struck out four. Wang was not horrible, but not great by any stretch, and it is hard to say what New York should do with him going forward. This is a guy who has won 19 games twice in his career, so you have to believe that there are better days ahead of him, but from a fantasy perspective you can't keep him on your team right now. The guy fantasy players all want in the rotation, Phil Hughes, threw two hitless innings in relief of Wang, and continues to pitch well no matter what his role is.

Matt Wieters connected on his second home run, and is now hitting .262 on the year. He has driven in six runs in his last five games, and is starting to look like he might be worth all the hype that he was given before the season started. In my opinion, he is someone that you can even count on now, even in seasonal leagues and I would feel good with him as my only catcher. I believe that he will soon be the star he was projected to be.

Hideki Kuroda has never been a guy that I have had much confidence in, but he nearly threw a complete game on Tuesday. He was one out away from finishing the game, but when he allowed a run he was removed from the game. Kuroda is now 2-3 on the year, with an ERA just under 4.00. He is getting far more strikeouts in 2009 than he did last year, but he isn't someone that I would keep on my roster. He could be an OK start against the Pirates, Nationals, or Padres, but not a guy I hold on my roster.

Troy Tulowitzki hit two homers tonight, one day after I endorsed him as a solid shortstop on an everyday basis. Hopefully you jumped on him if it was possible yesterday, but if not, today's action should give you enough confidence to make the move. He is now up to twelve homers on the season.

Again, there will be no post on Wednesday, as I am traveling to Citi Field to see my Cardinals take on David Wright and a bunch of guys I've never heard of. OK, maybe that's not true, but have you seen the lineup the Mets are forced to play with all of their injuries? I almost feel bad for them, but not really. We are all fighting for playoff spots, and if the Mets lose a few extra games, perhaps that's enough for the Cards to get the wild card if they can't win their division.

I also will be missing the Wednesday edition ("The Big Show") of the Fantasy Baseball Tonight podcast, but this is certainly not one that you should miss as the great Cory Schwartz will be a guest on the show. For those of you new to the site, Cory is from mlb.com and always doles out great information. Definitely a must-listen, and I'm disappointed he will be on the week I am out. So, check it out, go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru to listen at 10pm EST Wednesday.

Mailing List

I'm not going to stop bringing up the mailing list until I get a day where I don't get a request to join it. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, when I find news earlier in the day I will send an email to you about whatever it might be. If you were on the mailing list you would have found out about the callups of Matt Wieters, Fernando Martinez, Nolan Reimold and others. The trade of Nate McLouth, and injuries to Jose Reyes, etc. This mailing list is your way to get a step up on your competition. Anyone who is on the list, please leave a comment below on whether you think that you have benefitted from the list. Send an email to either fantasybaseballtonight@gmail.com or fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com and put Mailing List in the subject line.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the "Fantasy Baseball Tonight" podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Labels: chien-ming wang, david huff, david price, hideki kuroda, johnny peralta, marco scutaro, matt wieters, rod barajas, Scott Rolen, tommy hanson, troy tulowitzki