by Will Overton

It was a beautiful day to sit on the couch and watch some baseball. And there was plenty of good action to enjoy. Here are some of the fantasy baseball highlights and lowlights:

• The Blue Jays offense exploded yesterday to the tune of 13 runs on 18 hits. A lot of guys turned in big days, but none bigger than Corey Patterson who ended the day at 4 – 5, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI. He is now 9 – 12 in the last two games against the White Sox. Patterson has gone from an AL Only option, to a deep league play to the point now where he has to be considered in standard formats. Having a spot near the top of this lineup certainly helps things out.
• On the receiving end of the beat down was John Danks who gave up 9 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings. This took Danks to 0 – 8 with a 5.25 ERA. You have to think Danks will turn it around at some point, but the White Sox are going to go from a 6 man rotation to a 5 man at some point, Danks needs to speed his turn around up if he doesn’t want to be the odd man out.
• Needless to say, the old Jose Reyes is back this year. He showed signs of a full rebound last year, there is no doubt about it this year. Reyes 4 – 5 yesterday with 2 triples and scoring 1 run and driving in another. This was Reyes 6^th straight multi-hit game, a stretch in which he is 14 – 27.
• Yesterday was the third straight bad outing for Drew Storen as he picked up the loss. Most likely the leash is pretty long here considering he had a 0.38 ERA before these last three games.
• Just when Ryan Ludwick was starting to cool off to collected 3 hits yesterday afternoon along with a pair of RBI and 1 run scored. Ludwick is a marginal option for you in standard leagues, but he is worth owning in a deep league.
• The change in lineup position may have sparked something in Evan Longoria as he had his second 2 hit day in a row at the top of the lineup. Longoria also collected 2 walks and scored 2 times in the game. If he stays in the leadoff spot for any serious amount of time his RBI numbers will be hurt, but his runs should go up.
• It’s becoming pretty clear why the Rays worked to make room in their rotation for Jeremy Hellickson. He threw 7 strong scoreless innings yesterday allowing 3 H, 2 BB and 6 K’s. Hellickson has now allowed just 5 runs in his last 33 innings of work.
• The Rays roughed up Justin Masterson for 7 runs (6 ER) in 5 IP while getting 8 hits and drawing 5 walks, while not striking out anyone. Needless to say he didn’t have his best stuff, but as good as he has been you shouldn’t overeat to this.
• It was a nice pitching duel yesterday from two unexpected guys in the Houston/Arizona game. Neither Josh Collmenter or J.A. Happ figured in the decision, but both pitched well for 6 innings. Collmenter gave up 2 runs on just 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5. Collmenter has allowed just 2 ER in 20 IP during his 4 starts. It’s a small sample size, but he has at least earned the right to be noticed. Meanwhile Happ picked up his 4^th quality start in his last 5 outings and struck out 8 for the 2^nd time in 3 games.
• Hopefully if you were a Yovani Gallardo drafter you didn’t give up to soon. He threw another gem yesterday going 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K and picking up the W. He’s allowed just 5 runs in 35 innings in his last 5 starts with a 34:12 K/BB rate. He’s showing why so many people still believe in him.
• AL Only players take note, Alexi Casilla is starting to heat up. After going 2 – 3 yesterday with 1 R, 1 RBI and 1 SB, Casilla is 9 – 17 in his last 5 games and looks to have taken hold of the SS position. He also has 5 runs and 2 steals in those 5 games.
• It wasn’t pretty, but Jordan Walden got the save after allowing 2 runs in the 9^th inning. Walden has been pitching well lately so don’t get to worried about him.
• For the second game in a row Mike Napoli put one in the seats for the Rangers. Napoli also picked up 2 more hits besides the long ball. Prior to yesterday’s game Napoli was 5 – 28 with no HR’s in the month of May. It’s tough to pick him up after that kind of a run, but if he goes on a power streak he’s hard to resist.
• It is hard not to be enamored by the numbers Kyle Lohse has been putting up lately on the mound. He went for 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K and his 7^th win against the Rockies. This was Lohse’s 5^th straight game with 2 runs or less and 2 walks or less. Lohse isn’t a big strikeout pitcher, but you can deal with that considering the way he’s pitching.
• In Oakland Brian Fuentes picked up his 2^nd straight save since losing his job for one night only. It’s nice to see him pitching better, but it doesn’t really matter. Andrew Bailey made his return yesterday and pitched a perfect 7^th inning. It’s only a matter of days before he’s back in the closer spot.
• Staying in Oakland, Josh Willingham continues to be a solid course of cheap power. He picked up his 9^th HR of the year yesterday and drove in 4 runs. Owned in just 10% of leagues he’s a solid option for the power deprived.
• In his first 5 games off the DL Rafael Furcal went a combined 1 – 22, picking up right where he left off before the injury. However in the last 2 games he is 5 – 9 and had a very nice game yesterday, scoring twice, hitting a HR and driving in 3. Furcal is still far from being a must own in standard leagues, but he should be on your radar.
• The star of the show for the Dodgers however was certainly Clayton Kershaw who pitched a 2 hit complete game shutout with just 1 walk and 10 strikeouts. Kershaw has forced himself into the elite division of fantasy starting pitchers this year.
• It was a rough start to the game for Tigers rookie Andrew Oliver, but he settled in and ended up pulling out a quality start against the Red Sox. Oliver went 6 and allowed 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB and struck out 3. He’ll likely get just one more start this week against the White Sox before going back down to Triple-A.
• Even the hot offense of the Reds couldn’t cool down Jair Jurrjens. Jurrjens went 8 IP with a final line of 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K and the W. Jurrjens has yet to walk more than 2 or allow more than 3 runs this whole season. At this point a starting pitcher isn’t supposed to have a 1.51 ERA.