Fantasy Game Of the Day: Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers

by faketeams on May 25, 2008 12:45 PM EDT in Baseball

Detroit Tigers' ace Justin Verlander attmepts to buiild upon his excellent start against the Seattle Mariners and a quality one against the Kansas City Royals. The chances are good he can throw a third consecutive quality start given the similarities between the M's, Royals and Twins,

The Mariners are last in the AL in OBP, and the Royals rank 12th. Minnesota comes in at a barely better 10th. All three are better than average in team strikeouts. Not surprising, the three teams rank at in the last three spots in the AL in BBs taken.

These teams are very similar in their efforts at the plate. Is there any reason to think a recovering Verlander couldn't do to the Twins what he did to the Mariners and Royals?

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Justin Verlander	2-7	10	10	0	0	0	0	61.0	61	43	38	8	25	40	5.61	1.41

Middle infielder Alexi Casilla hit his 2nd HR of the season last night after hitting none with 189 ABs in his 2007 rookie season. He is currently starting thanks to the shoulder injury of SS Adam Everett.

If he continues to hit, there is a chance the defensive immobility of 2B Brendan Harris could keep Casilla getting enough ABs to be a valuable fantasy commodity in AL-Only leagues. Right now, Harris is third-to-last in Zone Rating and 2nd-to-last in Range Factor.

FWIW, CF Carlos Gomez ranks 1st amongst qualifying CFs in Range Factor and 2nd in Zone Rating.