Fantasy Baseball: Sunday's Roto Roundup

A's starter Dallas Braden highlighted Sunday's action with a perfect game vs the best team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. Braden struck out 6 in the process, and got first pitch strikes on just 17 of the 27 batters he faced. Is it me or does it seem like we have seen several pitchers throw six to seven no hit innings so far this year, only to have it broken up. Braden's no-hitter is the second of the young season. 

Here are the rest of my thoughts after reviewing Sunday's boxscores:

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw bounced back after his worst outing of his career in his last outing. He held the Rockies to no runs on two hits and three walks while striking out 9 in 8 innings of work. 

Tigers starter Max Scherzer continues to struggle as he gave up 5 runs in 5+ innings on Sunday on 9 hits and 3 walks. I am curious if Scherzer is hurt.

Mets third baseman David Wright struck out 4 times on Sunday, and has a 16/3 K/BB ratio in his last 10 games. In fact, he has struck out 41 times in 108 at bats this season.  Wright is hitting for power and stealing bases as evidenced by his 7-22-8 stat line so far, so fantasy owners are quite happy, but Mets fans have to be concerned with Wright's increasing K rate.

White Sox outfielder Alex Rios went 4-4 with 3 runs scored and an RBI on Sunday. He is hitting .324-.361-.604 so far this season with 6 HRs, 17 RBI and 9 SBs. Fantasy owners are quite happy with his performance to date, as he has lowered his K rate from 18% to 12%, and increased his ISO rate 100 points from .148 to ,252 so far this season.

The Cardinals scored 11 runs on Sunday, so Albert Pujols owners were probably licking their chops thinking of what kind of game Pujols had at the plate. Pujols went 1-3 with a run scored and no RBI. In fact, in his last 10 games, Pujols has not homered and has driven in only 7. I am sure Pujols will wake up from this homer drought soon, but he has just 2 HRs and 11 RBIs since April 12th.

More after the jump:

Mariners rookie outfielder Michael Saunders hit his first major league HR of the season going 2-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs on Sunday. The Mariners offense is looking for offense and got some from their rookie outfielder.

Reds starter Mike Leake won his 3rd game of the season, holding the Cubs to 3 runs on 4 hits, a walk, and 6 strikeouts in 7 innings. Leake now has 6 straight quality starts, a WHIP of 1.20 and an ERA in the low 3's now. He should be picked up in mixed leagues if he is available. After walking 12 in his first two major league starts, Leake has walked just 5 in his last 27 innings pitched.

Royals starter Luke Hochevar last just 2 2/3rd innings on Sunday, giving up 4 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks. His ERA is approaching 6 now. He has a 24/24 K//BB ratio so far this season. Not good.

Mike Stanton Watch-Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan went 3-4 on Sunday and raised his BA over the Mendoza line. The Marlins outfield went 4-11 with no extra base hits on Sunday.

The Padres ran wild in spring training stealing bases, and have continued in the regular season. They have 3 of the top 10 in SBs in the NL, with Chase Headley leading the team with 9 SBs, followed by Will Venable with 8 and Tony Gwynn with 7. Everth Cabrera, who I own in 3 of my leagues, has just 4, but should return from the DL in the next 4-5 days.

Brad Lidge saved his first game of the season on Sunday, but two of the three outs went to the warning track in right and left center field. Had the wind not been blowing in so hard, they may have left the ballpark. Something to watch going forward.

Nate McLouth may be on the verge of losing his starting job, and if not, should be. He went 0-3 with a strikeout on Sunday and is hitting .176-.304-.294 for the season. He has struck out in 31% of his at bats, but has walked in 14% of his at bats and his BABIP is a low .232, so he could heat up should he start making better contact.