Fantasy Baseball: Saturday's Roto Roundup

So far in May, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has just 1 HR, 10 RBI and 9 runs scored. I was watching a Cards game about a month ago, and remember seeing Pujols get hurt in a collision at first base. I forget who the Cardinals were playing that night, but i am starting to wonder if Pujols is more hurt than he is leading on. His stats prove out he is not himself. I have to say he has been a bit of a disappointment in 2010. He went 0-4 on Saturday, and is hitting .309 for the season with 8 HRs and 29 RBI. 

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

The Phillies placed SS Jimmy Rollins on the 15 day DL again after he aggravated his calf injury on Friday night. The Phillies should be very cautious with Rollins since they are up by 4-5 games in the NL East.

Cardinals starter Brad Penny was placed on the DL with an injury to his lat. He suffered the injury hitting a grand slam HR in Friday's win over the Angels. The Cardinals called up PJ Walters to replace him in the rotation.

Mike Stanton Watch: the Marlins outfield went 3-12 with an RBI in the Marlins loss to the White Sox. Mike Stanton broke out of a big slump on Friday night by going 3-5 and his 16th HR. He then hit his 17th HR and drove in 5 on Saturday night. Now that the Hanley Ramirez issue has been resolved, I see Stanton getting the call come early June.

Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka lost a  no-no in the 8th inning, and limited the Phillies to one hit and 4 walks in shutting them out on Saturday.  Dice-K has two solid starts in his last three.

We haven't heard much about the Frank McCourt divorce and its effect on the Dodgers offseason spending now that the Dodgers are in first place after beating the Tigers on Saturday. The Dodgers got another quality start out of John Ely, who limited the Tigers to 2 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings. Ely is now 3-1 with an ERA of 3.41. Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley have won 3 starts in a row since I started the Rick Honeycutt Watch in early March. The Dodgers starting pitching have lead the Dodgers to a 16-4 record in May.

How much longer do the Pirates run second baseman Akinori Iwamura in the leadoff spot? Iwamura went 0-3 with 2 walks and is hitting .152-.261-.220 for the season. AAA outfielder and leadoff hitter Jose Tabata is hitting .327 with 19 SBs.

A's starter Gio Gonzalez shutout the Giants for 8 innings on 2 hits and a walk while striking out 5. Gonzalez is now 5-3 with a 3.46 ERA. Gonzalez induced 12 fly ball outs, but lucky for him he pitches in a pitcher-friendly park.

The Brewers may be making a change at closer again after Carlos Villaneuva blew the save on Saturday. Villaneuva gave up the game tying run and 3 hits in the 9th inning. After the game, we get this from Brew Crew Ball, SB Nation's Brewers blog:

In his post game interview, Ken Macha mentioned that Marco Estrada would start tomorrow. Dave Bush will also be available for a few innings. He also mentioned that Mitch Stetter was sent back down to Nashville and Zach Braddock will be called up.

Braddock is the Brewers closer of the futu...now?

Don't look now but Jason Bay is hitting .298 after going 4-4 with 3 runs scored on Saturday vs the Yankees. Bay added his 6th SB of the season. On the downside, his SLG is .429.

If Justin Morneau keeps getting 3 hits every game, he could hit .377, and that is just what he did for the second game in a row on Saturday. Morneau went 3-5 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored and an RBI in the Twins 8-7 win over the Brewers.

Padres starter Clayton Richard has been pitching lights out this season and he limited the Mariners to one unearned run in 7 innings on Saturday, lowering his ERA to 2.57. He struck out 6 and walked none.

I traded Wandy Rodrigiuez in the UBA keeper league during the offseason for various reasons. He is doing a good job in making my deal look good as he lost his 6th game in 8 decisions, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks while striking out 4. His ERA sits at 4.33.

Rays starter Jeff Niemann held the Astros to 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk in winning his 4th game of the season on Saturday. He lowered his ERA to 2.54 and WHIP to 1.09. Do starting pitchers grow on trees in Tampa?

Reds outfielder Drew Stubbs stole 2 bases, raising his season total to 11 on Saturday. Stubbs went 2-3 and is hitting just .200 for the season, but has been valuable to fantasy owners due to his SBs.