Roto Roundup: Max Scherzer, Tim Lincecum, and Tim Hudson Dominate, and Derek Jeter Injured

Kenny, aka Humbled Fan, posted late Tuesday night the difficulties Jonathon Broxton experienced in the 9th inning, where he walked two batters on 8 pitches, after getting one out. HIs velocity was well off what it was on Monday night, so the Dodgers have decided to shut him down and scheduled an MRI to check out his elbow. Vicente Padilla appears to be the favorite for saves in the short term, and once Hong-Chih Kuo regains his form, he could get some save opps as well. Both Kuo and Padilla pitched in the game yesterday, with both throwing scoreless innings, and striking out two.

Astros closer Brandon Lyon was called upon to close out a 2-0 lead in the 9th inning yesterday vs the Reds, and he left with his 4th blown save and 2nd loss of the season. He gave up 4 runs on 3 hits and a walk and his ERA now sits at 7.15. I think Wilton Lopez and Mark Melancon could be the next in line to close should a change be made by manager Brad Mills, but for some reason, Jeff Fulchino pitched the 8th inning yesterday. No change is imminent.

Braves left fielder Martin Prado went 3-5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored in the first game of the double header with the Brewers yesterday. Prado has been a bit disappointing in the BA category, but has hit in 7 straight games, going 11-32 with 6 RBIs. 

More Roundup after the jump:

Braves starter Tommy Hanson won the first game of the double header yesterday, going 6 innings. giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He is now 4-3 with a 2.63 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and a 41-11 K/BB rate in 41 innings. I am not high on Hanson, but he has pitched well this year, giving up 3 runs or less in all of his starts, and 2 runs or less in 4 of his last 5 starts.

Pirates starter Kevin Correia is pitching like an ace this season, as he held the Padres to 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and 3 Ks in 6 innings of work. He is now 5-2 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. He induced 12 ground ball outs yesterday.

Who thought second baseman Neil Walker would be the Pirates best hitter this year? Who thought he would be batting cleanup this year? I answered not me to both. Walker went 1-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored, a SB  and 2 RBIs yesterday, and is hitting .286-.356-.420 with 3 HRs, 18 RBIs, 3 SBs and 20 runs scored in 119 at bats.

Blue Jays first baseman Adam Lind is on fire. He went 4-4 with a HR and 2 RBIs last night, and has raised his triple slash line to .316-.349-.513 with 6 HRs and 25 RBIs. Lind was not ranked too highly in my first base rankings in pre-season, but he has moved up those rankings so far this season.

Tigers starter Max Scherzer dominated the Yankees for 8 innings on Wednesday night, shutting them out on 4 hits, 2 walks and 9 Ks. He is now 5-0 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and 46-20 K/BB rate. He is back to his dominant ways. He has had at least 6 Ks in 6 of his 7 starts this year.

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was pulled from the game in the 8th inning last night with a sore hip, and is considered day to day. Jeter is really struggling this season, as he is hitting .250-.308-.269. This from Buster Olney's blog yesterday:

So as Jeter's slide has reached a month into its second season, he is in a situation similar to that which faced Ripken near the end of his career. If you stripped the names from the back of his baseball card, the numbers that remained would be stark:

• On-base percentage: .310
• Slugging percentage: .269, which ranks 183rd out of 195 players.
• OPS: .580, which ranks 171st.
• Ground ball/fly ball ratio, a sign of how the player is not driving the ball: 2.72. Only one other player, Yunel Escobar, has a ground ball ratio over 2.00.

They are not the numbers typical for someone who hits in the top two spots of the lineup of theNew York Yankees, and if Jeter didn't have his resume, there is almost no chance that he would be hitting at the top of the batting order.

On any other team, Jeter is sitting or batting much lower in the batting order. I think once the Yankees rotation issues catch up to them and should they fall out of first place, Girardi will have every reason to drop him in the Yankees lineup. But will he?

Carlos Zambrano held the Dodgers to one run on 5 hits and a walk in 8 innings of work on Wednesday. Big Z struck out 4 and lowered his ERA to 4.23 in winning his 4th game of the season.

Phillies rookie starter Vance Worley held the Nationals to one run on 4 hits and 7 strikeouts in 6 innings, moving his record to 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA. Who saw this coming?

Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez is starting to heat up as he went 3-4 with a HR on Wednesday night, after going 2-4 on Tuesday night. He is still hitting under .200, but I wonder if he has one last hot streak in him.

Tim Lincecum dominated the Mets last night shutting them out for 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, walking 3 and striking out 12. He is now 3-3 with a 2.47 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and a 57-16 K/BB rate in 47+ innings. He is showing no effects from all the innings pitched in last year's playoffs and World Series. Yet.

Braves starter Tim Hudson threw a complete game one hitter in the second game of the double header vs the Brewers last night. He is the Fake Teams Fantasy Player of the Day.

Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton had just one hit last night, but it was a big one. He hit the game winning 2 run HR off of Cardinals reliever Eduardo Sanchez. The HR was Stanton's third in his last four games. He appears to be on a homer tear.