In yesterday's 4-2 to the Florida Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies' 1B Ryan Howard hit his major league leading 42nd HR and drove in his major league leading 126th RBI.  In a season where he might be the only hitter to surpass 40 HRs, one could not be blamed for believing Howard is one of the game's most valuable properties.

The issue is not so much his prodigous K totals, but the attendent .241 AVG that accompanies so many fewer balls put in play.  If the combo of HRs and AVG doesn't immediate recall Adam Dunn of the Cincinnati Reds/Arizona Diamondbacks, nothing will.

My question is when would you take Howard?  In the late first/second round where he went last season or the 4th where Adam Dunn is taken.  I won't even consider the possibilty that his record 1st-year arbitration award of $10MM last winter may lead to a trade away from homer-friendly Citizens Bank Ballpark.

Philadelphia Phillies' 1B Ryan Howard hit his major-league leading 29th HR last night and drove in his NL-leading 85th RBI.  With such gaudy RBI totals, one would expect an AVG better than Howard's current .234.

How can he have such a low AVG and great RBIs?  His AVG with RISP is .325!  Looking over his career, he hasn't been consistently better with RISP though.  Can he persist with the RBIs if his AVG stays under .250?

Mike Mussina won his 12th game against six defeats.  With a 3.49 ERA, he may be the most surprising pitcher in baseball this season - Justin Duchscherer and Cliff Lee be damned!

Cincinnati Reds' rookie sensation hit his 7th HR last night.  With a .273 AVG and 23 RBI,  one can safely conclude the hype surrounding debut week at the end of May/beginning of June (15-26, 3 HR, 2 SB) makes the recent market bubbles of internet stocks, real estate and credit lending pale in comparison.

I just won the FAAB bidding for Joe Blanton in my NL-Only.  I can only hope he is 2/3s as successful as C.C. Sabthia has been for his owner.  C.C. moved to 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA and 24 Ks since his move to the NL.  He also went 1-4 and is hitting .222.  With that kind of bat, he is going to throw a ton of innings.

The Texas Rangers called up catcher Taylor Teagarden.  With Jarrod Saltalamacchia failing to impress at catcher (four pased balls in 38 games, 17.5% CS, .977 FPCT), Teagarden may be splitting time with Gerald Laird for the rest of this season and next.  In AL-Only keeper leagues, grab him.

Am I the only person who sees Macier Izturis batting 3rd for the Angels and wonder how in God's name that team has scored enough runs to have the best record in baseball?

Philadelphia Phillies 1B Ryan Howard hit his 13th HR last night, which is the third highest total in the NL.  No one is surprised with that total, but what is surprising is the number of strikeouts Howard has amassed.

In 49 games, he has whiffed 74 times already versus just 27 walks.  Pro-rating those numbers over a full season will allow Ryan Howard to shatter his own strikeouts record of 199 set last season.  More disconcerting are the fewer walks.  Last season, he drew 107 walks in 149 games.  Right now, he'd only draw 81 in the same number of games.

One day after the Yankees decided to begin the transition of Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation, Ian Kennedy pitched his best game of the year, and the Yankees' bullpen threw three shutout, walkless innings in support.  Kyle Farnsworth tossed a scoreless 8th inning in that effort.

I know that was just coincidence, but it still feels like the Yankees made a move all fantasy players make - selling at what appears to be the darkest hour only to see the sun begin to rise.

Pittsburgh Pirates CF Nate McLouth went 1-3 with three walks, his 11th HR and a stolen base.  How much of a fluke McLouth is right now is hard to determine, but since last year August, he has had 330 ABs and hit 21 HRs.  That extends McLouth's excellent first seven weeks by another eight.  He looks legitimate, no? 

Arizona Diamondback ace Brandon Webb moved to 9-0 on the season and now is the unanimous plus one choice for the NL Cy Young.  However, his 9th victory didn't exactly come against the "A" team of the Colorado Rockies.  Ryan Spillborghs in CF, Clint Barmes at SS, Jeff Baker at 3B and Javier Herrera at 2B is the kind of line-up that would even allow Justin Verlander to get a 2nd victory on the season.

The Yankees recalled SP Ian Kennedy to replace the awful Kei Igawa after just one start.  Kennedy allowed five runs in five innings yo increase his season ERA from 8.37 to 8.48.  Will this be the season the now-last-place Yankees do not rebound from a mediocre start?  At least their #3 hitter, Derek Jeter, collected a couple more singles.

Cleveland Indians reliever Rafeal Betancourt started the 9th inning to protect a 4-1 lead and proceeded to load the bases.  He was replaced by Masahide Kobayashi after loading the bases.  The closing failure in the Summer of '06 lloks to be more real than fluke for Betancourt.  Add him to the list of relievers who can't pitch effectively without the comfort of knowing their team will have a additional ABs to make-up for any mistakes made on the mound.

Philadelphia Phillies' 1B Ryan Howard hit his 9th HR last night.  In his last five plate appearances, he has homered twice and walked.  The chance to get Howard for 5th or 6th round value is quickly passing.

With David Cook's bio on American Idol in the background, I checked the evening's boxscores and noted the number of HRs hit.  The AL had gone deep seven times with one game yet to start.  The NL had gone deep eleven times with two games yet to begin.

Despite #3 hitter Derek Jeter's 0-4 with two ks, the New York Yankees managed to eke out a 2-1 win over the 1st place Tampa Bay Rays behind an excellent pitching effort by Mike Mussina.  In 6.1 innings, he allowed just five hits while striking out five and walking just one.  Mussina is now 6-3 with a 3.99 ERA.

2006 MVP Ryan Howard hit his 8th HR of the season against Braves' lefty Royce Ring.  Did his previous 0-3 mark the nadir of his 2008 season?

C.C. Sabathia shutout the Oakland A's on his way to completely eradicating any memory of his 2008 start.  Another eleven Ks against just two walks also makes sure no memory of that start remains.

With a quarter of the season gone, Chicago Cubs' rookie catcher has left no doubt that his 2007 breakthrough seasonw as not a fluke.  He his his 7th HR of the season and drove in RBIs # 27, 28 and 29.  The only question is how close to Victor Martinez he comes in next season's catcher rankings.