Roto Roundup: Matt Harvey, Roy Halladay and Others

My apologies for not publishing the Roundup on Friday. I made a trip down to Atlantic City on Thursday night to celebrate my birthday, and ended up playing poker till the early hours of the morning.

Matt Harvey outduels Stephen Strasburg

Mets young starter Matt Harvey held the Nationals to one run on 4 hits, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts in 7 innings last night to win his 4 game of the season. Harvey ran into trouble in the 7th inning, loading the bases with no outs, but got out of the jam with a strikeout, a foul out and a ground ball. Pretty impressive.

Harvey is now 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA, 0.66 WHIP and a 32-9 strikeout to walk rate in 29 innings of work this season. He is the first pitcher in the modern baseball era (since 1900) to give up just 10 or less hits in his first four starts to begin the season. Curt Schilling recently stated that he would be mentioned in the same conversation as Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander within 12 months. The way he is pitching, it could be within a few months.

Wandy Rodriguez sliences hot Atlanta bats

Pirate starter Wandy Rodriguez was one of my streaming starter picks for Friday and he turned in a dominating performance last night, holding the Braves lineup to just one hit over 7 shutout innings. He struck out 5 and walked none, and is now 2-0 on the season with a 0.56 ERA and a 0.38 WHIP. He owns a 11-1 strikeout to walk ratio, and has given up just 5 hits, in his 16 innings of work thus far.

Roy Halladay answers the bell

Roy Halladay had a very un-Roy Halladay-like start to the 2013 season, leading me to question whether he was hurt or not. He turned in a very good start vs the Marlins in his last start, but....it was the Marlins and i wanted to see if his turnaround was real or not. Well, it is real, as he held the Cardinals to 2 runs on 2 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 7 innings of work to win his second game of the season. The only runs, and hits, he gave up were home runs off the bats of Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday. I think it is safe to start Halladay going forward.

Here is what else happened on Friday night:

Mets first baseman Ike Davis went 2-4 wth 2 HRs and 3 RBI last night. He and teammate Lucas Duda both his two home runs apiece, hitting one off of Stephen Strasburg and one off of Drew Storen.

A's starter Brett Anderson was pulled after just one inning last night, after he gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and two walks. Anderson suffered a sprained ankle and was sent for x-rays after the game. Anderson has not lived up to expectations thus far this season, and might be the most injury prone player in baseball right now. He seems to get hurt in every start.

Rangers starter Yu Darvish is proving that his hot September last year is for real, as he dominated the Mariners last night. Darvish shutout the Mariners on 3 hits and 3 walks and 10 strikeouts to earn his third win of the season. He is now 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and a 38-8 strikeout to walk ratio in 26.2 innings this season. He has given up 3 hits of less in 3 of his 4 starts this season.

How is it that two unwanted hitters move to the Yankees and become good hitters? Small sample size aside, but you have to hand it to Yankees GM Brian Cashman for piecing things together with all of the injuries the team sustained in the spring. Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells have already made Cashman look very shrewd thus far. Hafner went 2-5 with a HR and 2 RBI in the Yankees 9-4 win over the Blue Jays. Teammate Vernon Well went 2-5 with a HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI as well. Hafner is hitting .349-.440-.767 with 5 HRs and 10 RBI, and Wells is hitting .283-.377-.585 with 4 HRs and 7 RBI this season.

The Rockies are off to a hot start to the 2013 season, as they are now 12-4, with a 2.5 game lead over the Giants. Their hot start will probably delay the team calling up third base prospect Nolan Arenado. Arenado is laying waste to PCL pitching to the tune of .429-.455-.837 with 3 HRs, 11 doubles, 13 runs and 19 RBI in 14 games this season. His competition at third base, Chris Nelson, is hitting .292-.340-.354 with no home runs and 4 RBI. He is not hitting for any power and has two errors at third base in the early going. Once the Rockies hot streak ends, if it ever does, Arenado could get the call, but right now, the team is playing very well, so his call up will be delayed.

Injury Update

Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Eaton seems to be making plenty of progress from his elbow injury. This from Buster Olney's Saturday morning blog post:

By the way: Towers said center fielder Adam Eaton could be back in the first or second week of May -- Eaton, coming back from an elbow injury, just started throwing -- and that Jason Kubel will be back soon.

Eaton should be able to provide fantasy owners with some pop, and plenty of runs scored and stolen bases when he returns from the DL.

Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin injured his left oblique on his 100th pitch last night and will probably make his way to the DL, as a result. Chacin has pitched very well this season and is 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.

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