"You think Porcello, going against one of the league's best offenses on Saturday in Cleveland is a better option than Brett Cecil who has been great in his last two starts against very good hitting teams and is going against the punchless A's -- whom he dominated in his only start against earlier this year? Crazy ranking!"
Well, Porcello handled the Indians quite nicely, allowing only four hits and one earned run in eight innings pitched. As for Cecil, he went seven innings, allowing only six hits, but also four earned runs and only three strikeouts. Clearly, my rankings weren't so crazy, but when you factor in that Cecil also got a win, whereas Porcello had a no-decision, perhaps I have no right to toot my own horn, either.
But was I right? Was I wrong? Even I'm not sure, as there are legitimate arguments to be made for both sides here. So, while I fully stand behind my rankings, don't take them as gospel, because even when I'm absolutely right, I can still be completely wrong at the exact same time. Frustrating? Welcome to fantasy baseball. And now, on to the Thursday rankings!
For starters
Starting pitcher rankings for Thursday, August 6
| Name | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Cliff Lee | L | 8-9 | 3.02 | 1.27 | 6.32 | .685 | COL | .779 | 77.5% |
| 2 |  | Derek Lowe | R | 11-7 | 4.21 | 1.39 | 4.74 | .729 | @LAD | .772 | 81.3% |
| 3 |  | Randy Wolf | L | 5-6 | 3.47 | 1.18 | 6.81 | .694 | ATL | .744 | 81.8% |
| 4 |  | John Danks | L | 9-7 | 4.00 | 1.31 | 7.54 | .697 | LAA | .802 | 81.9% |
| 5 |  | Chris Volstad | R | 8-9 | 4.35 | 1.25 | 6.19 | .758 | @WAS | .756 | 77.8% |
| 6 |  | Nick Blackburn | R | 8-5 | 3.83 | 1.37 | 3.76 | .755 | @CLE | .773 | 78.1% |
| 7 |  | Max Scherzer | R | 6-6 | 3.80 | 1.36 | 9.30 | .730 | @PIT | .715 | 79.5% |
| 8 |  | Joba Chamberlain | R | 7-2 | 3.58 | 1.40 | 7.89 | .750 | BOS | .795 | 79.7% |
| 9 |  | Aaron Cook | R | 10-3 | 3.88 | 1.41 | 4.88 | .771 | @PHI | .783 | 79.3% |
| 10 |  | Livan Hernandez | R | 7-5 | 4.77 | 1.50 | 5.00 | .827 | @SD | .689 | 78.6% |
| 11 |  | Rick Porcello | R | 9-7 | 4.36 | 1.41 | 4.70 | .778 | BAL | .751 | 82.4% |
| 12 |  | Tommy Hunter | R | 3-2 | 2.63 | 1.27 | 5.71 | .699 | @OAK | .701 | 81.6% |
| 13 |  | Kevin Hart | R | 3-1 | 2.60 | 1.48 | 4.23 | .733 | ARI | .747 | 77.4% |
| 14 |  | Clayton Richard | L | 4-3 | 4.47 | 1.44 | 6.75 | .757 | NYM | .733 | 83.9% |
| 15 |  | Trevor Cahill | R | 6-10 | 5.01 | 1.52 | 4.34 | .863 | TEX | .766 | 76.5% |
| 16 |  | Craig Stammen | R | 3-6 | 4.96 | 1.27 | 3.86 | .769 | FLA | .734 | 77.0% |
| 17 |  | Jason Vargas | L | 3-5 | 4.71 | 1.40 | 5.57 | .818 | @KC | .702 | 80.2% |
| 18 |  | David Hernandez | R | 3-3 | 3.28 | 1.46 | 4.93 | .766 | @DET | .741 | 79.6% |
| 19 |  | John Smoltz | R | 2-4 | 7.12 | 1.50 | 7.36 | .895 | @NYY | .831 | 82.5% |
| 20 |  | Ervin Santana | R | 3-6 | 7.31 | 1.70 | 7.17 | .937 | @CHW | .754 | 81.2% |
| 21 |  | Bruce Chen | L | 0-6 | 5.73 | 1.49 | 6.69 | .870 | SEA | .715 | 81.3% |
| 22 |  | Fausto Carmona | R | 2-6 | 7.13 | 1.80 | 5.07 | .829 | MIN | .765 | 80.6% |
Selected notes: Cliff Lee's first outing for the Phillies was worth the price of the deal and then some, as Lee threw a complete game four-hitter against the Giants. Now it's time for Lee to do the same to the visiting Rockies, as he continues his introductions to the Phillies' potential playoff opponents. Aaron Cook has the potential to match Lee, zero for zero, for a time. After all, he is 10-3 on the year. But we think his gas tank runs dry an inning or two sooner than Lee's, not to mention the 5.91 ERA Cook owns in eight appearances against Philadelphia. … Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf are set to square off at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, and we definitely are looking forward to watching this one. We'll give the edge to Lowe, even on the road, thanks to his 3-0 record in his past three starts, and a .238 batting average for Los Angeles against him this season. … John Danks has a 3.86 ERA in his past three outings against the Angels, but what really makes us side with him today is the fact he's pitching on his normal four days' rest, where his career ERA is 3.89, as opposed to 5.01 on five days' rest, which was possible before Clayton Richard was dealt. … Chris Volstad has been pitching well of late, with a 2-0 record and 3.32 ERA in his past three starts, plus he's going up against Craig Stammen, who has a 5.06 ERA against the Marlins in 2009. We'll back the Fish in this one. … What's not to like about Nick Blackburn going on the road against the Indians? He's 2-0 at Progressive Field, with a 1.80 ERA, and in fact, has never lost to the Tribe, with a 4-0 mark and 1.63 ERA against them for his career. Now throw in a heaping helping of helpless Fausto Carmona (12.38 ERA versus the Twins in 2009) and you may just have a recipe for "four and twenty straight outs" for Blackburn baked in a pie. … Max Scherzer just threw seven shutout innings against the Pirates on July 26, striking out eight. So what's changed since then? Absolutely nothing positive in terms of the Pittsburgh lineup, though newly acquired pitcher Kevin Hart may offer up some resistance to those Diamondback bats. … Joba Chamberlain is 3-0 in his past three with a 0.83 ERA, which probably would have him ranked higher on our list, if he weren't facing those darn Red Sox. In his past three starts against the Yankees' primary rivals, Joba is 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA. … Livan Hernandez has been on a wild roller coaster ride in 2009 -- win one, lose one, win four, lose four -- now he's back on an uphill climb and facing the Padres, last in the NL in hitting. We'll start Livan one more time before throwing our hands in the air and screaming in terror as we speed earthward, especially with Clayton Richard making his post-Peavy trade debut for San Diego. … As for the rest of the pack, we like very little about John Smoltz and his 9.18 ERA over his past three outings, and well, if Bruce Chen were to actually win a game this season we might actually think twice before placing him automatically in our bottom three each week. Until then, standard text message rates need not apply.
Now batting
Hitters' count
• Jason Kubel, DH, Twins: Perhaps Kubel has sold his soul to the devil, as he's had amazing success against Fausto Carmona. He's 10-for-20 with two home runs and eight RBIs against the Indians starter.
• Ichiro Suzuki, OF, Mariners: After a .336 July, he's started off August 6-for-15. That average's not likely to diminish against Bruce Chen, against whom he has a career .538 batting average.
• Adam Dunn, OF, Nationals: Dunn's hitting .417 in August so far, and gets to face Chris Volstad, against whom he has a .750 OBP.
• Ryan Howard, 1B, Phillies: Howard has an .857 slugging percentage against Aaron Cook for his career, so expect a few extra-base hits on Thursday from the big man.
• Brian McCann, C, Braves: Maybe it's not a large sample size, but the success rate is big enough for us to recommend McCann against Randy Wolf: 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs.
• Ryan Doumit, C, Pirates: Doumit entered this series hitting .294 against the Diamondbacks this year and while there are other players with gaudier stats, you're not likely to find any on this Pirates roster. Hey, somebody has to get some hits for this team eventually.
• Mark Reynolds, 3B, Diamondbacks: Love Mark Reynolds! Love the seven home runs since July 27! What's not to love?
• Jason Bay, OF, Red Sox: Bay sat out some games this week after leaving Saturday's game with a hamstring cramp. Josh Reddick has been starting in his place, but we expect to see Jason back in the lineup against Joba Chamberlain. He's not sitting this one out with his .571 lifetime batting average against the pinstriper.
Pitchers' count
• Shin-Soo Choo, OF, Indians: We choo-choo-choose to rest the Indians right fielder against Nick Blackburn of the Twins, due to his .111 career batting average when Blackburn takes the mound against him.
• Dexter Fowler, OF, Rockies: Fowler is hitting only .222 on the road this season, and facing Cliff Lee for the first time isn't going to make it any easier for him to get on base.
• Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers: Andrus is hitting only .194 against what is left of the Oakland pitching staff, and never has registered a hit off of Trevor Cahill.
• Johnny Damon, OF, Yankees: While John Smoltz may be struggling to stay afloat this season, Damon has always been quite accommodating. He's never had a hit against Smoltz. Why start now?
• Juan Pierre, OF, Dodgers: Even if he were getting more playing time for Joe Torre's team, we wouldn't consider starting him today against Derek Lowe. After all, a .158 batting average against Lowe is nothing to write home about.
• Elijah Dukes, OF, Nationals: Seriously? They brought him back for this? He's hitting only .200 since his call-up on August 1, and has a four-game strikeout streak working. We'll pass.
• Nolan Reimold, OF, Orioles: Hitting only 2-for-his-past-18, we're going to steer clear of this Baltimore outfielder, especially with Felix Pie getting more at-bats as of late.
If you're hardcore
• Kelly Shoppach, C, Indians: The Tribe can't seriously be giving Chris Gimenez more playing time than Shoppach, can they? Gimenez is in a 1-for-18 funk and Shoppach is 3-for-5 with a home run off of Nick Blackburn.
• Chris Coghlan, OF, Marlins: He's 7-for-14 in August thus far, and hitting .400 against the latest batch of Washington pitchers.
• Alex Avila, C, Tigers: With Dusty Ryan sent down, and Avila called up from Double-A Erie where he had 12 home runs and 55 RBIs in 329 at-bats, you may get a surprising source of cheap power.
• Mark Kotsay, 1B, White Sox: Yes, he's 0-for-12 as a starter in his new color of Sox, however, he is a .389 career hitter against Ervin Santana.
• Erick Aybar, SS, Angels: He's slowed down a bit from his .414 July, but still has hit safely in 20 of his past 22 games.
• Tommy Everidge, 1B, Athletics: He's hitting .320 in his past seven games. Now you just have to hope the A's don't send him back to the minors to make room for Jason Giambi to return.
• Cory Sullivan, OF, Mets: Sullivan has a .357 OBP against the Padres since 2006, and several more Mets are bound to get hurt between now and Thursday the way things are going for them.
• Will Venable, OF, Padres: He's hitting .462 (6-for-13) in August and is 1-for-3 against Livan Hernandez. Worth a flier, don't you think?
Triage
Injury list: Out
• Lance Berkman, 1B, Astros (15-day DL, calf): Unlikely to be activated immediately upon becoming eligible on Friday, as he still reports plenty of soreness.
• Andres Blanco, 2B, Cubs (15-day DL, calf strain)
• Corey Hart, OF, Brewers (15-day DL, appendectomy)
Injury list: Day-to-day
• Luis Castillo, 2B, Mets (sprained ankle): Castillo slipped on the dugout steps returning to the dugout following his seventh-inning at-bat. At least he didn't do something embarrassing like drop a pop-up to cost his team the game … again.
• Geovany Soto, C, Cubs (oblique strain): With Koyie Hill having played 24 straight games as catcher, it's just a matter of time before Soto returns.
• Jason Giambi, 1B, Athletics (quad): He's ready to be activated, but the A's are dawdling. That doesn't sound like a team that's anxious to get a player back into the lineup anytime soon.
• Bobby Jenks, P, White Sox (kidney stones): Expect closer-by-committee for the ChiSox until this problem has, shall we say, passed.
• Alexei Ramirez, SS, White Sox (ankle): Ramirez seemed tentative in pregame warm-ups on Tuesday, according to Ozzie Guillen, so it might be a few more days before he gets back on the field.
• Nelson Cruz, OF, Rangers (left ankle): It's treatments and tape jobs for Cruz, rather than a trip to the DL, as the team has already sent Ian Kinsler there and does not want to be two players down for that long.
• Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Nationals (shoulder): He's a little banged up after getting hit by a Craig Stammen pitch on Monday, but shouldn't miss many more games, if he even misses any at all.
• Michael Cuddyer, OF, Twins (back): Cuddyer says he's ready to go, he's just waiting for the team's training staff to give him the green light.
Weather concerns
• There are no weatherproof games on Thursday's schedule, and outside of a few possible showers in Kansas City, there's nothing much to speak of at all on the good old ESPN Doppler 10,000 for the first time in recent memory.
AJ Mass is a fantasy baseball, football and college basketball analyst for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here.
