Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres is bringing the filthy stuff almost every outing and that is what I have been waiting to see out of this guy. Peavy has looked like a CY Young candidate and he has look liked a potential 300 game winner dating back to the beginning of his career but for some unknown reason he hasn't been able to win more than 15 games in a season. Well, this appears to be that break out season or at least the makings of it. Peavy faced the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night and they didn't stand a chance, Peavy threw seven shutout innings of three hit ball while striking out 10. Peavy is now 5-1 with a 1.52 earned run average.
Much to my surprise Chipper Jones is leading my team in fantasy earning to this point in the season. Jones is and always has been a very good player but my lineup boasts big names like Vladimir Guerrero, Bobby Abreu, Jim Thome and Torii Hunter not to mention sudden star producer J.J. Hardy. Jones continued his impressive production by going three for five with two doubles and a run scored on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jones is currently batting .303 with 10 homeruns, 13 extra base hits and 29 runs batted in.
Billy Wagner of the New York Mets is quietly off to a great start this season. Wagner nailed down his ninth save on Friday night in as many tries. Not only is Wagner perfect in the saves column he is the proud owner of a very dominating 0.56 earned run average. Wagner is also striking out a batter per inning (or 9 K/9) and holding opponents to a WHIP of 0.875.
There wasn't much good news for the Chicago Cubs on Friday but Alfonso Soriano had some. Soriano hit his fourth homerun of the season, extended his hitting streak to 19, extended his on base streak to 26, had his eighth multi hit game of the season and stole his fourth base. Soriano is now batting .316 and he needs to get even hotter to get back on track with where he should be 1/5 into the season so now is a good time for Soriano owners.
Zach Duke of the Pittsburgh Pirates is having a really bad streak on the mound that dates back to 2005 when he came up and went 8-2 while posting a 1.81 earned run average. Since 2005 Duke is 11-18. One might put up an argument that part of the problem is his team but he has a 4.66 earned run average. Duke wowed everyone when he came up in 2005 and showed he could win even when playing for a loser but since then he appears to be turning into Pittsburgh's next big disappointment e.g. Kris Benson and Kip Wells.
