Gary Matthews Jr. is expected to be back in the Angels' lineup sometime this weekend after missing the last nine games with a severe ankle sprain. Mathews isn't enjoying the success that he had last year-his OPS is down more than 100 points, his Eye is down from .59 to .50 and his K rate is up-but he's not far off 2006's home run and RBI totals and he's stolen a career best 17 bases with a very good 81% success rate. If he does finally get back into the lineup, he should be a good start against Seattle this weekend (.907 OPS vs. Seattle since 2004) and against Texas Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday against whom he has a .894 OPS this season. You might want to sit him next weekend, however, as he's posted a .714 OPS against the A's over the last three years.
Torii Hunter has admitted that he's leaning towards signing with Texas in the offseason-he lives near Dallas-a move that would most likely boost his numbers next year and beyond. Heading into this season, Hunter had a career average of .268 in Minnesota with an OBA of .319 and a SLG of .459 in 531 career games, but he was hitting .300/.364/.517 in 32 career games in Texas and this year he's slugging .545 in Texas. At 32 Hunter may be a little old to consider hanging onto in keeper leagues, but this new development is worth keeping in mind if you own him and are thinking about next season's roster.
Yankees rookie Ian Kennedy has been scratched from today's start against the Blue Jays due to a muscle strain in his upper back, but the injury doesn't appear to be serious. Kennedy felt tightness in the muscle around his shoulder blade and wisely reported it to pitching coach Ron Guidry after only 10 pitches, avoiding doing further damage to the muscle. Joe Torre has expressed a desire to start Kennedy again this season, but will proceed with caution rather than risk a serious injury to the 22-year-old hurler. Kennedy, who is 1-0 with a stellar 1.89 ERA in three starts, will be replaced by Phil Hughes in Saturday's tilt with Toronto.
Billy Buckner made his fourth start of the season last night and while he was solid, there's nothing in his line to indicate that he's the prospect most people believe him to be. Buckner earned a no-decision after tossing five innings, in which he allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out one. Buckner actually looked very good for the first four innings, shutting out the Tigers on three hits, but he imploded in the fifth, surrendering a three-run homer to Sean Casey, then getting himself into a runners-on-first-and-second jam before retiring Gary Sheffield to end the inning. Buckner has been decent in his last three starts, going 1-1 with a ND and posting a 3.86 ERA, but his K/BB ratio of 0.93, his BB/9 IP of 4.5, and K/9 IP of 4.18 have to be a concern.
The Angels had been insisting that there's nothing physically wrong with Kelvim Escobar after he posted a 10.19 ERA in his last four starts and failed to get out of the sixth inning in any of them, averaging 4 1/3 IP in his last four outings. But Friday night the Angels announced that Escobar would miss his scheduled start Saturday due to a sore shoulder and will be replaced by Bartolo Colon. Despite Escobar's success this year, you should proceed with caution. If he's not healthy and the Angels continue to run him out there, you'd be wise to pull him from your rotation or else risk torpedoing your ERA and WHIP. If the Angels are smart, they'll shut him down and rest him for the postseason.
