Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Hot baseball players, interleague play and fantasy football

If you're looking for some hot players to strengthen your roster or replace an injured player you've come to the right place.
Carlos Pena and Luke Scott are a couple of hot hitters who are available in a lot of leagues on a lot of Web sites, including www.cbs.sportsline.com and ESPN.com.
Pena has been filling in at first base for Tampa Bay with Greg Norton and Akinori Iwamura on the DL. He's 12-for-31 in his last 10 games and in his last three has gone 4-for-9 with four RBIs, three runs scored and two homers. Both Norton and Iwamura will be coming off the DL soon but the Devil Rays need Pena's hot bat and will try to find a way to keep him in the lineup.
Also grab Houston outfielder Luke Scott if he's available in your league. He's only hitting .400 with two homers and 11 RBIs in his last 10 games.

Among the hot starting pitchers still available in most leagues are Colorado's Jeff Francis, Washington's Jason Bergman and Florida's Sergio Mitre.
The heads up on Mitre comes courtesy of fantasy sports enthusiast and Register colleague Bill Cloutier. He has a 2.18 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. But he has found a groove in his last two starts and after some hard luck stints got his first win of the season Monday against the Pirates. In his last two games he has 15 innings pitched, given up only two earned runs and struck out eight.
Converted reliever Bergman got his first win as a starter on Monday against Atlanta. He had a no-hitter through seven innings and ended up going eight innings, allowing 1 earned run and two hits and struck out 10. He has a 2.76 ERA for the season.
Francis has also been hot lately with a 3.22 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in his last three starts. On Saturday, he went eight innings, allowed two earned runs and four hits and struck out five in a 6-2 win over the Giants.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: Just a reminder to plan ahead for this weekend's first round of interleague games, especially when it comes to your hitting lineup. American League teams going to National League sites will lose their designated hitter. The Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox, Orioles, Royals, Twins and Rangers will all be away at NL stadiums.
On the plus side, National League teams going to American League sites pick up the designated hitter. National League teams heading to AL sites are the Braves, Reds, Dodgers, Marlins, Cardinals, Padres and Giants.

FOOTBALL: Fantasy football fanatics are counting the days to their next draft. But some sites are already taking registrations for the upcoming NFL fantasy football season, including the prestigious World Championship of Fantasy Football experts league that offers a first place prize of $200,000. In the past the WCOFF has held simultaneous drafts for the East Coast and West Coast at casinos in Atlantic City, N.J. and Las Vegas the Saturday after Labor Day. Due to the popularity of the event another site has been added in Orlando, Fla. for 2007. Early registrations for the event actually closed a week ago.
Several Web sites actually start offering signups for leagues in early summer with www.cbssportsline.com one of the earliest to start forming public andprivate leagues in late June.
What is the earliest you have ever signed up for a league and drafted a team?

Hot baseball players, interleague play and fantasy football

If you're looking for some hot players to strengthen your roster or replace an injured player you've come to the right place.
Carlos Pena and Luke Scott are a couple of hot hitters who are available in a lot of leagues on a lot of Web sites, including www.cbs.sportsline.com and ESPN.com.
Pena has been filling in at first base for Tampa Bay with Greg Norton and Akinori Iwamura on the DL. He's 12-for-31 in his last 10 games and in his last three has gone 4-for-9 with four RBIs, three runs scored and two homers. Both Norton and Iwamura will be coming off the DL soon but the Devil Rays need Pena's hot bat and will try to find a way to keep him in the lineup.
Also grab Houston outfielder Luke Scott if he's available in your league. He's only hitting .400 with two homers and 11 RBIs in his last 10 games.

Among the hot starting pitchers still available in most leagues are Colorado's Jeff Francis, Washington's Jason Bergman and Florida's Sergio Mitre.
The heads up on Mitre comes courtesy of fantasy sports enthusiast and Register colleague Bill Cloutier. He has a 2.18 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. But he has found a groove in his last two starts and after some hard luck stints got his first win of the season Monday against the Pirates. In his last two games he has 15 innings pitched, given up only two earned runs and struck out eight.
Converted reliever Bergman got his first win as a starter on Monday against Atlanta. He had a no-hitter through seven innings and ended up going eight innings, allowing 1 earned run and two hits and struck out 10. He has a 2.76 ERA for the season.
Francis has also been hot lately with a 3.22 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in his last three starts. On Saturday, he went eight innings, allowed two earned runs and four hits and struck out five in a 6-2 win over the Giants.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: Just a reminder to plan ahead for this weekend's first round of interleague games, especially when it comes to your hitting lineup. American League teams going to National League sites will lose their designated hitter. The Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox, Orioles, Royals, Twins and Rangers will all be away at NL stadiums.
On the plus side, National League teams going to American League sites pick up the designated hitter. National League teams heading to AL sites are the Braves, Reds, Dodgers, Marlins, Cardinals, Padres and Giants.

FOOTBALL: Fantasy football fanatics are counting the days to their next draft. But some sites are already taking registrations for the upcoming NFL fantasy football season, including the prestigious World Championship of Fantasy Football experts league that offers a first place prize of $200,000. In the past the WCOFF has held simultaneous drafts for the East Coast and West Coast at casinos in Atlantic City, N.J. and Las Vegas the Saturday after Labor Day. Due to the popularity of the event another site has been added in Orlando, Fla. for 2007. Early registrations for the event actually closed a week ago.
Several Web sites actually start offering signups for leagues in early summer with www.cbssportsline.com one of the earliest to start forming public andprivate leagues in late June.
What is the earliest you have ever signed up for a league and drafted a team?