Every week, The Lineup will help you figure out who to start, sit and watch. Facts don't lie and The Lineup is full of 'em.  Here is your weekly digest of everything fantasy baseball. Projections for the week of June 2-8, 2008. All stats up to and including May 30, 2008.

Pittsburgh Pirates, OF
Stats: .480 AVG, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 1 SB
Comment: Has not only enjoyed a bounce-back season, but he's been clutch for Pittsburgh as well.

San Francisco Giants, C
Stats: .583 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 7 R, 0 SB
Comment: The NL Player of the Week continues to be a reliable source of stats at the backstop position.

Philadelphia Phillies, 2B
Stats: .286 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 6 R, 1 SB
Comment: Hit his 17th homer of the year on Wednesday as he continues to dominate at the plate.


Tampa Bay Rays, SP
Stats:2-0, 1.17 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 14 SO
Comment: His slider had some nasty bite on it Wednesday against the Rangers, where he struck out 10.

Toronto Blue Jays, SP
Stats: 2-0, 1.06 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 14 SO
Comment: Recorded his major-league leading fifth complete game on Friday and his season ERA now sits under 3.00.

St. Louis Cardinals, SP
Stats: 2-0, 1.20 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 13 SO
Comment: Has quietly been one of the best pitchers in the majors this season.



Milwaukee Brewers, OF
Stats: .208 AVG, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 R, 0 SB
Comment: A couple of weeks ago he was hitting homers left and right, what gives?

Los Angeles Angels, OF
Stats: .235 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, 0 SB
Comment: Sure he homered this week, but Vlad's .258 season average has to make one wonder if he is on the decline.

Baltimore Orioles, OF
Stats: .200 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB Comment: Outside of his Memorial Day performance (3-for-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R), Markakis has continued to struggle at the plate in May.


Philadelphia Phillies, SP
Stats: 0-0, 13.50 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, 0 SO
Comment: Failed to record a strikeout for the first time this season in his start on Sunday.

New York Mets, SP
Stats: 0-0, 7.36 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, 9 SO
Comment: Has actually allowed more walks (12) than hits (10) in his last 2 starts.

New York Yankees, SP
Stats: 0-0, 7.11 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 2 SO
Comment: Has given up 12 earned runs in his last two starts after allowing 19 in his 9 previous games.

Seattle Mariners, C
Comment: Has played markedly better in May considering his terrible April: .280 AVG, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 8 R, 1 SB in 75 at-bats.
Florida Marlins, C
Comment: Will be seeing a bulk of the playing time in the near future as his bat is sizzling in May: .339 AVG, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 6 R in 16 games.
New York Yankees, 1B
Comment: Starting to heat up with the weather as he has batted .500 over the past week with 3 homers and 6 RBI.

Los Angeles Angels, 1B
Comment: Batting .433 with 1 homer, 7 RBI and 3 runs against Oakland and Seattle in 8 games this season. He's also hitting .351 on the road in 2008.

Tampa Bay Rays, 2B
Comment: Has put up great numbers this season against Boston and Texas: .368 AVG, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 1 SB in 9 games.

Atlanta Braves, 2B
Comment: Enjoying a torrid May: .349 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 13 R, 2 SB in 23 games.

Seattle Mariners, SS
Comment: .311 at home (where he'll face the Angels) and is hitting .400 against Boston this season.

Cleveland Indians, SS
Comment: Has homered in 3 out of his past 5 games and Peralta may be on the cusp of a trademark hot-streak.

Philadelphia, Phillies, 3B
Comment: Feliz has caught fire in May: .316 AVG, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 12 R in 26 games.

San Diego Padres, 3B
Comment: Is blasting the ball right now as evident by his 5 home runs in his last 9 games.

New York Yankees, OF
Comment: Has gone 7-for-10 in his last 2 games and his average has climbed to .288 on the season.

Cincinnati Reds, OF
Comment: Has been settling in at the top of the order with pretty consistent at-bats recently. The streaky Hairston should be starting in fantasy leagues when he's hot.

New York Yankees, OF
Comment: Already has a 17 game hit streak under his belt this season and is currently immersed in a 7 game streak in which he has had multiple hits in 5 contests.

Philadelphia Phillies, OF
Comment: Victorino, who became a fantasy after-thought after being injured early in the year, has been stealing bases and scoring runs at a break-neck pace recently.

New York Yankees, SP
Comment: If Chamberlain starts this week, he would be in line for two home match-ups against two weak offenses in Kansas City and Toronto.

Chicago White Sox, SP
Comment: Draws two home starts this week, where he is 2-1 with a 2.35 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in 30.2 innings.

Oakland Athletics, SP
Comment: Harden is healthy and getting two starts at home this week, where he is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 28 SO in 24 IP.

Los Angeles Angels, SP
Comment: Two starts on the road used to be the kiss of death for Santana, but with his improved play away from home and his 0.61 ERA against the Mariners and Athletics this season, he makes a fine start this week.

Comment: Pierzynski has actually enjoyed a pretty good season thus far, just not at home: .247 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 7 R, 11 SO in 19 games.

Detroit Tigers, C
Comment: Went 0-for-6 in his only game against Cleveland this season and is batting .241 with no homers, 3 RBI and 4 R in 21 road contests.

Cleveland Indians, 1B
Comment: Look, the guy is batting .217 on the season and while it appears he may avoid a DL stint for his shoulder ailment, he should not avoid your bench.

Boston Red Sox, 1B
Comment: Youkilis' game has been yucky of late as he has failed to register a hit or a walk this past week.

Toronto Blue Jays, 2B
Comment: Hill has endured a forgettable May: .255 AVG, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 8 R in 27 games.

Pittsburgh Pirates, 2B
Comment: The former NL batting champ is batting .208 at home this season.

Los Angeles Dodgers, SS
Comment: Has a decent chance of returning to the field this week but because he's been out since May 5th and he has a history of back problems, keep Furcal reserved as he figures to have a hard time picking up where he left off.

Detroit Tigers, SS
Comment: May numbers thus far are appalling: .230 AVG, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 8 R, 1 SB in 21 games.

Los Angeles Dodgers, 3B
Comment: Has slowed down considerably over the past week: .125 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 R, 0 SB.

Arizona Diamondbacks, 3B
Comment: Avert your eyes! Reynolds is batting at a horrific .157 clip on the road this season.

Boston Red Sox, OF
Comment: Is hitting .150 over the past week with just 1 swiped bag in 2 attempts.

Seattle Mariners, OF
Comment: Francoeur’s consecutive games streaked ended at 371 this week and for good reason, his bat was ice-cold. He then went 3-for-4 with a home run in the next game, only to go 0-for-4 in the following contest. Reserve him until he shows more consistency.

Kansas City Royals, OF
Comment: Teahen is hitting just .232 away from Kauffman Stadium this season.

Minnesota Twins, OF
Comment: Continues to do a pretty good job of getting on base, but the power bat the Twins were hoping to acquire has not revealed itself as he still has yet to homer this season.

Kansas City Royals, SP
Comment: ERA is over a full run higher on the road and his second start comes against the surging Yankees offense.

Cleveland Indians, SP
Comment: Bloom is bound to fall off the rose this week as Laffey's road ERA is over a full run higher on the road and he draws to tough offense this week in Texas and Detroit.

Florida Marlins, SP
Comment: Since he came one out shy of a complete game shutout of Milwaukee on May 6, Olsen has gone 0-1 in 4 starts with a 7.08 ERA and 1.92 WHIP.

Tampa Bay Rays, SP
Comment: Last time he played the Red Sox in Fenway, he was tagged for 7 earned runs in 3.2 innings. Keep him reserved.


Starbonell is UPDATE! Major League Baseball Editor.

499 Boston Red Sox OF Manny Ramirez is now 1 homer shy of the exclusive 500 home run club after a three-run shot in Boston's 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.

54 Consecutive starts by Oakland Athletics SS Bobby Crosby this season, his longest consecutive games streak since 2005, when he played in 56 straight games.

5 Houston Astros OF Hunter Pence enjoyed his first career 5-hit game this week against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. Quite a turnaround considering how awful he looked at the beginning of 2008.

1 For the first time in his last 113 starts, Arizona Diamondbacks SP Brandon Webb failed to pitch at least 5 innings when he was pulled after 4.2 innings against Atlanta on Monday.


San Diego Padres, OF
Comment: Now that Jay Bruce has splashed onto the scene with a terrific start to his MLB career, fantasy heads want to know who is the next top outfield prospect to get the call. All signs point to Chase Headly, the Padres 24-year old minor leaguer. He's almost certain to make the major-league club sooner than later as the team has had all kinds of trouble scoring runs this season. GM Kevin Towers even indicated a couple of weeks ago that some big in-house changes were in store if the Padres could not turn things around. With Jake Peavy and Chris Young on the DL, San Diego is even more desperate for runs and Headley could get the call this week. However, just because he's the next top prospect to get the call does not mean he will be a fantasy force. He was struggling mightily early in Triple-A this year and is not a major power threat (only 38 homers in 311 minor-league games heading into 2008). He's not fast either, so he will have trouble generating runs with the Padres' weak lineup. All in all, he's worth a look, but not if you have to drop a solid player or someone with higher upside..


It's a battle for supremacy of the AL East that (surprise!) does not include the Yankees. The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox have been going back and forth at the top of the division and play a big series this week at Fenway Park. Timely hitting and strong pitching have been the catalysts of success for both squads (though they both may be without two key players in this series as Daisuke Matsuzaka and Troy Percival are both dealing with injuries). So far this season, the two teams have split their head-to-head match-ups at three games apiece. Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester take the hill for Boston while Tampa is scheduled to send Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson and James Shields.

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