Rolling the Dice

So I decided to roll the dice (pardon the awful pun) on Daisuke Matsuzaka for a spot start Thursday night against the Royals.

After all, he was coming of a near no-hitter in his last start, the Red Sox had won five straight and, hey, it's the Royals.

The good news: Dice-K had a two-hitter this time out.

The bad news: He only lasted 4 2/3 innings, gave up three runs and, oh yeah, walked eight batters.

Go figure. Matsuzaka has to be one of the most maddening pitchers in the major leagues when it comes to fantasy. The way he fluctuates from season-to-season and game-to-game is almost impossible to read. The talent's there, but he's just not worth the roller-coaster ride.

I think I'm done with the start-and-dump strategy for a while now after getting burned by Joel Pineiro (nine runs) and now Dice-K (eight walks) in the past week.

And whatever happened to that darn "gyroball" anyway?



Photo by The Associated Press

Feeling LOST

So I've been feeling a little lost lately ... and it's not just because I just finished watching the LOST series finale (sooooo were they dead the whole time or what? In purgatory? My head hurts) ...

No, I'm feeling lost because it seems like every move I've made with my fantasy team the past few days has horribly backfired.

Case in point: I'm in desperate need of some power, so I traded for Carlos Pena last week, figuring he's due to snap out of it and smash some round-trippers sooner or later. But I figure I'll keep him on my bench for a while since he hadn't even been hitting .100 this month.

Of course he goes and hits not one but two homers Thursday against the Yankees that are of absolutely no use to me.

Oh, I had him in my lineup Friday, Saturday and Sunday after that - when he went a combined 1-for-11 with no homers.

Similar story with Jason Bay, who had gone deep just once all year and was killing my HR total. Finally benched him Saturday against the Yanks and he goes 4-for-4 ... kept him on the bench Sunday figuring he wouldn't do much damage against CC Sabathia (1-for-9 lifetime) and he jacks not one but two homers. Foiled again.

Rough time with my pitching, too, where I'm in just as desperate need of wins. Figured I'd do the grab-and-start thing with Joel Pineiro - picked him up off the waiver wire as he was coming off a complete-game, four-hit shutout and was pitching at St. Louis (where he put up some great numbers both with the Cardinals and as an opposing pitcher - up until Friday, that is). Of course he lasts just three innings, coughing up nine earned runs on nine hits, including a grand slam to Brad Penny of all people.

Thanks for playing, Joel.

Maybe I'm the one who's stuck in purgatory, and my team isn't going anywhere until I make the right choice.

I just hope there's some kind of bright light for my team at the end of all this.