Fantasy Baseball

Howard said earlier this week that his knee has been bothering him again, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. [...] Read more Ryan Howard news

Utley (oblique) would have begun his rehab assignment Tuesday had the weather cooperated, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. [...] Read more Chase Utley news

Scott Cunningham/Getty ImagesZack Wheeler's teammates doused him with beverages after his first major league win.ATLANTAFIRST PITCH: The Mets may rival the Miami Marlins for futility in 2013, but Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler -- 1A and 1B – offer the hope to fans of better days to come.“They’re going to enjoy watching these two guys for a long time,” Terry Collins said after Harvey and Wheeler earned the victories in a doubleheader sweep at Turner Field on Tuesday. Read more Matt Harvey news

Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong had all five pins removed from his right hand Tuesday, which could accelerate the pace of his recovery from his fractured right pinkie. Read more Ryan Vogelsong news

by Christopher Cosgrove Pitchers owned the night on Tuesday, with 4 double-digit strikeout showings, only one team in the league scoring double-digit runs and a scoreboard that could have been confused with the NHL’s.  Let’s take a look at the performances of some familiar aces, new faces, and under the radar streaming options in today’s Around the Majors: Matt Cain was dominant Tuesday night, striking out 10 and allowing just 2 ER on 6 H and 0 BB over 7 IP at AT&T Park.  Over his last 3 starts (20.2 IP), Cain sports a sparkling 1.30 ERA and 0.82 WHIP with 17 K.  Hopefully you were able to buy low a few weeks ago; that window is now boarded up. Daniel Nava’s solo homer (10) off Jake Odorizzi was his 65th hit of the year, tying his career high for a single season.  The 30 year old has been a fantasy revelation this season, batting .286 with 42 R, 10 HR and 45 RBI, and may finally be shedding the ‘guy on my team who is doing great but I feel like he’ll probably start to fade and I wish he’d just get it over with’ stigma.  Nava struggled over the second half of 2012, hitting just .188 over 96 ABs, but has such a limited sample size of major league service time that we might as well throw that stat out and see how far he can take us. How much would you have been willing to bet yesterday that the Astros wouldn’t score the most runs in the league Tuesday night, and that their #8 hitter wouldn’t be the RBI leader on the day?  Good thing you were responsible, since 3B Matt Dominguez crushed a grand slam off Tom Gorzelanny and finished 2-3 with 5 RBIs in the Astros 10-1 rout of the Brewers.  Nothing to see here, just a feel good moment. Jordan Lyles rang up another quality start on Tuesday, giving up just 1 ER on 7 H and 0 BB over 7 IP, striking out 5 Brewers.  It was the 22-year old’s 5th quality start over his last 6 tries, and he now sports a 3.22 season ERA over 10 starts.  Excluding his worst start of the year (4 IP, 8 ER against the Rangers on 5/12), Lyles has a miniscule 2.14 ERA over his other 9 starts and is emerging as the ace of the Astros’ rotation.  He won’t offer much in the way of strikeout potential this year and will struggle to pick up Wins, but is an excellent streaming option right now for help with your ratios and is someone to take a look at in dynasty leagues. Matt Harvey struck out a career high 13 batters during the first leg of the Mets’ doubleheader against the Braves on Tuesday, cruising through 7 IP before getting touched up for 3 runs in the 8th inning and finishing with a line of 7 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 13 K.  Harvey is now up to 104 IP on the year after his 116 pitch effort on Tuesday, and with having never gone more than 170 IP in a single season, look for the out-of-contention Mets to potentially shut Harvey down in September. Something to keep an eye on if you expect to be in your fantasy playoffs. The Braves didn’t have it much easier in the second half of the doubleheader, as prized Mets prospect Zack Wheeler took the hill for his much anticipated major league debut.  Wheeler outdueled Paul Maholm to pick up the W, going 6 scoreless innings while yielding 4 H and 5 BB, striking out 7.  Wheeler was a little wild, throwing just 55 of his 102 pitches for strikes, but flashed the ability to blow hitters away with his high-90s fastball in order to escape the dicey situations he encountered.  If he’s somehow still available in your league (you should find a new league), pick him up and get him in your lineup for his next start against the anemic White Sox offense (.239 AVG; .292 OBP). Josh Rutledge continued to scuffle at the top of the Rockies lineup, going 0-4 with a K to bring him to 1-14 with 5 K in 4 games since being recalled from AAA Colorado Springs.  Rutledge is likely not in danger of being sent back down with Troy Tulowitzki on the shelf for the next 4-6 weeks, but will need to start making better contact to stay at the top of the lineup. Jarrod Parker evened his record at 6-6 on Tuesday, yield

One day after Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler gave Mets fans a glimpse of their future, the team plans to cement another brick of that plan in place. First-round Draft pick Dominic Smith will officially sign with the Mets on Wednesday, the first baseman confirmed via his Twitter account late Tuesday night. Read more Matt Harvey news

Considering David Wright is already the Mets' all-time hits leader, every milestone from here is simply gravy. The latest occurred Tuesday evening, when Wright rapped out a ninth-inning single for his 1,500th career hit. That extended his franchise lead and moved him into a tie for 593rd place all time. Read more David Wright news

Here we are, already in the middle of Week 12 of what was, not too long ago, a new fantasy baseball season. Where does the time go? Better yet, where did Tyler Skaggs go? I figured Arizona would give him some more time before sending down that phenom, but alas, I can’t win them all Read more Tyler Skaggs news

ST. LOUIS - The Chicago Cubs went through Carlos Marmol, Kyuji Fujikawa and a closer-by-committee strategy the first two weeks of the season before rescuing Kevin Gregg from the scrap heap in mid-April and watching him succeed in his old role. Read more Carlos Marmol news

By the time Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright righted his wayward mechanics before the start of the second inning Tuesday, it was already too late. Read more Adam Wainwright news