The Hook

July's Kings of the Hill

As we turn the corner past the non-waiver deadline and enter the stretch run, one team shone through with some phenomenal starting pitching last month. So which team is it, you ask? It was not either of the top two current teams in baseball, the Cardinals and Yankees, as only one starter from either team would have placed in our top five. Nor was it the supposedly fearsome young guns of the Cubs, Astros, Marlins, or A's, without a single representative in the top ten.

You got it.... a team that doesn't have a single starter remaining from their 2002 squad actually had three members that make our top five starters of July. Going for their tenth (depending on who you ask, some people will say their thirteenth... 1994 had to count for something, and the 'spos had pretty much locked up the division) consecutive division crown, the Atlanta Braves have pieced together a solid five man staff that seems to complement their lineup quite well. While their numbers aren't always going to blow fantasy owners away, anyone who wouldn't have taken the July numbers of Russ Ortiz, Mike Hampton, and Jaret Wright had to be smoking something. Of the three, only Hampton saw his ERA over 2.00 (2.62), though he did rack up five wins.

So who do we choose of this troika for the award? None of them, though we added this paragraph because they simply deserved more than just honorable mention. We don't care solely about wins here at The Hook, so while our starter of the month was just 3-2, we'll show you a few other reasons that he was the most valuable starter to have in July. With apologies to Jaret Wright.....

Starter of the Month: Johan Santana
Credentials: 3-2, 1.17 ERA, 0.63 WHIP, 61 K in 46.0 IP

As much as you have to hand it to the Braves entire rotation, we're talking about an individual award here. Santana has actually been the most brilliant pitcher in the majors over the past two months, and anyone who doesn't think he's the current Cy Young favorite in the AL should face a firing squad. While his June performance was fantastic, though, his July performance was just plain special.

For starters, let's look at those two blemishes. Santana lost 2-1 to the high-powered division rival White Sox and 2-0 to the Tigers, going eight innings in each game and allowing an absolutely sick nine total baserunners in the two contests. Oh, by the way... he fanned 23 in those two games. When you don't see a W next to your pitcher's name on your stat sheet, you at least want to make sure he didn't hurt you everywhere else, and Santana hasn't hurt any fantasy owners since a late May start where he allowed seven runs.

To put Santana's gaudy strikeout numbers in perspective, he fanned just over four batters per hit allowed in the month of July (61/15). Those 15 hits were over a six start span, which means that he allowed an average of 2.5 hits per game. He didn't allow more than three in any contest, and threw seven or more innings in five of them (six innings in the other one). Santana led the majors in starter ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts last month, and I'll take a pitcher who dominates as much as he does over a measley two wins (Hampton/Ortiz) anyday. For those of you Eric Gagne owners who salivate and dream that he could pitch like he does as a closer and was still in the Dodgers' rotation, this is about what he'd look like. We could go on and on about Santana's brilliance, but there's some other hardware to hand out.

And now, for the eerie Honorable Mention candidates of the month... featuring three current Braves and two former Braves.... weird!

Honorable Mention: Jaret Wright, Jason Marquis, Russ Ortiz, Mike Hampton, Greg Maddux

Reliever of the Month: Eric Gagne
Credentials: 1-0, 11 SV, 1.20 ERA, 0.53 WHIP, 28 K in 15.0 IP

Though he had an extremely strong challenge from yet another Braves pitcher, it's time this award goes to the man we were going to name it after. Ironically, we do this for the month in which he finally blew a save, though those were the only two runs he would allow all month. Gagne was just his old self the rest of the way, destroying anything that got in his path with huge collateral damage in the strikeout department.

Gagne was second among closers with eleven saves (Jose Mesa led the league with twelve). His 1.20 ERA actually ranked sixth among closers, but the WHIP and strikeouts are where he just owns the rest of the league. No other closer had a WHIP below 0.70 (Smoltz was second at .71), while Gagne's frightening strikeout rate pushed him even further above and beyond the rest of the field. Toss in that win for good measure, and he narrowly defeats Smoltz for the award.

Honorable Mention: John Smoltz, Joe Nathan, Jose Mesa, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Isringhausen

Value Play (Starter): Jaret Wright
Credentials: 4-0, 1.42 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 32 K in 38.0 IP

While it took a while, Wright is re-establishing himself as one of the better pitchers in the league now that he's in Atlanta. The former star young righthander on the Indians' squad that lost to the Marlins in the 1997 World Series, Wright was unsuccessful in several attempts to get his career back on track. This season has been different, though. Wright finds himself 10-5 so far this season, and is in the top ten in the NL with a 3.04 ERA. Whether Leo Mazzone and Bobby Cox deserve a lot more credit than any of us have given them in the past few years remains to be seen, but it's clear that something's changed in Wright.

While he's been solid all year, July was truly the month that's made his season so far. Atlanta lost just one of his six starts this month, a 4-3 extra inning loss that saw the bullpen blow a 3-1 lead for him. Five of his six starts were quality starts, with the only non-quality start being one that was cut short to five innings at the end of the month (he did still only allow two runs). While Wright's strikeout numbers probably cost him the overall award, this preseason potential spot starter is pitching like an ace again.

Honorable Mention: Jason Marquis, Jeff Weaver, Mark Hendrickson, Jose Lima, Bronson Arroyo

Value Play (Reliever): Jose Mesa
Credentials: 0-1, 12 SV, 2.03 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 8 K in 13.1 IP

While the ERA is nice, the only number that really jumps off the table about Mesa is his save total. For a pitcher on a mediocre ballclub who is nearing the end of his career and wasn't necessarily going to close there when most preseason drafts/auctions were being held, Mesa has been a fantastic find for some owners. His numbers don't kill you (well, except for the WHIP), and he actually led the league in saves last month. I'll buy that for a dollar!

Honorable Mention: Shingo Takatsu, Justin Frasor, Chad Cordero, Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero

Fantasy Dud of the Month: Matt Morris
Credentials (or lack thereof): 3-1, 7.03 ERA, 2.01 WHIP, 14 K in 24.1 IP

How can the "ace" of the best team in baseball be the dud of the month, particularly when he was 3-1? We'll show you. Morris continued his good start/awful start routine that he's been running all year, but this time the results of the awful start were even worse than usual. In two starts, he allowed fifteen runs.... in two and a third innings. Perhaps the best part about those two starts is that we can show you just how Morris is 12-7 on the year.

Morris got smoked in his start in Chicago against a Cubs team that he's owned his entire career, allowing seven runs in 1.2 innings of work before getting pulled. However, faced with an 8-2 deficit in the third inning, the Cardinals' offense chugged along with four in the sixth, one in the seventh, one in the eighth, and three more in the ninth to win this game 11-8.... while Morris didn't get the W here, we see exactly why he's winning... run support. By the way, the Cubbies scored one run on four hits against five Redbird relievers.

Want some more? The Giants tagged Matty Mo for eight runs in less than an inning of work in his final start of the month..... a week after he threw a complete game shutout against them (see alternating good/awful). They proceeded to score.... hmmmmm.... zero the rest of the way, while that tremendous Cardinal offense didn't quite pull this one off, but cut the final deficit to a run, losing 8-7. And the Cardinals didn't want to spend the money on Randy Johnson.... we'll see how they feel about that when they get bounced in the first round of the playoffs because Morris puts them in too big a hole.

Honorable Mention: Kelvim Escobar, Mike Mussina, Cliff Lee, Eddie Guardado, Esteban Loaiza

Let's Play Two

The following is a list of all starters slated to make two starts in the following fantasy week (8/9-8/15). All home games are in CAPS.

American League

Ramon Ortiz - Kansas City, DETROIT
Aaron Sele - BALTIMORE, DETROIT
Dave Borkowski - TEXAS, Toronto
Daniel Cabrera - Anaheim, Toronto
Curt Schilling - TAMPA BAY, CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Bronson Arroyo - TAMPA BAY, CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Neal Cotts - CLEVELAND, Boston
Jon Garland - KANSAS CITY, Boston
Jake Westbrook - Chicago White Sox, MINNESOTA
Chad Durbin - TORONTO, MINNESOTA
Jason Johnson - Oakland, Anaheim
Brian Anderson - ANAHEIM, Oakland
Zack Greinke - Chicago White Sox, Oakland
Kyle Lohse - OAKLAND, Cleveland
Terry Mulholland - Seattle, Cleveland
Esteban Loaiza - TORONTO, Seattle
Kevin Brown - Texas, Seattle
Rich Harden - Minnesota, KANSAS CITY
Barry Zito - DETROIT, KANSAS CITY
Gil Meche - MINNESOTA, NEW YORK YANKEES
Jon Halama - Boston, Texas
Jorge Sosa - Boston, Texas
Mike Bacsik - Baltimore, TAMPA BAY
Ryan Drese - NEW YORK YANKEES, TAMPA BAY
Josh Towers - New York Yankees, BALTIMORE
Devin Bush - Cleveland, BALTIMORE

Start of the Week

It's a column wide rule that we're no longer allowed to take Barry Zito as our start of the week, and he is the only pitcher with dominant career numbers against his two opponents. So..... we're going to go out on a limb and take a gamble with his teammate, Rich Harden. Harden has made just two career starts against his opponents, but he has a 2.08 ERA lifetime against the Twins and Royals. Zito has a much more proven track record against the Tigers and Royals, but oh well.

Last Week's Selection: Tim Wakefield - 2-0, 12.0 IP, 10 R, 10 ER, 12 H, 4 BB, 5 K - At least he got himself in the news by winning a game in which he allowed six homers! That's the story of our AL season right there.

On the Year: 9-9, 148.1 IP, 160 H, 44 BB, 89 R, 78 ER, 88 K (4.73 ERA, 1.38 WHIP)

National League

Randy Johnson - Montreal, New York Mets
John Thomson - MILWAUKEE, ST. LOUIS
Mark Prior - SAN DIEGO, LOS ANGELES
Aaron Harang - LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO
Brandon Claussen - LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO
Jamey Wright - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Joe Kennedy - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Josh Beckett - ST. LOUIS, Milwaukee
Peter Munro - New York Mets, Montreal
Jose Lima - Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs
Doug Davis - Atlanta, FLORIDA
Livan Hernandez - ARIZONA, HOUSTON
Steve Trachsel - HOUSTON, ARIZONA
Eric Milton - COLORADO, SAN FRANCISCO
Vicente Padilla - COLORADO, SAN FRANCISCO
Josh Fogg - SAN FRANCISCO, COLORADO
Adam Eaton - Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati
Brett Tomko - Pittsburgh, Philadelphia
Kirk Rueter - Pittsburgh, Philadelphia
Chris Carpenter - Florida, Atlanta

Start of the Week

Though we tried to stray from picking him, we'll take the Unit against the Mets and Expos. Randy Johnson is a combined 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA and 1.14 WHIP against the Mets and 'Spos, and has 159 strikeouts in 118 innings against this week's foes. While the Diamondbacks may have the worst offense in baseball, neither of these teams has a tendency to light the scoreboard up either, so put the kids to bed if they like slugfests.

Last Week's Selection: Brad Penny - 1-1, 8.2 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K - All in all, it was an active week for Penny. He was traded the day after we wrote last week's column and rumored to be back on the block after moving to L.A. He stayed there and was brilliant in his first start, but allowed a leadoff homer in his second start and sprained his biceps after just fourteen pitches in his second start.

On the Year: 14-3, 149.2 IP, 132 H, 34 BB, 54 R, 46 ER, 139 K (2.77 ERA, 1.11 WHIP)

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