The Hook

Let's Play Two will be something we'll be doing every Saturday throughout the year which will be highlighting all pitchers projected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy week, running Monday through Sunday each week. This can be a particularly useful tool for those of you either in leagues that use weekly transactions and for those of you in head to head leagues. To play along, we'll select a starter from each league and keep track of our statistics based on our Start of the Week. All home games are in CAPS.

American League

Start of the Week

After the snow in Cleveland cost us a start from each of our first two starts of the week (C.C. Sabathia and Jake Westbrook), we'll go with the hot hand of Felix Hernandez. King Felix' first two starts are drawing rave reviews for obvious reasons, but we're actually taking him based both on that and his performance against his upcoming opponents last year. While he went just .500 (3-3) against the Angels and Twins last year, Hernandez' numbers say he was better than that. He maintained a 2.62 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP against the two squads while striking out 38 in 44.2 innings.

Last Week's Selection: Jake Westbrook - 0-1, 6 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 K... Next up: vs. Chicago White Sox

On the Year: 1-1, 12.0 IP, 13 H, 5 BB, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 K (3.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP)

National League

Start of the Week

I'll be honest. Despite a full slate of seven games for every team in the National League next week, I'm not loving anyone here. John Smoltz's numbers are good, but he's the closest. I really want to take a chance on a kid like Adam Wainwright, but he struggled against the Pirates both last year out of the bullpen and in his start last week. Instead, we're going to take a chance on a different kid, and there's little history to go with. Tom Gorzelanny's mastery of the St. Louis lineup the other day in Pittsburgh was no big shock. The Cardinals always tend to struggle against lefties, particularly if they're capable of acting as a finesse lefty from time to time. Expect him to stay strong next week when he takes his act on the road against the Cardinals and the Dodgers.

Last Week's Selection: Matt Cain - 0-1, 14.0 IP, 3 H, 8 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 11 K... he lost 1-0 despite throwing a one hitter in his first start before watching the bullpen blow a 3-0 lead after throwing seven shutout innings in Coors in his second start.

On the Year: -1, 30.2 IP, 13 H, 10 BB, 3 R, 3 ER, 18 K (0.88 ERA, 0.75 WHIP)

Voting for next week's Matchup of the Week is live on the forum until Tuesday. There are quite a few great options to choose from, including a couple of battles of young guns out west (King Felix-Jered Weaver and John Lackey-Dan Haren) as well as a battle of former Braves' Cy Young winners.

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