The Hook

Two Start Pitchers - May 21 - May 27

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

Daniel Cabrera - TORONTO, OAKLAND
Tim Wakefield - New York Yankees, Texas
Julian Tavarez - New York Yankees, Texas
Jose Contreras - OAKLAND, TAMPA BAY
C.C. Sabathia - SEATTLE, Detroit
Fausto Carmona - Kansas City, Detroit
Mike Maroth - LOS ANGELES ANGELS, CLEVELAND
Odalis Perez - CLEVELAND, SEATTLE
John Lackey - Detroit, New York Yankees
Carlos Silva - Texas, TORONTO
Johan Santana - Texas, TORONTO
Mike Mussina - BOSTON, LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Chien-Ming Wang - BOSTON, LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Joe Blanton - Chicago White Sox, Baltimore
Cha Seung Baek - Cleveland, Kansas City
Jarrod Washburn - Tampa Bay, Kansas City
Casey Fossum - SEATTLE, Chicago White Sox
Vicente Padilla - MINNESOTA, BOSTON
Kameron Loe - MINNESOTA, BOSTON
A.J. Burnett - Baltimore, Minnesota

Start of the Week

If I ever have someone solid enough to avoid a big gun, I'll do it. That's the case with Blue Jays righty A.J. Burnett this week. Burnett doesn't have a ton of history against either the Orioles or Twins, but what he does have is successful. He totally shut down Minnesota in his lone start against them last season, allowing one run in seven innings while striking out ten. He's already squared off against the O's twice this season, the more recent of which was a three hit complete game victory that saw him hit double digits in strikeouts as well.

Last Week's Selection: Dan Haren - 1-0, 15.0 IP, 7 H, 6 BB, 2 R, 2 ER, 14 K

On the Year: 4-4, 52.2 IP, 54 H, 18 BB, 23 R, 22 ER, 35 K (3.76 ERA, 1.37 WHIP)

National League

Brandon Webb - COLORADO, HOUSTON
Livan Hernandez - COLORADO, HOUSTON
Kyle Davies - NEW YORK METS, PHILADELPHIA
Rich Hill - San Diego, Los Angeles
Bronson Arroyo - WASHINGTON, PITTSBURGH
Kirk Saarloos - WASHINGTON, PITTSBURGH
Aaron Cook - Arizona, San Francisco
Scott Olsen - PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK METS
Chris Sampson - San Francisco, Arizona
Roy Oswalt - San Francisco, Arizona
Randy Wolf - MILWAUKEE, CHICAGO CUBS
Jeff Suppan - Los Angeles, San Diego
Jorge Sosa - Atlanta, Florida
Cole Hamels - Florida, Atlanta
Zach Duke - St. Louis, Cincinnati
Jake Peavy - CHICAGO CUBS, MILWAUKEE
Noah Lowry - HOUSTON, COLORADO
Adam Wainwright - PITTSBURGH, WASHINGTON
Levale Speigner - Cincinnati, St. Louis
Matt Chico - Cincinnati, St. Louis

Start of the Week

We'll take the easy route here. Bronson Arroyo will have the luxury of facing two offensively deficient clubs in the Pirates and Nationals, and he'll face both at home, where his ERA was a point and a half lower and his WHIP a quarter of a point lower than it was on the road last season. He has had success against each team in the past couple of seasons as well, with the Nationals being his ultimate whipping dog. In two starts last season against Washington, Arroyo struck out a Nat an inning while tossing sixteen scoreless against them.

Last Week's Selection: Greg Maddux - 1-1, 12.2 IP, 17 H, 0 BB, 8 R, 8 ER, 9 K... Maddux was absolutely brilliant in his first start (a CG against the Reds), but was equally as dreadful in his second start against Seattle, allowing 7 runs in 3+ innings.

On the Year: 7-3, 90.2 IP, 65 H, 28 BB, 27 R, 26 ER, 68 K (2.58 ERA, 1.03 WHIP)

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