Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki missed Sunday's game due to a strained thigh muscle. According to the Denver Post, Rockies' manager Walt Weiss said that it "could be a couple, three days" before Tulowitzki is ready to play. Stay tuned.
In other shortstop news, It's been a rough injury year for Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez, who left Sunday's game in the ninth inning after getting hit in the left hand by a Trevor Rosenthal pitch - it was the second time in the game that Ramirez had been hit. A postgame X-ray was negative, but it might be prudent to keep Ramirez on the bench today in daily leagues if you need to set your lineup before the Dodgers announce theirs.
Sunday's studs & duds
Stud: Cardinals OF Peter Bourjos, who had a home run and two stolen bases against the Dodgers. I TOLD you he was going to have a breakout season! OK, maybe not.
Stud: Jon Lester tossed eight shutout innings on four hits while striking out eight Royals. Rumor has it that as Lester left the mound after the eighth inning, he screamed "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" at the top of his lungs.
Dud: Lester was opposed by Yordano Ventura, who gave up six runs and permitted 13 baserunners in four-and-a-third innings. Ugh.
News & notes
Dodgers OF Yasiel Puig missed Sunday's game due to a sore hand, which was hit by a pitch on Saturday. He's day to day.
The Rays gave Grant Balfour a chance to close a game on Sunday, but he walked two out of three batters before getting yanked. I'm still on the Jake McGee bandwagon.
In case you missed it, the Angels acquired RP Huston Street from the Padres on Friday night. Street will close for the Angels, much to the chagrin of Joe Smith owners. Joaquin Benoit gets the closer gig in San Diego, but if you're looking ahead to the possibility of Benoit getting traded as well, veteran Dale Thayer figures to be next in line for the Padres.
To create roster space for Street, the Angels sent 1B/DH C.J. Cron to the minors.
The Red Sox sent OF/SS Mookie Betts to the minors over the weekend. Betts will probably need someone else to get hurt before getting a meaningful return engagement in Boston this season.
The Indians plan to recall SP Danny Salazar to start on Tuesday at Minnesota. My projection is Salazar's usual three-and-two-thirds innings on 97 pitches, with five strikeouts.
Streaming starters
Mike Leake was decent but not good enough on Friday, Marcus Stroman was terrific on Saturday, and Odrisamer Despaigne flirted with a no-hitter on his way to an excellent Sunday outing. With our record at 57-41, today's pick is Mets' lefty Jon Niese (owned in 18.2 percent of FOXSports.com leagues) in his return from the DL at Seattle. Tuesday's selection is Cubs' rookie Kyle Hendricks (0.1 percent owned) against the awful Padres. Here's a FanGraphs article with some background on Hendricks.
Tomorrow is an off day for this blog. See you back here on Wednesday morning.
