HBL Week 10

Week 10 begins with our heroes stuck somewhat firmly in the bottom half of the leagues. Yes, still. The Golden Valley 55ers sit in 9th place as the week begins - 31 points behind the Winona Whizards.

There is hope however, as the 55ers finished last week as the third hottest team, and climbed significantly up the offensive categories. Jayson Werth did turn it around, as projected, but hit only 7 singles. I called him the only "sure bet" in my outfield plays last week. The others being Bossman Junior and Carlos Beltran. Beltran ended up missing a series with that lingering flu, and batted only .235 in his return, not exactly what we were hoping for. This week I'll mix my prognostications up a little bit:

Sure Things:

Johnny Cueto should have two easy wins against WAS and KC this week.
Justin Verlander should continue to be the best pitcher in baseball, although I hate the White Sox park for pitchers.
Bossman Junior Upton will continue to terrorize pitching and the basepaths.

And that's where it stops folks, it's all tossups from here.

Should Be Good:

Lance Berkman is batting .360 something over the last two weeks, he's getting hot and that's getting me hot.

Ryan Howard is on a power binge, but isn't making consistent contact right now.

Russell Branyan will never be a sure thing, but here's to hoping the streak continues.

My closers, Francisco Cordero, Scott Downs, and Heath Bell should hopefully combine for more than the 2 saves they posted last week. I'm doubling down and leaving all 3 in.

And now for my ever favorite category . . .

Who Knows What You're Going To Get:

Troy Tulowitzki. He can't be this bad all year, can he? I'm starting him at SS and banking on a breakout.

Ben Zobrist. Power is still there, but the average is down, but I'm calling Scutaro "done" for now even though he snagged a base for me last week. Its Zobrist at 2B and Tulo at SS until I find another 2B hot streak to ride.

Welcome Rod Barajas. John Baker is gone after playing only about 3 games last week, Barajas has had a good year in TOR and I'm hoping to cash in on a little of it. Please don't go cold now!

Vlad Guerrero . . . you've never hit under .300, time to pick up the pace now that you've been back for a week. I see you stole a base last week. Please feel free to continue that this week.

Carlos Beltran is batting way over his career average, he's due to come back down, but I'm never going to have him out of my lineup, I'd be silly to miss any of his hot streaks.

Finally, there's . . .

Hi, Who Are You? :

Jeremy Bonderman has 2 starts this week. I'm likely insane for playing him, but I'm not touching Jon Sanchez and Chris Volstad has only one start in STL against Wainwright. I'll pass.

That leaves only a handful of players I'm not touching this week. As I said, no Jon Sanchez, Zumaya hasn't been handed the keys to the 9th inning yet, Doumit and Weeks are hurt, Scutaro is likely done playing over his head for a while, and I just can't trust Chris Davis yet. I want him to be RED HOT when I plug him back in for Branyan. No sense trying to buy the pot when there is so little to gain over Branyan.

Jayson Werth and Corey Hart both sit this week in favor of Vlad. Hart isn't hitting in a useful spot in the Brewers order (and likely won't all year) and Werth didn't show me anything I couldn't live without as he runs into Johan, Daisuke, Beckett, and Lester this week.