Today's Fantasy Rx

Schedule recommendations for teams with 4 games

Good for hitters / Good for pitchers
Arizona: 4 Home vs. LA.
Atlanta: 4 Home vs. MON.
Baltimore: 4 Road at TB.
Cleveland: 4 Road at SEA.
Minnesota: 4 Road at KC.
New York Yankees: 4 Road at DET.
St. Louis: 4 Road at CIN.

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Boston: 4 Road at ANA.
Chicago Cubs: 4 Home vs. MIL.
Colorado: 4 Home vs. SF.
Los Angeles: 4 Road at ARI.
Milwaukee: 4 Road at CHC.
New York Mets: 4 Home vs. PHI.
Philadelphia: 4 Road at NYM.
San Francisco: 4 Road at COL.
Tampa Bay: 4 Home vs. BAL.

Bad for hitters / Good for pitchers
Chicago White Sox: 4 Road at OAK.
Montreal: 4 Road at ATL.

Bad for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Anaheim: 4 Home vs. BOS.
Cincinnati: 4 Home vs. STL.
Detroit: 4 Home vs. NYY.
Kansas City: 4 Home vs. MIN.
Oakland: 4 Home vs. CHW.
Seattle: 4 Home vs. CLE.

Schedule recommendations for teams with 3 games

Good for hitters / Good for pitchers
Pittsburgh: 3 Home vs. FLO.

Good for hitters / Bad for pitchers
Florida: 3 Road at PIT.
Houston: 3 Home vs. SD.
San Diego: 3 Road at HOU.
Texas: 3 Home vs. TOR.
Toronto: 3 Road at TEX.

No pitcher starts twice this week due to the All-Star Break; all projected starters remain subject to change this week.

Diamond Challenge

SP(6)
Pedro Martinez: Fri:@ANA(K.Escobar)
Curt Schilling: Sun:@ANA(J.Lackey)
Randy Johnson: Thu:LA(J.Weaver)
Mike Mussina: Sat:@DET(N.Robertson?)
Roy Halladay: Fri:@TEX(K.Rogers?)
Tim Hudson: No start(DL).
Javier Vazquez: Sun:@DET(J.Bonderman?)
Mark Mulder: Sun:CHW(E.Loaiza)
Roy Oswalt: Sat:SD(D.Wells)
Kerry Wood: Sun:MIL(C.Capuano)
Kevin Brown: No start(DL)
Josh Beckett: No start(DL)
Jeremy Affeldt: DL.

I see no reason not to take Randy, Vazquez, and Mulder. Given the injury questions surrounding Schilling, Mussina, and Wood, we'll deploy Pedro, Halladay, and Oswalt to complete our staff.

Wells and Mora stay benched, and then we'll run Lowell in Pittsburgh, as well as Cintron, while sitting Fullmer and Loretta, who only enjoy three games and don't offer as much power potential as Lowell.

Shadow of the Umpire(14th lg; 131st div; 3355th overall)
Week 15: July 15-July 18

C	Javy Lopez		940
C	Jason Varitek		680
1B	Mark Teixeira		760
1B	Lyle Overbay		400
2B	Alfonso Soriano		1930 
2B	Orlando Hudson		550
3B	Hank Blalock		850 
3B	Joe Crede		600
SS	Alex Rodriguez		2010 
SS	Brian Roberts		610 
OF	Carlos Beltran		1760
OF	Carl Crawford		1040
OF	Scott Podsednik		980
OF	Brad Wilkerson		690 
OF	Adam Dunn		690
OF	Miguel Cabrera		570
DH	Mike Lowell		1230
DH	Alex Cintron		450 

SP	Pedro Martinez		1800 
SP	Randy Johnson		1550 
SP	Roy Halladay		1350
SP	Javier Vazquez		1280
SP	Mark Mulder		1200 
SP	Roy Oswalt		1200
RP	Eric Gagne		1890
RP	Octavio Dotel		1250 
RP	Danny Graves		1070
RP	Matt Herges		670

Total Salary for Week 15: 	29890

Diamond Challenge 2nd Season

Although we should have made this move a week ago when he showed up on free agent lists, we're going to add Jerry Hairston today to give us an alternate second baseman and an extra speed source. Even if Baltimore deals him, his developed plate discipline suggests he still should hold a helpful BA and steal at least a dozen more bases. We'll cut Jeremy Affeldt since we know he'll miss several weeks but all three outfielders could return relatively soon.

SP(6)
Pedro Martinez: Fri:@ANA(K.Escobar)
Curt Schilling: Sun:@ANA(J.Lackey)
Randy Johnson: Thu:LA(J.Weaver)
Roy Halladay: Fri:@TEX(K.Rogers?)
Javier Vazquez: Sun:@DET(J.Bonderman?)
Jason Schmidt: Sat:@COL(A.Cook)
Mark Mulder: Sun:CHW(E.Loaiza)
Roy Oswalt: Sat:SD(D.Wells)
Roger Clemens: Sun:SD(B.Lawrence)
Brad Penny: Sat:@PIT(Ol.Perez)
Ben Sheets: Sat:@CHC(G.Maddux)
Jon Lieber: Fri:@DET(Jas.Johnson?)

Randy, Vazquez, Mulder, and Sheets appear quite solid. As Pedro and Lieber probably offer the most upside of the remaining starters, we'll deploy them to round out our rotation.

Wells, Mora, and Griffey obviously don't belong in any active lineup, leaving us to deploy all our Rockies and the Wilson/Lawton section of the Colorado platoon. The slumping Berkman and Uribe both hit our bench, and then Hairston replaces Loretta to let us squeeze under the cap.

Umpire: The Masquerade
(4th lg; 66th div; 538th overall)
Week 15: July 15-July 18

C	Jason Varitek		680
C	Victor Martinez		450
1B	David Ortiz		800 
1B	Lyle Overbay		400
2B	Jeff Kent		1450
2B	Jerry Hairston, Jr.	660
3B	Scott Rolen		1460 
3B	Hank Blalock		850 
SS	Alex Rodriguez		2010 
SS	Royce Clayton		610
OF	Bobby Abreu		1630
OF	Manny Ramirez		1420 
OF	Carl Crawford		1040 
OF	Jeromy Burnitz		810
OF	Matt Lawton		720 
OF	Miguel Cabrera		570 
DH	Vinny Castilla		760
DH	Craig Wilson		620

SP	Pedro Martinez		1800 
SP	Randy Johnson		1550 
SP	Javier Vazquez		1280 
SP	Mark Mulder		1200
SP	Ben Sheets		870
SP	Jon Lieber		840
RP	Danny Graves		1070
RP	Danny Kolb		940 
RP	Joe Nathan		720 
RP	Matt Herges		670

Total Salary for Week 15: 	27880

Internet Challenge

SP(6)
Randy Johnson: Thu:LA(J.Weaver)

No starts: Pedro, Schilling, Randy, Mussina, Halladay, Vazquez, Schmidt, Mulder, Oswalt, Wood, K.Brown, Beckett, & Affeldt.

We're making almost no changes here to save a couple bucks since we'll need to run a few batters and five pitchers that won't play Thursday no matter which players we select. To move Podsednik and Cintron into the lineup, we'll sit Loretta and Blalock.

The Umpire Hunter(17th lg; 522nd overall)
Week 15a: July 15

C	Jason Varitek		680 
C	Victor Martinez		450
1B	Lyle Overbay		400
1B	Mark Teixeira		760
2B	Alfonso Soriano		1930
2B	Orlando Hudson		550
3B	Scott Rolen		1460 
3B	Joe Crede		600
SS	Alex Rodriguez		2010 
SS	Kazuo Matsui		750
OF	Carlos Beltran		1760 
OF	Carl Crawford		1040 
OF	Scott Podsednik		980
OF	Brad Wilkerson		690 
OF	Adam Dunn		690
OF	Miguel Cabrera		570 
DH	Mike Piazza		990 
DH	Alex Cintron		450

SP	Randy Johnson		1550 
SP	Mike Mussina		1380
SP	Roy Halladay		1350 
SP	Javier Vazquez		1280  
SP	Jason Schmidt		1240 
SP	Jeremy Affeldt		650
RP	Eric Gagne		1890
RP	Octavio Dotel		1250
RP	Danny Kolb		940
RP	Matt Herges		670

Total Salary for Week 15a: 	28960

Fantasy Baseball & Budget Baseball
(Same game = same rosters and moves for both teams)

SP(6)
Curt Schilling: Sun:@ANA(J.Lackey)
Randy Johnson: Thu:LA(J.Weaver)
Javier Vazquez: Sun:@DET(J.Bonderman?)
Pedro Martinez: Fri:@ANA(K.Escobar)
Kerry Wood: Sun:MIL(C.Capuano)
Tim Hudson: No start(DL)
Roy Halladay: Fri:@TEX(K.Rogers?)
Jason Schmidt: Sat:@COL(A.Cook)
Josh Beckett: No start(DL)
Kevin Brown: No start(DL)

Since we don't need to worry about qualitative disasters, we'll run Schilling, Johnson, Vazquez, Pedro, Halladay, and Schmidt.

Offensively, Helton, Loretta, Lowell, and Cintron replace Pujols, Soriano, Batista, and Orlando Cabrera.

The Umpire Chronicles(13th lg; 1496th overall)
& Umpire with a Soul(19th lg; 3059th overall)
Week 15: July 15-July 18

 
C	Brian Schneider		1100
C	Johnny Estrada		1000 
1B	Mark Teixeira		1550
1B	Lyle Overbay		1000 
2B	Mark Loretta		1650 
2B	Orlando Hudson		1420
3B	Mike Lowell		2380
3B	Hank Blalock		2020 
SS	Brian Roberts		1260 
SS	Alex Cintron		1100
OF	Carlos Beltran		3060
OF	Manny Ramirez		2960 
OF	Adam Dunn		1950 
OF	Brad Wilkerson		1870 
OF	Hideki Matsui		1800
OF	Miguel Cabrera		1600 
DH	Todd Helton		3450
DH	Derrek Lee		2690 

SP	Curt Schilling		3090
SP	Randy Johnson		2900 
SP	Javier Vazquez		2890
SP	Pedro Martinez		2890 
SP	Roy Halladay		2800 
SP	Jason Schmidt		2780 
RP	Armando Benitez		2490
RP	Octavio Dotel		2400
RP	Matt Herges		1610 
RP	Joe Nathan		1420

Total Salary for Week 15: 	59130

Today's Fantasy Rx: For the first time since 2001, we will not attend the Futures' Game. Driving to Houston simply isn't as feasible as day trips to Milwaukee and Chicago, although we hope to see Detroit next summer. However, we still will watch the game, shown live on ESPN2 today at 3PM(CDT), and tomorrow will present our normal box score and prospect analysis from the game. Plan either to watch or tape the game today since you should see the majority of these players in the majors by the fall of 2005.

Also, generally avoid buying new players today since expected trades over the next few days could drastically alter player values, especially in contests where you can own anyone.