Wrapping Up: Bourn hits, Liriano deals, Hoffman gives up five

CPR’s wrap up of the day’s most useful fantasy news from the diamonds of the Majors.

Hitting Heads Up
- Michael Bourn owners have once again been pleasantly surprised this season with the average the speedster has mustered thus far in 2010. Bourn has nine stolen bases on the year, but his 2-for-3 performance tonight against Cincinnati raised his average to a stellar .344. After hitting a porous .229 in 138 games in 2008, Bourn improved his hitting by nearly 60 points last year, and has improved by 60 points through three weeks of action this year. If Bourn keeps up the high average he not only will have opportunities to add to his already-high swipes, but will become even more valuable to fantasy owners as more than just a one-category stud.

- Pirates’ catcher Ryan Doumit hit a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth and finished his night 3-for-5 with two runs scored. The streaky catcher is overdue for a solid stretch at the plate. Tonight’s performance, which raised his season average to .286 for the season, could be just what he was looking for. Buy Doumit while you can.

- Nationals’ shortstop Ian Desmond added his third two-hit game in his last four contests Tuesday with two hits and two RBIs against the Cubs. Desmond has all the looks of a great young shortstop. He’s picking up pitches better lately than he was earlier in the season, a sign that he could be laying the groundwork for a stellar rookie campaign. Desmond is available in 92% of Yahoo! standard leagues.

- Speaking of shortstops, the A’s Cliff Pennington hit leadoff for Oakland in Tampa Tuesday and came through with four hits including his third homerun of the season.  Pennington is a good pickup in all mixed leagues with 14-16 teams or more.

- Pablo Sandoval is fast becoming one of my favorite players. Two more hits Tuesday drives his average up to .372 on the season. It’s not out of the question that Kung Fu Panda ends the year with a higher average than the .330 he hit in his first full season last year. Sandoval will be a viable first-round pick in most leagues next season.

- Brandon Wood followed up his three-hit performance last night with three more hits tonight including a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth from the Angels’ ninth-spot in the order. The third baseman just might be breaking out of his season-long slump, as his average slowly climbs just under .200 for the year.

Pitching Pulse
- Clay Buchholz delivered his second-straight strong start with eight innings of one-run ball Tuesday in Toronto. Buchholz is still only owned in 48% of Yahoo! standard leagues. I would trust him in just about every format at the moment. Don’t let him sit on the waiver wire too much longer.

- Francisco Liriano was dealing again Tuesday. The big lefty picked up his third win of the season with eight innings of four-hit baseball against the Tigers. Liriano struck out 10 hitters against just one walk, bringing his 2010 K/BB ratio to 27/10. Somehow he’s still available in 21% of Yahoo! standard leagues. Shame on you if he’s still available in your league. Liriano is back and better than ever. Justin Verlander was the hard luck loser on the other end, taking his second loss of the season despite allowing just an unearned run in 5.2 innings of solid pitching at Comerica.

- Arizona’s Edwin Jackson got flat out smoked Tuesday in Colorado. Jackson allowed 10 runs and 11 hits in just 2.1 innings of work as the Rockies trounced the Snakes 12-1. Jackson is a shaky starting option at best right now in most mixed leagues.

- I’ve always been a fan of Jon Garland in deep leagues because of the steady nature of the veteran righty. He’s not fancy, and he’s not usually a high-strikeout pitcher, but he often keeps his team in games. Entering his start Tuesday, Garland had 10 strikeouts in 22 innings of work this season. Garland found his strikeout pitch in Miami against the Fish, fanning 10 in six innings of three-hit baseball. Some stats are just hard to explain, but Garland’s owners will certainly take it.

Closer Checkup
- Trevor Hoffman suffered through another blown save Tuesday and this one was especially ugly. The all-time saves leader gave up a leadoff homerun to Ronny Cedeno which tied the game. Four batters later, Ryan Doumit hit a grand slam to give the Pirates some semblance of payback from their recent trouncings at the hands of the Brewers. Meanwhile for Hoffman, the missed chance is the third save he’s blown this season, which is also the same number of successful saves he has in 2010. What are you doing with the all-time great? He has job security, but five-run ninth innings never help fantasy owners looking for saves. Let us know in the comments your take on Hoffman going forward.

- Jason Motte picked up his first save of the year as Ryan Franklin had the night off in St. Louis as the Cardinals beat the Braves 5-4. Franklin is the man in the Gateway City this year, but I fully expect Motte to get a look at the job in future seasons if he can keep up the solid work.

- Baltimore’s Alfredo Simon converted his save chance against the Yankees Tuesday, despite allowing two unearned runs on two hits and a walk. Jim Johnson worked the eighth inning. ESPN’s Matthew Berry speculated on his Twitter account Tuesday evening that he expects Simon to get more chances in the future. Keep that info under your hat if you are chasing saves in your league.

- David Aardsma got his seventh save of the season at Kansas City Tuesday… Matt Capps snagged his ninth save of the year as Washington downed the Cubs 3-1… Frank Francisco got his first save of the year as Neftali Feliz rested a night after taking a loss. Watch the news out of Arlington closely in the upcoming days. Ron Washington may hand Francisco the closing job back after his solid eighth-inning work of late… Rafael Soriano collected his fifth save of the year with a perfect ninth against the A’s in Tampa… Heath Bell picked up his fifth save of the year, allowing two hits in an inning of work against the Marlins… And Jon Rauch collected his seventh save of the year with two strikeouts against the Tigers in Detroit.

Tags: Alfredo Simon, Brandon Wood, Clay Buchholz, Cliff Pennington, David Aardsma, Edwin Jackson, Fantasy Baseball, Francisco Liriano, Frank Francisco, Heath Bell, Ian Desmond, Jason Motte, Jim Johnson, Jon Garland, Jon Rauch, Justin Verlander, Matt Capps, Michael Bourn, Neftali Feliz, Pablo Sandoval, Rafael Soriano, Ronny Cedeno, Ryan Doumit, Ryan Franklin, Trevor Hoffman