Spot Starters for Tuesday, May 29-Starting Pitching help for Fantasy Baseball

Was Memorial Day forgettable for your fantasy baseball pitching staff? If you’re in need of a bounce-back performance, there’s plenty of options with 14 games around the Major Leagues on tap for this Tuesday.The Padres and Cubs get things started at 2:20 ET this afternoon so if you have a daily roster lock, make sure you get your picks in early enough.

If you’re streaming starters or just need a one-game fill-in here’s three picks for today that are available in over half of ESPN leagues. To check our track record, here’s the archive and you can see the results from the past week in “The Payoff” below. Check it out:

May 24, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA: Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Justin Masterson (63) pitches during the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric P. Mull-USPRESSWIRE

The Picks

Justin Masterson-Cle: (owned in 41.3% of ESPN Leagues) After a rough stretch where he gave up eight runs to the Mariners and four to the A’s in back-to-back starts, Masterson seems to have righted the ship to some degree. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five of his six starts since then and had his best start since opening day in his last time out. He limited the Tigers to a run on five hits and five walks while striking out four and getting the win over Justin Verlander. Today, Masterson faces the Royals at 7:05 in Cleveland. He’ll match up against Will Smith who got a rude welcome to the Big Leagues from the Yankees in his MLB debut in his first and only start of the season. Despite getting smoked by the White Sox, the Tribe are the favorites and Masterson will look to build on the momentum from his last start as they look to hold on to their slim half-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central.

May 24, 2012; Flushing, NY, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Eric Stults (53) pitches against the New York Mets during the third inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Eric Stults-SD: (0.3%) Stults has two solid starts for the Padres after coming over from the White Sox. He’ll face the other Chicago team as San Diego visits Wrigley at 2:20 in the only matinee game on the slate. Stults has allowed two earned runs on eight hits and four walks in his first two starts lasting 11.2 innings. On the season he has a 1.96 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. He doesn’t rack up a ton of strikeouts (eight in 18.1 innings) but he misses bats and faces the struggling Cubs. He may not get the run support from his own struggling lineup to get the W but should at least contribute in WHIP and ERA.

Homer Bailey-Cin: (3.1%) A personal two-game winning streak has helped Bailey even his record at 3-3 as he enters tonight’s start against Pittsburgh. He has allowed three earned runs of fewer in sever of his nine starts his year and has beaten the Yankees and Braves his last two times out. He does have a tendency to give up homers, but Homer usually limits the damage outside of that tand has a decent WHIP. In his last three starts, he’s 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA. On the season he has a 4.19 ERA with a 1.38 WHIP and 40 strikeouts in 53.2 innings. He’s picked up the K numbers as well with 13 in his last two starts, and he should be able to help the Reds even their series with their NL  Central Division foes the Pirates.

Deep League options: Nate Eovaldi-LAD, Joe Saunders-Ari, Philip Humber-ChW.

The Payoff

Mixed results with yesterday’s picks as Bronson Arroyo pitched poorly and lost, Felix Doubront pitched well and won, and Scott Diamond was somewhere-in-between and got the no decision. Here’s how all the picks have fared for the past week.