Who Didn't See This Coming?

NEWS FLASH: Erik Bedard is injured.

For the third straight season, Erik Bedard makes 15 starts and then heads to the disabled list. In fairness, Bedard's 2008 and 2009 campaigns had a short DL break *during* his 15 starts, only to be capped with a season-ending arm injury. The 2011 Bedard made 15 straight starts, looking downright dominant for the last 11. And the injury that's landed him back on the DL is a sprained left knee, which is a relief considering that this is a guy who missed all of last season recovering from shoulder surgery.

Still, Bedard's injury leaves me in a really tough spot. Jon Lester and Dan Haren continue to anchor my starting pitching, but the situation looks pretty bleak past those guys. Josh Collmenter has gotten tagged for 5+ earned runs in 3 of his last 4 starts as it appears the league has caught up with the tomahawk-throwing righty. Kyle McClellan has been inconsistent since his return from the DL, allowing 27 baserunners in 17.1 innings over three starts. Derek Holland continues to be ineffective at home, sporting a 5.89 ERA in Arlington, over 2 runs higher than his road mark. Jeff Francis has the opposite problem, posting a 3.41 ERA at home and a 6.75 away from Kauffman Stadium. Jesse Litsch is still on the DL and may not have a spot in the rotation open for him upon his return.

The Phil Coke era is over, by the way. Jim Leyland pulled the reliever-turned-starter from the rotation and put him back in the bullpen to be used as a lefty specialist. Coke showed some potential but ultimately couldn't string together enough consistent outings to keep his job, especially after a late May DL stint. He was replaced by Charlie Furbush, who I'm sure was never made fun of as a kid.

So I have 6 starting pitchers, 2 of whom cannot be used half the time due to their home road splits and 2 more that are showing signs of decline. Starting pitching is an incredibly rare and valuable commodity in a 20-team league, so naturally there are no legitimate options in the free agent pool. The Marlins just recalled Brad Hand to pitch today against the Rangers, which is not exactly a prime fantasy matchup for a dude with exactly 3 big league starts. Greg Reynolds will take the ball for the Rockies today against the Royals, but this will be his only start and then he'll be sent back to Colorado Springs. The Pirates are going to give Brad Lincoln a look today against the Nats; he's been pitching very well at AAA Indianapolis, but this is likely to be a spot start as well and he'll be sent back after the game.

My team has no chance of competing if I'm going to be heavily relying on spot start call-ups to give me innings. But who am I kidding? My team has no chance to compete anyway.

4-7-1

This one's a little dated, sorry.

Going into the last day of my Week 1 matchup, I found myself down 5-4 in the wins category and tied at 3 in losses. I had an adequate lead in strikeouts and a commanding advantage in ERA and WHIP. I had three starters slated to go on Sunday afternoon: Derek Holland, James McDonald and Erik Bedard (pictured above.) My opponent had no starters going on Sunday, so I had a decision to make:

1) Bench my starters and settle for a tie and a loss.
2) Take a shot with the best starter I've got and hope to tie in wins.
3) Go for the gusto, start everybody and shoot for the win in wins, even if it means taking a loss in losses.

There's an old saying that you can't win the pennant in April, but you can lose it. There's also an old saying that fortune favors the bold. I decided to start all three guys. No guts, no glory.

Holland went six shutout innings and beat the Orioles, drawing me into a tie in the wins category. McDonald pitched to a no decision against the Rockies. Bedard, unfortunately, got shelled for six runs in four innings of work against the surprising Indians. At the end of the day, I had a tie and a loss just like I did in the morning.

I lose 4-7-1, but it's close. My offense is less than impressive with Dunn out and Choo struggling, but I end up winning RBIs and only losing homers by 1, runs by 5, average by 3 points and OPS by 22 points. Wins and losses are unpredictable, but the skill numbers on my pitching staff (86 Ks, 3.01 ERA and 1.07 WHIP) all look really good.