Atomic RoadRunners | Andrew Flynn’s High-Energy Fantasy Baseball

3B Chipper Jones has been voted as starter for the National League for next week’s All-Star game. Pitchers Brandon Webb, Tim Lincecum, and Brian Wilson were also named to the squad. “A little surprised, yes, because I don’t think I’ve done a super job this year. I’ve done mediocre. But I’ve done a good job saving wins. It was a little surreal, getting a call saying I made the All-Star team,” said Giants closer Brian Wilson, on joining the NL All-Star team. (Rotoworld)

Update (July 11th): Brewers OF Corey Hart was named as the final member of the NL squad for the All-Star game, receiving the most votes in the “Monster All-Star Game Final Vote”. 47 million votes were cast online at MLB.com from Sunday evening to Thursday, and Hart beat out David Wright, Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, and Carlos Lee. Evan Longoria of Tampa Bay was voted in by fans for the AL squad.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy plans to shuffle his rotation to get Tim Lincecum two starts before the All-Star break. Lincecum will pitch against the Mets on Tuesday instead of Wednesday, and then throw against the Cubs on Sunday. Kevin Correia will pitch on Wednesday, and only make one start. With the move, Lincecum has been ruled out of starting next Tuesday’s All-Star game. Lincecum is 10-1 with a 2.49 ERA, despite the fact he pitches for one of the more mediocre teams in baseball. He would have been a good candidate to start in the All-Star game, but his many Fantasy owners won’t be caring about that. (Rotoworld, CBS Sports)

Charlie Morton let up six earned runs on eight hits Sunday but the Braves rescued him with a 7-6 win after 17 innings. Morton also walked two. He hasn’t been close to decent in two consecutive starts and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Braves begin looking elsewhere for rotation help. His ERA shot up to 6.84, but he escaped with a no-decision and remains 1-2 over five starts. If he gets another shot, Morton will face the Padres. (Rotoworld)

Mark Teixeira drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 17th inning with a base knock that found the left-center field wall and the Braves topped the Astros. The Braves rallied with two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game at 6-6. The score would stay the same until Astros’ reliever Tim Byrdak loaded the bases in the 17th, then served up a fat one to Teixeira. Tex is hitting .276 with 66 RBI on the year. (Rotoworld)

Braves 3B Chipper Jones, who leads the majors with a .388 average, finished Sunday’s game against the Astros 3-for-5 with a solo homer in the first inning. His run-scoring triple in the third was his first triple since last Aug. 11 at Pittsburgh. Jones had four walks and three runs in the game. Jones is 8-for-24 (.333) with one homer, four RBI and seven walks in his last six games. Jones’ average has dropped some in the last month after batting over .400 through May, but he is still an elite hitter when healthy and there is no need to bench him in Fantasy. (CBS Sports)

Braves P Mike Gonzalez pitched two perfect relief innings during Sunday’s 17-inning win against the Astros. He pitched a scoreless ninth and 10th inning while striking out four and has worked three of the past four days, pitching four perfect innings and totaling seven strikeouts. Clearly, the gloves have already been taken off for the Tommy John survivor, making him a full-time closer now and a solid addition in all leagues where you need saves. Gonzalez has the potential to be a top-10 Fantasy closer in the second half. (CBS Sports)

The Marlins announced Sunday after their win against the Rockies that SP Josh Johnson will come off the DL to make his season debut on Thursday at San Diego. Johnson, who had reconstructive elbow surgery on Aug. 3, went 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA as a rookie in 2006, so he certainly is worth a flier in all NL-only leagues. He has the potential to prove viable in mixed leagues as well if he looks up to speed right away, but give him a start or two to prove his health first. (CBS Sports)

Diamondbacks RP Brandon Lyon managed to escape a ninth-inning jam Sunday against the Padres and preserve a 3-2 win for his 18th save. Adrian Gonzalez led off the ninth with a single and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a tailing line drive to right that bounced off the glove of a diving Justin Upton. Gonzalez initially stopped at third but both runners advanced when Upton’s throw tipped off the top of both Orlando Hudson and Chad Tracy’s gloves, making it 3-2. But Lyon struck out Chase Headley and retired Khalil Greene and Luis Rodriguez on consecutive grounders to second for his first save since June 30. Lyon has allowed three earned runs in his last four outings, but he has been a pretty stable arm for the most part in 2008. Arizona should contend in the NL down the stretch and Lyon will likely get plenty of saves chances in the second half. He remains a high-end Fantasy RP. (CBS Sports)

John Maine (forearm cramp) expects to start on Thursday as previously scheduled. He left Saturday’s start with cramping in his non-throwing arm. Asked how he planned to avoid future trouble, he stated: “Who knows? Eat more bananas. It’s just like a stinger in my arm. It’s all right.” (Rotoworld)

Cardinals SP Todd Wellemeyer allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings Sunday during a 7-1 loss to the Cubs. He didn’t issue a walk and struck out three. Wellemeyer has lost three of his last four starts and has not lasted longer than five innings in any of those outings. Wellemeyer has had plenty of troubles since being named the NL Pitcher of the Month in May. His woes have primarily come because of an elbow injury, and the right-hander has vented his frustrations over his struggles. Wellemeyer is a risky Fantasy SP until he gets back on track. His next scheduled start is for Saturday against the Pirates. Wellemeyer is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in three starts against Pittsburgh this season. (CBS Sports)

Overall Standings

Rank Team                Batting Pitching Total Dif  Behind
---- ------------------- ------- -------- ----- ---- ------
 1   Atomic Roadrunners  44.5    39.0     83.5  -0.5 0.0
 2   The Pi Train        30.0    32.0     62.0  3.0  21.5
 3   X-Men               20.5    39.0     59.5  2.0  24.0
 4   Shoeless Jews       24.5    33.5     58.0  0.0  25.5
 5   Goodfellas          33.5    20.5     54.0  1.0  29.5
 6   Stanimals           33.0    18.0     51.0  -3.5 32.5
 7   Uncle Lester        12.0    38.5     50.5  -0.5 33.0
 8   Get Off Kong!       28.0    19.0     47.0  -0.5 36.5
 9   Misogynistic Padres 26.0    19.5     45.5  -4.0 38.0
 10  Cover Zero          23.0    16.0     39.0  3.0  44.5

Yesterday's Stats

Atomic Roadrunners Players Yesterday (7/6/08)
Player                       BA HR R RBI   SB
------------------------ ------ -- - --- ----
Blanco, Gregor M. OF ATL 0.2500  0 2   0    0
Bowker, John OF SF       1.0000  0 0   0    0
Coste, Chris C PHI       0.0000  0 0   0    0
Fielder, Prince 1B MIL   0.2000  0 1   0    0
Gerut, Jody RF SD        1.0000  0 0   0    0
Hart, Corey C. RF MIL    0.5000  0 3   2    1
Headley, Chase 3B SD     0.0000  0 0   0    0
Iannetta, Chris C COL    0.0000  0 0   0    0
Jones, Chipper 3B ATL    0.6000  1 3   2    0
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN 0.6667  0 1   0    1
Reyes, Jose B. SS NYM    0.5000  0 1   0    2
Teixeira, Mark 1B ATL    0.4286  0 0   3    0
Theriot, Ryan SS CHC     0.6000  0 1   0    0
Victorino, Shane CF PHI  0.4000  0 1   0    0

Atomic Roadrunners Players Yesterday (7/6/08)
Player                      ERA  K S   W WHIP
------------------------ ------ -- - --- ----
Gonzalez, Mike RP ATL      0.00  4 0   0 0.00
Lyon, Brandon RP ARI       0.00  1 1   0 2.00
Morton, Charlie RP ATL     9.00  2 0   0 1.67
Wellemeyer, Todd SP STL    5.40  3 0   0 1.80