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

Charlie Morton blanked the Diamondbacks for seven innings to pick up a victory on Thursday night. It was a 2-0 game when Morton left, but the Braves scored four times in the top of the eighth. That ended up being a very good thing, as Mark Reynolds hit a three-run homer in a four-run bottom of the eighth before Mike Gonzalez quieted the Arizona offense. The Braves ended up winning 6-4. Morton’s best outing as a major leaguer still might be his last for a while. He’s likely to head back to Triple-A when Tom Glavine is activated. (Rotoworld) However, Morton may finally be getting into a groove at the major league level as he’s given up just two runs over 14 innings in his last two starts. He should stick in the rotation the rest of the season as the Braves look toward 2009.(Rotowire)

Padres OF Jody Gerut homered for a third straight game Thursday as San Diego fell 5-3 to the Mets. Gerut’s 10th homer of the year tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the ninth. Gerut has been hitting very nicely over the last couple of weeks, and has six multi-hit efforts in his last 12 games. Still, he doesn’t play every day and only has use in NL-only leagues for the time being. If he keeps homering, however, the Padres will have to leave him in the lineup. (CBS Sports)

Padres 3B Chase Headley cranked his eighth homer of the season Thursday in a 5-3 loss to the Mets. He now has homers in back-to-back games. Headley also stole his first career base in the contest. Headley hit 20 homers in Double-A last season, so we know the power is there. With a .244 average and a brutal BB/K ratio (9/48), he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations yet this season, but he’s a solid young talent worth holding on to in deeper mixed keeper leagues and starting in deeper NL-only formats. (CBS Sports)

Mike Gonzalez got his fifth save of the season by pitching the final 1.1 innings in Thursday’s win over Arizona. Gonzalez should get all the save chances for the Braves the rest of the season with Rafael Soriano back on the DL and probably out for the season. (Rotowire)

Washington SP Jason Bergmann earned his first win in nearly three months to help the Nationals beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3 in the first game of a doubleheader Thursday. Bergmann improved to 2-8 on the season as he allowed one run on seven hits over seven strong innings. He walked two and had seven strikeouts. Bergmann is a young hurler with a lot of upside. The fact that he’s pitching for the Nationals is the down side. And that isn’t going to change this season. Because his team rarely wins, he’s nothing but an NL-only and keeper option. However, in Fantasy Week 20 (Aug. 11-17) he pitches twice and has slightly elevated value. He’ll go against the Mets on Tuesday and then against the team he dominated Thursday, the Rockies, to end the week. (CBS Sports)

RHP Jason Marquis may have made his last start for a while. With off days Thursday, Monday and Aug. 18, manager Lou Piniella might skip Marquis at least one time. Marquis is 7-7 with a 4.73 ERA. The offense helped him snap a four-game losing streak. His most recent victory came June 21. The Cubs scored 11 runs while Marquis was on the mound for the second time this year. We likely won’t hear for sure until Sunday whether Marquis will start in Fantasy Week 20 (Aug. 11-17), so plan on reserving him in all formats at this point. (CBS Sports)

Chris Iannetta went 0-for-3 in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader and is 2-for-22 in his last seven games. He has split the Rockies’ last eight starts with Yorvit Torrealba. Iannetta had gained a clear edge in this platoon, but his slump is eroding his advantage. Still, he has a lot more short and long-term upside than Torrealba and it helps that the Rockies are essentially planning for next year already. Iannetta has taken over as the Rockies’ regular catcher and has excellent power numbers for a player at the position. But as a young player, he’ll slump like this from time to time. (Rotowire, CBS Sports)

Braves manager Bobby Cox said he might limit Chipper Jones (hamstring) to pinch-hitting duty when he comes off the disabled list on Friday. Chipper, of course, said, “I’m not planning on that whatsoever.” Depending on who wins this battle, it might be a couple days before he’s back in the starting lineup. “He might not be able to play right away. He might have to pinch-hit him for a few games,” manager Bobby Cox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. (Rotoworld, Rotowire)

Overall Standings

Rank Team                Batting Pitching Total Dif  Behind
---- ------------------- ------- -------- ----- ---- ------
 1   Atomic Roadrunners  43.5    37.0     80.5  -1.0 0.0
 2   X-Men               25.0    39.0     64.0  3.0  16.5
 3   Stanimals           27.0    32.5     59.5  -0.5 21.0
 4   Shoeless Jews       25.5    33.5     59.0  -2.0 21.5
 5   The Pi Train        29.0    28.0     57.0  -0.5 23.5
 6   Goodfellas          36.0    19.0     55.0  1.0  25.5
 7   Uncle Lester        13.0    38.0     51.0  0.0  29.5
 8   Misogynistic Padres 26.5    17.0     43.5  0.5  37.0
 9   Cover Zero          25.0    17.5     42.5  0.0  38.0
 10  Get Off Kong!       24.5    13.5     38.0  -0.5 42.5

Yesterday's Stats

Atomic Roadrunners Players Yesterday (8/7/08) F
Player                        BA HR R RBI   SB
------------------------- ------ -- - --- ----
Blake, Casey 3B LA        0.0000  0 0   0    0
Blanco, Gregor M. OF ATL  0.5000  0 2   1    0
Coste, Chris C PHI        0.0000  0 0   0    0
Fielder, Prince 1B MIL    0.0000  0 0   0    0
Gerut, Jody RF SD         0.2500  1 1   1    0
Hart, Corey C. RF MIL     0.0000  0 0   0    0
Iannetta, Chris C COL     0.0000  0 0   0    0
Moss, Brandon OF PIT      0.0000  0 0   0    0
Pearce, Steve RF PIT      0.0000  0 0   0    0
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN  0.5000  0 2   0    0
Reyes, Jose B. SS NYM     0.2000  0 0   0    0
Teixeira, Mark 1B ANA     0.0000  0 0   0    0
Theriot, Ryan SS CHC      0.0000  0 0   0    0
Victorino, Shane CF PHI   0.2500  0 0   0    0

Atomic Roadrunners Players Yesterday (8/7/08) F
Player                       ERA  K S   W WHIP
------------------------- ------ -- - --- ----
Gonzalez, Mike RP ATL       0.00  1 1   0 0.00
Lindstrom, Matt RP FLA      0.00  0 0   0 3.00