Welcome as we go 2 for 2 for the 3rd time this season. Here is everything you need to know about this coming weeks pitching matchups and our 2 choices for pitchers that have two favorable starts on the schedule. These are the pitchers that you may consider adding to your weekly roster or ones that you may want to pick up and stream a start. If you are new to this game or unfamiliar with the strategy of streaming starting pitchers, click here for a refresher and some great links you can use.

Streaming is using as many starting pitchers as you can to try to accumulate as many counting stats as possible (Wins and Ks primarily). There is nothing wrong with streaming, if the leagues rules allow it. It could be done by any owner during the season, so you need to be informed.

In this article you will find the FANFOOD Top 10 Pitchers with two starts, followed by a list of all of them. The FANFOOD 2 for 2 Starting Pitchers will be not be chosen from the “MUST STARTS”, those pitchers will always be in your lineup. They may be the Starting Pitchers outside the TOP 10 that you probably have on your bench or ones that you could find on the waiver wire. They are guys that we feel will give you two quality starts.  [ +/- 6 IP,  +/- 3 ER ].  

Also included in this article are some SP notes to help you decided on next weeks roster, followed by one streaming starter for each day of the week that the stat geeks over at the Muthaship think will be a viable option for your fantasy roster in the coming days. And if all this wasn’t enough, it’s followed by a great recipe. This time it’s ultimate BBQ Beans and Rice.

Lets get to it.

—————————

FANFOOD 2 for 2 week 3

1. Chris Archer

Week 3 Starts: Mon-@BAL (Chen), Sat-NYY (Nova)

notes from around the web:

2. Yordano Ventura

Week 3 Starts: Tue-@HOU (Harrell), Sun-MIN (Hughes)

notes from around the web:

Top of Page

—————————

FANFOOD TOP 10

2XSP week 3

1. Stephen Strasburg (WSH) — Tue-@MIA (Koehler), Sun-STL (Miller)
2. Anibal Sanchez (DET) — Tue-CLE (McAllister), Sun-LAA (Santiago)
3. Gerrit Cole (PIT) — Tue-@CIN (Leake), Sun-MIL (Estrada)
4. Cliff Lee (PHI) — Tue-ATL (Hale), Sun-@COL (Nicasio)
5. Masahiro Tanaka (NYY) — Tue-CHC (Hammel), Sun-@TB (Odorizzi)
6. Jordan Zimmermann (WSH) — Mon-@MIA (Hand), Sat-STL (Lynn)
7. Shelby Miller (STL) — Tue-@MIL (Estrada), Sun-@WSH (Strasburg)
8. Marco Estrada (MIL) — Tue-STL (Miller), Sun-@PIT (Cole)
9. Homer Bailey (CIN) — Mon-PIT (Rodriguez), Sun-@CHC (Jackson)
10. Lance Lynn (STL) — Mon-@MIL (Garza), Sat-@WSH (Zimmermann)

Top of Page

—————————

ALL Two Start Pitchers week 3

Top of Page

—————————

SP Notes:

• Saturday will be the first date the Detroit Tigers need a fifth starter, and Drew Smyly is still expected to occupy that spot.
• With James Paxton landing on the disabled list this past week, the Seattle Mariners will need a fifth starter as soon as Tuesday. Taijuan Walker (shoulder) made a rehabilitation start on April 9 and is a candidate to fill that spot.
• The Texas Rangers haven’t formally announced a date for Colby Lewis’ first start of 2014, but it’s expected to be either Monday or Tuesday. What’s projected above is the team moving him back as far as off days will allow.
• The Tampa Bay Rays haven’t yet decided upon Matt Moore’s rotation replacement, who will be first needed on April 13. Erik Bedard and Cesar Ramos are the leading candidates, with the winner next scheduled to pitch on Friday.
• It’s unclear how quickly the Arizona Diamondbacks will place Josh Collmenter in their rotation, but after Randall Delgado’s poor April 10 outing, it’s possible it could happen as soon as Tuesday, Delgado’s next scheduled start.
• The Chicago Cubs could skip fifth starter Carlos Villanueva thanks to two off days this week; Jason Hammel would pick up a second start in that event.
• Tyler Chatwood (hamstring) is expected to return to the Colorado Rockies’ rotation on April 13, setting him up for a Friday start. Jordan Lyles will remain in the rotation, meaning that Franklin Morales is likely to get the boot.
• Jonathan Pettibone has been tabbed the Philadelphia Phillies’ fifth starter, with his first turn set for April 12; he’d then be lined up for a Thursday start.

Source::

Top of Page

—————————

Streamer’s Delight

Seven streaming candidates, one for each day of the week, and ranked in terms of overall quality.

1. Tyler Skaggs (OAK, Wednesday): He really shouldn’t qualify for the under-25-percent-owned class; Skaggs has made the requisite adjustments to be rostered in a greater percentage of leagues. Keep enjoying the quality results.
2. Ian Kennedy (COL, Thursday): He has seven quality starts and a 2.61 ERA in 13 career turns at Petco Park and five quality starts and a 2.11 ERA in eight career games against the Colorado Rockies that weren’t played at Coors Field.
3. Brandon Morrow (@MIN, Tuesday): His velocity kicked up markedly in start No. 2 (95.4 mph on average with his fastball) compared to his first turn (93.6 mph), and the Minnesota Twins have been one of the 10 most K-prone teams thus far.
4. Jesse Chavez (HOU, Sunday): Between spring training and his first two regular-season starts, Chavez has 38 K’s in 41⅓ innings and a 23.8 percent strikeout rate. Now he’ll go up against baseball’s most whiff-prone team since the start of 2013.
5. Alfredo Simon (@CHC, Friday): This Chicago Cubs team has batted just .230/.311/.332 (.286 wOBA) against right-handers thus far, and Simon followed up a promising spring training with a standout 2014 regular-season debut.
6. Jason Vargas (MIN, Saturday): A changeup artist — he has a .230 wOBA allowed with the pitch since the beginning of 2013 — Vargas battles a Minnesota Twins team with the eighth-worst team wOBA against changeups since the 2013 All-Star break (.300).
7. Robbie Ross (SEA, Monday): The Seattle Mariners have a lefty-laden lineup, so he’ll have the platoon advantage, but the other benefit here is Ross’ greater success against righties historically (.266 wOBA allowed in his career).

source: Tristan H. Cockcroft | :

Top of Page

——————————————

BBQ Red Beans and Rice

The key is to cook all of this just the right amount of time to get the fat and gelatin out of the hocks, evaporate the water, and to get all the starchiness out of the beans, without over cooking them. In this recipe, you actually smoke the water the beans are immersed in so the liquid is smoky – sort of like slow crock pot beans in the pit. In summary, you smoke the ham hocks first and smoke the liquid the beans are in and you take the little nuggets of meat out of each ham hock before disposing, mince it up, and disperse it back in with the beans.

Ingredients (serves 6)

3 ham hocks (about 1 ½ pounds from Walmart)
1 pound of dry red beans (not kidney beans)
6 cups of water

The Holy Trinity:

1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 tablespoon lard (or bacon grease / cooking oil)
1 teaspoon SYD Hot Rub

The Aromatics:

3 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp Hot BBQ Rub
Salt and pepper to taste

Rice Ingredients

1 cup of converted white rice (e.g. Uncle Ben’s)
2 1/4 cups of water
1 tbsp of butter (add a hefty pinch of salt if unsalted butter)
1 tbsp minced green bell pepper (optional)
1 tbsp minced onion (optional)
1 tbsp minced celery (optional)

Garnish: Sliced Scallions

PREPARATION

Soak the beans in plenty of water for 8 hours (or overnight), then drain.

Setup a smoker such as Weber Smokey Mountain with enough briquettes to burn around 10 hours at 250F.

Once your smoker is stable around 250F, add a couple of your favorite wood chunks. I used apple. Do this dish next time you cook pork butts which takes about 8 hours anyway

Smoke 3 ham hocks (about 1 ½ pounds) at 250F for 1 hour in your pit. The internal temp will be around 140F

Pour the soaked and drained red beans into a 6 quart pot. Add the double smoked hocks and 6 cups of water. Put the pot on your kitchen burner on high heat and bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer, skim off any scum off the top and dispose

In a separate saucepan, saute the Holy Trinity in the lard with 1 teaspoon SYD Hot Rub (or 1/2 tsp salt) until the mixture is soft, translucent, and slightly caramelized. Turn burner off and mix in the aromatics with the holy trinity.

Add the sauteed holy trinity and aromatics to the pot of simmering red beans. Turn stove to high and once boil is achieved again, turn off the burner.

Transfer the pot in the smoker. To minimize the outside of your pot being stained, you can cover the outside of the pot with foil to keep it clean

Smoke the beans in the pot uncovered for 5 hours then remove the ham hocks using tongs and set aside. This step will keep the hocks from breaking up into tiny pieces and minimize leaving small annoying bone fragments that would be hard to pick out later

Cover the pot with a lid and close the smoker back up and continue cooking for 3 more hours, or longer, to the tenderness you want
After the reserved hocks are cooled down, pick all the meat off the hocks and mince into pieces and reserve.

Pull the finished beans out of the smoker and add in the reserved pieces of minced hock meat. Put the beans on the stove on high for just a few minutes, stirring constantly–this will help break up the beans a bit and make a nice velvety consistency. Adjust the thickness of the beans to your liking by either adding a little water if too thick, or reducing it a bit if too watery. When you have your desired consistency, add 2 tbsp of your Hot Meat Rub and then salt to taste.

Prepare the converted rice by putting the rice, water & butter (and optional minced holy trinity) in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to low, cover and steam for 20 minutes. Open and fluff gently with a fork.

To serve, ladle in beans into a bowl, then take a tea or coffee cup (8 oz and rounded) and pack in an appropriate amount of cooked converted rice. Then flip the molded rice into the center of the bowl. Garnish with sliced scallions. Enjoy!

High Heat 2 for 2, BBQ, FANFOOD Fantasy Baseball, pork, recipes, sides, smoked