Fantasy Baseball News and Notes from April 19th, 2011

Here are some fantasy baseball tidbits I picked up from games played on April 19th, 2011:

• DH Adam Dunn, CHW has two hits in his last 27 at-bats and may be dropped down in the batting order.
• RP J.P. Howell, TB, coming back from left shoulder surgery, is set to pitch in extended spring training after throwing a 35-pitch batting practice session. The reliever is not expected to rejoin the team until mid-May.
• C Matt Wieters, BAL is 5-for-5 with eight RBI this season with runners in scoring position.
• OF Nick Markakis, BAL has only one hit in his last 20 at-bats.
• OF Ryan Braun, MIL is 9 for 19 in his last five games, and has reached safely in all 17 games this season.
• Toronto activated RP Frank Francisco (right shoulder) off the 15-day DL and optioned SP Jesse Litsch to Triple-A Las Vegas. Francisco will be in the mix for saves with Jon Rauch depending on the situation.
• 3B David Wright, NYM is hitless in his last 16 at-bats with seven strikeouts.
• OF Michael Bourn, HOU is 8-for-8 on stolen base attempts this year and has swiped 16 straight dating to last season.
• SP Josh Johnson, FLA is now 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA, a 0.59 WHIP and a 9.00 K/9 ratio this season. He's allowed four hits or less in each of his four starts and batters are hitting .112 against him.
• OF Logan Morrison, FLA left the game in the fifth inning with a strained arch in his left foot and hopes to be back in the lineup within a couple of days.
• CL J.J. Putz, ARI is 4-for-4 in save chances this season with an 11.57 K/9 ratio over 7 IP.
• 3B/OF Alex Gordon, KC went 2-for-4, raising his batting average to .361, with two stolen bases.
• OF Grady Sizemore, CLE is 5-for-9 with two doubles, two RBI and a home run in two games since returning from knee surgery. Indians manager Manny Acta plans to let him play three or four games every five days or so. Plan accordingly.
• OF Andre Ethier, LAD went 1-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 16 games. He's hitting .362 on the season.