Fantasy Baseball News and Notes from June 12th, 2011

Here are some fantasy baseball-relevant tidbits and notes I picked up from box scores and recaps from games played on Sunday, June 12th, 2011:

• Miguel Olivo homered twice, giving him 10 on the season. It was the fourth multihomer game of his career. Over the last 30 days, he's put up a 5x5 line of .289/16/8/21/2, making him the #1-ranked fantasy catcher over that span. He's only owned in 40.5% of ESPN and 39% of Yahoo! leagues.
• Ichiro Suzuki had his second consecutive two-hit game. I think someone translated all of those "Is Ichiro done?" articles. I think the answer is no. Sure he's only hitting .258 but still on pace for 172 hits and 34 stolen bases. I'll take the over on batting average and hits at this point and under on stolen bases.
• Derek Jeter had two hits and is now at 2,993 for his career. You could do a lot worse at shortstop in fantasy baseball than the Yankee Captain. I'll be watching and cheering when 3,000 comes.
• Curtis Granderson went 4-for-4 and now has a season's 5x5 line of .279/54/20/47/10 making him the 5th-best fantasy baseball player this season. Not bad for a guy with an ADP of 91.6 in ESPN leagues.
• Jon Lester became the AL's first nine-game winner.
• Jose Bautista ended a 13-game homerless streak with his 21st of the season. He's still on pace for 52 home runs. Fluke? Nope.
• Dustin Pedroia (5), Adrian Gonzalez (13), Kevin Youkilis (9) and David Ortiz (17) all homered. The Red Sox offense has scored 30 runs in their last two games. I think it's safe to say they're firing on all cylinders.
• Kyle Drabek gave up eight earned runs in four innings and saw his ERA jump from 4.98 to 5.70 with a 1.79 WHIP. If he wasn't already unownable prior to this start, he definitely is now.
• Daniel Hudson won for the seventh time in eight decisions since starting the season 0-4. Congrats to all the owners who stuck with him or those who were able to grab him off waivers.
• Ryan Roberts hit his 10th home run of the season and second in two days. He also has nine stolen bases on the season and now on pace for a 25/22 season. He qualifies at 2B, 3B and even OF in some formats. This all screams MUST OWN to me.
• Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 15th save in 16 chances. Brad Lidge who?
• Johnny Damon hit his 27th career leadoff home run and has reached base in a career-best 37 consecutive games. He's only owned in 54% of all Yahoo! leagues. Look past the name. His numbers (.279/30/8/33/7) are very ownable.
• Evan Longoria hit his first career inside-the-park home run. Discuss.
• J.P. Howell picked up his first save of the season. Kyle Farnsworth was not available because of the flu. Keep an eye on who gets the next handful of saves for the Rays.
• Jose Reyes had three hits, including a home run, and increased his batting average to a major league-leading .346. He's the sixth-ranked player in fantasy baseball and doing all he can to get a one-way ticket out of New York.
• Andrew McCutchen has an 11-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .488 (20/41) with 10 RBI.
• Tommy Hanson struck out a career-high 14 against the Astros to earn COSFBA's "Line of the Day" award (shameless plug). He improved to 3-0 with a 0.97 ERA in five career starts against the Houston.
• Dan Uggla broke out of a 7-for-76 slump by going 5-for-11 with a home run in last three games against Houston.
• Wandy Rodriguez was activated from the DL and scheduled to start today. Adjust your rosters accordingly.
• Prince Fielder hit 19th home run of the season, a 440 foot blast, and continues to lead the NL in RBI with 58. Enjoy it while you can, Brewers fans.
• John Axford converted his 15th straight save opportunity and 18th out of 20 overall.
• Philip Humber is 5-1 with a 2.53 ERA over his last nine starts and is now owned in 59.6% of ESPN and 45% of Yahoo! leagues. Grab him off waivers if you're struggling in your pitching categories.
• Adam Dunn hit his second home run in four games. He's 3/12 (.250) with six RBI and three walks over that span. Sad to celebrate those numbers as a "good thing" but it is. And more of the bad: he's hitting .031 (1-for-47) against left-handed pitching this season.
• Francisco Liriano was six outs from his second no-hitter of the season. In his last 38 innings, he has a 1.89 ERA and allowed 17 hits and 17 walks. That's what fantasy owners wanted to see.
• Matt Kemp hit his NL-leading 20th home run and is the #1-ranked fantasy baseball player this season with his .331/45/20/56/14 line and on pace for a 48/34 season. There's the future MVP we've all been waiting to see.
• Pablo Sandoval was activated from the DL. Adjust your rosters accordingly.
• Brian Wilson converted his 18th save in 20 opportunities. His beard approves.

PHEW! That was a mouthful of information. I'll be sure to get started on those recaps earlier in the day to have them posted at a more favorable time. Regardless, please enjoy and feel free to comment or let me know how helpful this information would be if delivered earlier in the day after.