Line of the Day: Ervin Santana: July 27th, 2011

Ervin Santana pitched the first no-hitter of his career, striking out 10 and walking one in a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians. It was the ninth no-hitter in the history of the Los Angeles Angels franchise and the third thrown in the majors this season. (video recap)

Line: 9 IP | 0 H | 0 ER | 1 BB | 10 K; W | QS | CG

(box score)

NOTE: ESPN's formula for Top Performances of the year ranks this as tied for the best individual pitching performance of 2011.

My fantasy perspective: Other than his 6-8 record, Santana has been a very good pitcher to own in fantasy baseball. His 3.47 ERA (3.68 FIP; 3.58 xFIP) and 1.16 WHIP are both below his career averages as well as his 20.2 K% and 6.6 BB%.

Over his last six starts, he's gone 3-0 with a 1.77 ERA and a 36/7 K/BB ratio in 45.2 innings pitched. Batters are hitting just .183 against him over that span with a .219 BABIP against. All of that is good enough to rank him as the seventh-best fantasy starting pitcher over the last 30 days.

His ownership numbers are low enough in some formats (64.5% ESPN; 65% Yahoo!; 91% CBS) that he might be sitting out there on waivers but not for long and not in any truly competitive leagues, so good luck.

Question: Where does the Angels' trio of Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Santana rank among baseball's front end of pitching staffs?

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