Howard Chen AKA Mr. Fantasy's Blog

True story: Carlos Pena's known for much more than having a starring role in my Fox Toledo video bio.

He hits home runs... a ton of them.  46 last year, and with a decent-enough .282 average, more than blowing away his previous career stats.  That's a red flag right there, although with Pena's penchant for hitting righties combined with his powerful build, I overlooked it on draft day for both my teams.

Right now, I'm worried.

He's now 5 for his last 32 at-bats.  He RAISED his batting average from .194 to .197 by going 1-FOR-4 tonight.  He's struck out 6 times in his last 8 at-bats, something even Adam Dunn probably would need a major slump to pull off.  The worst thing, is that most of these at-bats are coming against right-handers.  Last year, 35 of Pena's home runs came against righties.  This year, for some odd reason, Pena, who hits from the left side, is batting over a hundred points lower versus right-handed tossers as opposed to left-handed ones.

My suggestion: still match Pena up against righthanders, but now more than ever, prior history against a pitcher's an important factor as to whether Pena gets the start.  HE IS NO LONGER A MUST START.  That said, it's not time to drop him.  Heck, C.C. Sabathia snapped out of HIS slump, so in the words of Dumb and Dumber, I'm saying there's a chance!

Other thoughts on the evening that was...

I air a segment about Casey Kotchman has done nothing in the past week, and he responds with two straight games with home runs.  Go figure.  Do notice that he's now hitting out of the 8 spot.

And while Kotchman proved Mr. Fantasy wrong on the short term, thank goodness for Prince Fielder.  I keep on saying that I think he'll finish with 50 bombs.  He finally hit 2 tonight to move his season total to 3.  Hopefully, his flip-flop with Ryan Braun in the batting order helps out his cause.

And how about the job Troy Percival's doing in Tampa, huh?  3 saves now, with still, a perfect ERA.

One more thing: Philly's Pat Burrell now has hits in 8 of his last 9 games, 6 RBI in his last 3, after a home run continued his hot streak.  Chase Utley still is the best fantasy bat in the lineup, but Burrell is leading the team in RBI's, much to the relief of Phillies fans who are waiting for Ryan Howard's bat to start picking it up a little bit.

Actually, come to think of it, even though I'm a fan of Ryan Howard's last name, his numbers are worse than Carlos Pena's.

Maybe I'm a curse for their stats, right?