Strategic Spot Starting - Week Edition

We had some good picks last week and some not so good, but we are still performing better than chance. Looking ahead through Thursday?

Monday: Mike Mussina against KC and Jesse Litsch against Seattle are both good matchups. Litsch actually has pretty poor career numbers against the team but I'm writing the 8+ ERA off as small sample size.

Tuesday: Greg Maddux against the Dodgers is a solid spot start. He has a sub-3.00 ERA against the team and shut them out earlier this season. Aaron Cook against San Francisco would be better if it weren't at Colorado, and for that reason doesn't warrant the pick up. Tim Redding dominated the Pirates in their last meeting and is a solid option in deeper leagues despite his recent struggles. Millwood, like Cook, looks to have a good matchup but the career numbers against Kansas City suggest otherwise. I would start Eveland against New York, but I'm not sure I'd pick him up to do it.

Wednesday: Jimenez also faces SF at home, but he shut them out in their last meeting. Still, he's going through a bit of a funk and it's a high risk play. Darrell Rasner at Oakland is a good play, though he's up against Duchscherer so the Yanks will struggle for the "W". Bartolo Colon against Baltimore at home should help him rebound from recent showings.

Thursday: If Joe Blanton wants out of Oakland, his matchup against NY is a bit of an audition for a trade-deadline move. Hiroki Kuroda was great against the Cubs and has a much more attractive matchup at Petco. Lester has solid career numbers against Baltimore but struggled as of late, so a quality start against the O's would help that season ERA regress toward the mean. Vicente Padilla and Brian Bannister are desperate moves if you're far behind, but neither is a sure thing.