• Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Shea Hillenbrand finally contributed something other than team-inspiring epitaths on the clubhouse blackboard. After getting ushered out of Toronto for predicting nautical disasters, he’s been next to useless with the Giants, batting just .215 since arriving. But that was before Cincinnati came to town and Hillenbrand proceeded to go 8-for-16 with a double, two homers, three runs, five RBI and a walk in the four-game set, shooting his BA over .250. To get him going, manager Felipe Alou shifted Hillenbrand to the three-hole for this series. Barry Bonds may not be the best player in baseball anymore, but apparently batting in front of him still has its perks. If Hillenbrand maintains this batting spot, he’ll become a useful asset once again in mixed leagues.
• Speaking of reversing trends, it looks like Kyle Lohse’s bubble finally burst. I don’t know what kind of parallel universe version of Lohse has been pitching for the Reds, but he had surrendered a mere five runs in 27 1/3 innings since donning the Red stockings. Yesterday, the Giants slapped him around for that many runs over just five innings. Ah, that’s more like it. The Kyle Lohse we all knew and loathed in Minnesota is back. Order has been restored to the planet.
• The Giants are on a roll, and manager Alou has been pushing the right buttons. Besides Hillenbrand’s sudden use (see above), Pedro Feliz has emerged from a slump. Alou chose to rest Feliz for a couple of days last week, and it worked. Since then, he’s hit in five straight, going 8-for-20 with six RBI. Feliz has now matched his career high with 84 RBI and he’s on pace for 104 for the year. Combined with his multi-position eligibility, that makes him a pretty valuable commodity.

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By RotoRob
This entry was posted on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 12:40 am and is filed under BASEBALL, Fantasy Notes, RotoRob. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.