Jonathan Lee    AccuScore Analyst
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I’m still very down on Oswalt for the rest of this year.  A nagging hip injury has zapped his skills.  He has already given up a career-high 20 home runs, and opponents are batting .288 against him.  Even against the Reds he was very hittable allowing 9 hits and walking 2.  Most games allowing 11 baserunners will result in 4 or 5 runs.  Oswalt is still a solid source of strikeouts, but I don’t think this is a sign of a bounceback.

• This is exactly why everybody fell all over themselves to grab Dodger phenom Clayton Kershaw.  The southpaw only had to wait 11 days for his second career victory after going several months between his last pair of wins.  Kershaw, powered by Manny Ramirez’s 4^th home run for L.A., beat the Cardinals going 7 innings and struck out 7.  He was a bit wild walking 4 batters, but had good stuff as evidenced by the strikeouts and allowing just 3 hits and 1 run.  Jonathan Broxton saved his sixth game in place of Takashi Saito.  Saito just began throwing in an attempt to return this season, but that remains doubtful.

• Brad Penny will return to the Dodger rotation Friday against the Giants.  He is 2-2 with a 4.07 career ERA at AT&T Park, and is historically worse in the second half.  Combine those numbers with the fact he is coming off injury and he is a poor fantasy option.  I’d be wary of Penny for the rest of the year as injuries have killed his effectiveness.

• Canada’s own Jeff Francis made his own return from a disabled list stint Thursday.  His control looked fine (0 BB) but he was eminently hittable allowing 5 runs on 8 hits, 2 of them for home runs.  Ubaldo Jimenez was equally bad in the second game of the double header allowing 6 runs in 5 innings.  His base-on-balls bugaboo reared its ugly head again as Jimenez walked 6 batters.  Colorado lost both games by identical 6-3 scores.

• Chipper Jones and his .369 average is eligible to be activated from the DL on Friday.  Manager Bobby Cox however might elect to rest his superstar for another couple of days to make sure he is ready to play.  Considering Jones’ injury history, that sounds like a prudent idea.

• Joel Hanrahan saved a pair of games against Colorado Thursday in a doubleheader.  He allowed just one baserunner and threw 15 of his 21 pitches for strikes.  He might actually be a better end game fantasy option than Jon Rauch was due to his terrific strikeout rate.

• Toronto’s Vernon Wells will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A, and could be back as soon as Monday against the Tigers.

• Jason Bartlett returned Wednesday as a DH while Carl Crawford returned to the lineup on Thursday in his customary left field.  Now Rocco Baldelli might rejoin the Rays soon after dealing much of the year with a rare condition that saps his strength.  He’s not worth a roster spot, but he could be nice story in the future if he can come back.

• Mark Grudzielanek is likely done for the year with a torn ligament in his ankle.  Esteban German will see plenty of playing time at second base now, but he has very few appreciable skills at the plate.  He has gone 4-24 starting in the past 6 games.

• The committee lives in Detroit as Joel Zumaya pitched in the seventh inning and Fernando Rodney got a 4-out save.  In other closer news, Seattle’s J.J. Putz pitched the ninth inning and notched a win.  Oakland’s Brad Ziegler stretched his scoreless streak to 35 innings, and I’d bet he gets the next save chance (although that might be awhile as the A’s lost their 10^th straight).  Atlanta’s Mike Gonzalez finally got to 5 saves on the year.  Brave relievers have only 16 combined saves which for Francisco Rodriguez is just a decent month.

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