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It was a big week for the Fresno State Bulldogs.  They won their first mens’ NCAA title in any sport, and completed one of the most improbable championship runs in American sports.  Alumnus Matt Garza joined the party by almost throwing a no-hitter to celebrate.  Albert Pujols returned from the DL, and Cliff Lee and Rich Harden had dominant starts of their own.

Jonathan Lee

AccuScore Analyst

Twitter @thejonlee

Fresno State became the biggest Cinderella in NCAA sports history by winning the College World Series on Wednesday.  Proud Bull Dog alumnus and current major league pitcher Matt Garza celebrated the victory by twirling a dominant gem of his own, shutting down the Marlins in a complete game performance.  Garza struck out a career-high 10 batters, and had no-hit Florida for 7 innings before allowing just a Hanley Ramirez solo home run and one walk.

Garza is still just 24 and flashed great potential in the minor leagues.  So far this season, his problems have been related to his walks and his low strikeout rate.  The K/9 number has been ticking slowly upward, and the 10 Thursday was the second time in a month he hit double digits in a start.  His ratios have been very good over his last 11 starts as well sitting at 3.06 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.  I believe Garza is for real, although he is probably performing at his peak for this season.  Long term, I think he is worthy of being a top of the rotation starter, and justify his trade for Delmon Young.

• Another Tampa Bay youngster is starting to figure things out.  Rookie 3B Evan Longoria has been raking recently, and showing why he was such a hot name to start the year.  While fellow uber-rookie Jay Bruce is struggling, Longoria has gone on a tear having appeared to figured out this major league thing.  He smacked two doubles and a home run Thursday to give him 17 extra-base hits in his last 21 games.  His average is .304 over that span, and he is also beginning to cut down on his strikeouts.

• Albert Pujols returned triumphantly from the DL and went 4-for-4 with an RBI and a walk.  This guy is incredible.  Get him back in your lineups immediately.  Todd Wellmeyer also returned from a skipped start, and threw five shutout innings allowing just four hits and zero walks.  Even with both performances, the Cardinals lost to Detroit 3-2 in extras.

• Baltimore took two out of three from the Cubs winning the rubber game 11-4.  Aubrey Huff remains eminently useful in fantasy.  He collected four hits, three runs, and two RBI Thursday and is now batting .277 for the season.

• The White Sox used three double plays to wipe out several scoring threats by the Dodgers.  John Danks was the beneficiary as he won his fifth game of the year going six innings and striking out three.  His season ERA is down to 2.62.  Clayton Kershaw once again failed to get his first major league win for L.A. walking four batters in just four innings of work.  The kid clearly is talented but needs lots of work on his game.  He’s a great keeper prospect, but not so much in mixed leagues up to 12 teams.  The Dodgers meanwhile will go to a six-man rotation until the All-Star break which will mean one less start for fantasy guys like Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley.

•  There were a couple more dominant pitching performances as both Rich Harden and Cliff Lee struck out 11 batters in 8 innings of work.  Lee gave up one run to the Giants while Harden blanked the Phillies.  Both pitchers have had terrific bounce back years.  Lee seems like he will be performing at a high level for the rest of the year, and Harden just needs to stay healthy.

• Edinson Volquez had, by far, his worst outing of the year giving up seven runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings.  Give him a break considering he still leads the NL in ERA and strikeouts.  Jesse Litsch threw very Volquez-like striking out six batters over eight innings and allowing just a single run.

• Catcher Mike Redmond (re: not Joe Mauer) batted third for the Twins and they still somehow won.  I don’t know how to feel about this.  Minnesota just seems like an awful offensive team but they have somehow won nine in a row, seven games over .500, and just 0.5 games behind the White Sox.

• Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez was once again terrific at home.  He threw eight innings of one-run ball striking out nine Texas batters in the process.  His home road splits continue to be drastic although he has been decent instead of putrid on the road this season.  His numbers at home are mind-boggling: 1.89 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 35 K in 38 IP.  Rodriguez has turned into a must-start at home.