It's still a numbers game

No matter what we say or do, Fantasy Baseball still comes down to being a numbers game. David Gonos takes a look at some of the more interesting numbers through a third of the baseball season.

Around this time every season, I like to take a look at some of the numbers that are sticking out in baseball. It's always interesting when you try and come up with why these numbers are where they are at, or how these stats will affect your Fantasy league. Here's the first number: 11 -- the number of seconds it took you to read this paragraph.

-14 -- The change in percentage of Fantasy ownership of Jack Cust after he hit .115 (3-for-26) in eight games since he hit his eighth homer on May 19. That loud noise you hear is the sound of a bandwagon emptying quickly. Meanwhile, Ryan Braun's ownership has increased by 54 percent.

.186 -- The opponent's batting average against Daniel Cabrera on the road this season. Yet he's still 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA away from Camden Yards. In eight starts at home, it's the complete opposite. He has a 5.07 ERA with opponents hitting .263 -- and his record is 4-2!

.250 -- My field-goal percentage during SportsLine's Tuesday night basketball extravaganza -- also my batting average during our championship season in Wednesday softball.

.361 -- Russell Martin's league-leading batting average during night games. He is only 8-for-47 (.170) in the daytime after Sunday's 0-fer vs. the Cubs. Let's not get crazy though, he has only played 13 games under the sun this season. Although, I look back to last season and he only hit .227 in 34 day games. Hmmm ... Owners with daily lineups might want to look into this more. As for the rest of you, Martin still leads all NL catchers in batting average (.307), runs scored (31), RBI (33), stolen bases (eight), walks (22) and hits (51).

1 -- The number of runs the Twins scored in support of Carlos Silva's first three starts this month. Silva had a 4.26 ERA in that span, and then he gave up seven earned runs in a start at Texas last week. But he got the win Sunday against Toronto and has a 2.53 ERA at home. His big rebound season is still in full swing, even if the lineup around him isn't.

3 -- The number of saves both Mariano Rivera and Hideki Okajima have so far this season (entering Tuesday). The Japanese import continues to work as Jonathan Papelbon's setup man. He has given up a couple earned runs over his past two games, but he had thrown 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. Rivera has been a slow starter the past couple of seasons, but with Roger Clemens joining the club, more save opportunities should be on the way. While Mo's ERA is scary, he has allowed just five hits and one walk in his past seven innings -- with no saves.

3.65 -- Brandon Webb's groundball-to-flyball ratio so far this season. He leads all major leaguers with at least 40 innings pitched. Last year at this time, the sinker throwing master had an 8-0 record and a 2.18 ERA, and was well on his way to winning the NL Cy Young. This year, he's 4-3 with a 3.74 ERA, but don't get too discouraged. He has thrown at least seven innings in eight of his past 10 starts. He'll finish better than he has started.

8.46 -- Runs in support of Daisuke Matsuzaka in the month of May -- higher than any other starter with at least 40 innings pitched this season. He has had a couple bad starts this month, but he's still 4-0 in May. The luster has fallen off his great spring and start to the season, and he's not striking out batters like he once did -- a sign that hitters are getting a book on him. Now that teams will be facing him for a second and third time, expect his ERA to continue to climb. But his record should still be OK with his lineup giving him leads.

9.30 -- Ervin Santana's road ERA in six starts this season. He's 0-5 and has allowed 11 homers in 30 innings. In contrast, he's 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA at home, with two home runs allowed in 27 innings. As much as manager Mike Scoscia doesn't want to acknowledge the splits, Fantasy owners are forced to. In '06, Santana went 6-6 on the road with a 5.95 ERA, compared to a 10-2 record at home with a 3.02 ERA. In his rookie season of '05, it was even more evident. He went 3-5 with a 7.43 ERA on the road and 9-3 with a 3.18 ERA at home. For his career, he is 9-16 with a 6.98 ERA on the road. I hope you were smart enough to start him this week for two games at home.

10 -- Players on the disabled list for the A's. Players like Jack Cust, Chad Gaudin, Alan Embree and Travis Buck have become viable Fantasy players thanks to the brittle bones of players ahead of them.

10 -- Akinori Iwamura's strikeouts so far this season. He set the season record for strikeouts by a Japanese player in 2004 with 173 Ks. He's a sparkplug for this offense, scoring the winning run Monday night against Detroit. But he's going to be going against AL pitchers for the second time soon, so expect that great start to his season to drop off a bit.

12 -- Number of holds registered by Jonathan Broxton already, second only to Matt Capps for the major-league lead. His 1.65 ERA is also the lowest of the top 12 in the holds category. If Takashi Saito goes down with injury, Broxton's the man.

12 -- Minutes it would take for Fantasy Football writer Dave Richard to eat a whole pizza. (After I mentioned this to the group, Richard quickly debated the number, saying he could eat a slice of pizza every 1.5 minutes -- which still equals 12 minutes for a whole pie. He's not a math major, what can I say?)

14 1/3 -- Consecutive scoreless innings that rookie Brandon Morrow has thrown recently -- the third-longest streak in the majors. If J.J. Putz goes down with injury, could the Mariners give Morrow a shot? Chris Reitsma is the more experienced option, but not the better one.

23 or 24 -- The age of the four super youngsters in the Brewers' infield now that 3B Ryan Braun (23) has been called up. J.J. Hardy (24) and Rickie Weeks (24) already form the second-best middle infield in Fantasy. And Prince Fielder (23) has 16 homers and 38 RBI -- and he's the youngest of the bunch! Emack and I both agree that in five years, these four players will be amazing from a Fantasy perspective -- especially when they are all hitting in the Yankees lineup, unfortunately.

25 -- Consecutive save chances converted by Takashi Saito, dating back to last season. The 37-year-old isn't invincible, but he's certainly making Dodgers fans forget about Eric Gagne.

27 -- That's how many RBI Nick Markakis has this season. While it isn't a huge number, it is impressive compared to the 11 RBI that he registered at this time last season, despite being a full-time starter as a rookie. He currently leads the Orioles in doubles (14), homers (7) and RBI. He had a big second half in '06, hitting .311 with 14 homers and 41 RBI. Many rookies that start a full season slow down in the final months, but Markakis prospered. Trade for him now.

37 -- Magglio Ordonez's league-leading total of extra-base hits. The next highest number is 31, by Chase Utley and surprisingly from Tigers teammate Curtis Granderson. He's in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .432. His Fantasy stock will never get hotter, so consider moving a player you likely drafted as a No. 2 or 3 OF for help in other categories.

59 -- Points Chris Snyder's batting average rose during an eight-game stretch from May 19 to May 28 -- from .179 to .238. He came up to the majors as a decent offensive catcher, with plenty of power (five homers in first 14 major-league games), but he has had problems hitting for average. If he can cut down on his strikeouts, he's going to be a nice mixed-league backstop by the end of the year.

68 -- Number of times Emack offers unsolicited advice throughout the average day.

100 -- The number of updates our young co-worker Michael Hurcomb can churn out in any given night. That's nearly equal to the number of hate e-mails he received after mentioning in a column that he wished Hanley Ramirez would get injured.

184 -- The number of times Ichiro came to bat before hitting into a double-play at the Royals on Saturday. His speed is measured in so many other ways than just his stolen bases. He also hits .387 with an on-base percentage of .479 with runners on base. That means it's almost a 50-50 chance that he'll get on base if there is a runner on already.

1,180 -- That's how many pitches Scott Kazmir has thrown this season in only 66 innings. Of the top 30 hurlers in pitches thrown, only one (Kip Wells) has thrown fewer innings than Kazmir. With such a bad bullpen in Tampa Bay, the only way the former Mets prospect is going to get wins is if he can go at least seven innings, giving his bullpen fewer opportunities to blow his lead. He has thrown seven innings or more in just four starts this year.

I want to hear some crazy numbers from YOU! I'll add the really good ones to next week's column.

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