#2xSP: 9.12-9.18

Alright we’re back for another week of #2xSP, and the harsh (?) reality is there aren’t too many of these left. We’re starting to come down the stretch run, and if you’re like me that also means playoff time in head-to-head leagues.

We’ve had a pretty good run of success here of late, as the worst week-by-week ERA I’ve had in the last five weeks is 4.18. I mean, they haven’t all been good, but for the season I’m pretty proud of the numbers put forth.

Speaking of, here are the season numbers:

42-41
3.87 ERA
8.2 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.32 WHIP
61 quality starts

And now, onto this week’s recs (with team wRC+ in parentheses):

RHP Ervin Santana – 44.2% ESPN – @DET (103), @NYM (96)

Big Erv has been a bit more embattled in recent starts, but overall he’s been pretty great in the second half: 2.89 ERA, .644 OPS against and 57-18 K/BB ratio in 65.1 innings/10 starts. He’s not flashy, but just gets the job done. For the Twins, that makes him their de facto as, as they’ve got the worst rotation in baseball by not a small margin. He’s only faced Detroit once this year, but held them to just one earned run in seven innings back on July 20 in his second start after the break. The Mets should be an interesting matchup, though not a particularly worrisome one.

LHP Tyler Anderson – 23.4% ESPN – @ARI, v. SDP (86)

If you’re an ardent and devoted enough reader to realize we recommended Anderson last week, first of all, thank you for that. Second of all, for some reason or another he was moved back, as Rotoworld said he was slated to start Sunday after his last start, but ESPN now says he’s slated to start Monday. As far as I’m aware, someone who starts on Tuesday with no off-days in between starts again Sunday, but ESPN has Jeff Hoffman on Thursday, Tyler Chatwood on Friday, Jon Gray on Saturday and Chad Bettis on Sunday. Basically this is me telling you as I’m reading it on the Denver Post that I’m a moron and hadn’t seen that Walt Weiss’ bunch has gone to a six-man rotation. ALAS! With Anderson starting Monday this week — and I guess again next Sunday — he is now in the mix this time around with a couple kick-ass matchups. By now, you already know what I love about Anderson — grounders, strikeouts, no walks — and so far he doesn’t seem to give two sh*ts about pitching at Coors, with a 3.04 ERA at home and a 4.21 mark on the road. This guy is criminally under owned.

LHP Matt Boyd – 18.3% ESPN – v. MIN (98), @CLE (103)

Well, he’s starting against Santana on Monday so we’re all hoping for a 2-1 win for one of them, right? You’ll remember Boyd was recommended a couple weeks ago and lasted just four innings in his first start, but did well to toss a quality start to close out the week and has looked pretty good down the stretch this year. His rates for the year all look pretty good — 7.7 K/9, 1.26 WHIP, 2.8 BB/9 — and he’s been much, much better since the break. In the first half, Boyd had a 5.77 ERA and 7.1 K/9 with a 1.43 WHIP; since the break, he’s at 2.63 with an 8.1 K/9 mark and 1.15 WHIP. Frankly, I’m more worried about the Twins matchup here — look at their September numbers before you scoff — but I suspect being on the road may cool them off a bit. Just don’t pitch to Brian Dozier and you should be OK, right?