Stream, Stream, Stream: #2xSP (5.18-5.24)

I’m gonna be honest with you all: if you want to stop taking my advice for a bit, that might not be a bad idea. Run in the other direction. Use Paul Charchian’s “do the opposite” for I have led you all astray. We’ll get back on track, but holy smokes this has been ugly. Avert your eyes.

Here are the totals through half of week five:

4-17 record
6.34 ERA
6.7 K/9
2.1 K/BB
1.53 WHIP

I mean, at least we’re finally approaching the league-average strikeout rate, right?

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! recs pulled courtesy of twitter pals @PandaPete21/@dontbeakedir, whom you should give a follow:

RHP Drew Hutchison – 26.9% ESPN/43% Y! – v. LAA (.282), v. SEA (.310)

It hasn’t been pretty on the whole for Hutchison, who currently sports a 6.17 ERA thanks to three starts (out of eight) in which he’s allowed at least six earned runs. On the bright side, we’re now two full starts without incident, in which he stymied the Astros and Orioles for a combined line of 11 innings, 15 strikeouts and two walks. He allowed just three earned runs in those starts, and I’m hoping like hell that’s a sign of things to come for the 24-year-old righty that people spent quite a bit on in auctions and in terms of draft value. Most encouraging for me was the 16 swinging strikes on 98 pitches last time out, too. Facing a pair of bottom-half offenses — including the Angels who are No. 29 by team wOBA — won’t hurt, either.

RHP Nate Karns – 21.6% ESPN/19% Y! – @ATL (.311), v. OAK (.315)

Karns has also mixed good and bad, with bad pretty strongly in the rearview mirror at this exact second. His season ERA is 3.77 (4.44 FIP), but he has a run of four starts in which he’s allowed just five earned runs over 21.2 innings (2.08 ERA). Now, that’s not nearly enough innings, as he’s had two five inning starts, a 4.2 clunker and a seven inning outing, but there at least seems to be a moderate propensity for damage control, even if he can run the pitch count up a little bit. And again, I’m encouraged by double-digit swing and miss numbers the last two times out against the Rangers and the Yankees.

LHP Jon Niese – 37.9% ESPN/31% Y! – v. STL (.318), @PIT (.286)

Rules are rules, and if I’ve made one promise it’s to use Niese every time he comes up. And maybe that can get me out of this funk we’re in. I’m also more than a little intrigued that he’s inducing grounders at a 57.1% rate, which is easily a career high. As I’ve said numerous times, Niese does nothing great but nothing poor either, and he’s usually relatively blowup-proof. This year, his two worst starts resulted in four earned runs apiece. Given what we’re working with so far this season, we’ll take it. He’s not going to light it up strikeouts-wise — though he has starts of five, five and six among his last five outings — but he’s rolled 40 (!) grounders in his last three starts. The Cardinals will be tough, but I really do like the Pirates matchup on the back end.