Superstar Set in Stone

Jose Bautista capped a masterful week on Sunday, belting three home runs.  It's becoming safer and safer to say that 2010 was no fluke for Joey Juice.

            Jose Bautista had a week for the ages, hitting .423 with 8 R, 6HR, 9RBI and an out of this world 1.708 OPS. Jose now has 16 home runs at the quarter pole of the season and is showing more and more that the 54 he hit last year were no aberration. Raking at a .368 clip to boot, Jose is getting on base more than any other player lucky enough to be playing this game at the major league level. 

         As expected, Adrian Gonzalez is also finding his stroke, stroking five homers this week with a league leading 10RBI to go with it.  Adrian could be the single most productive hitter in the MLB if the Red Sox get it all together.  Actually, after this weekend, that seems to be more of a 'when' then an 'if'. 

         Matt Joyce was a pleasant surprise this week, hitting 4HR to go along with his .450 average.  His Sunday homer off lefty Mike Gonzalez will most certainly grant him more at bats in the future against southpaws. 

        On the pitching front, Ian Kennedy struck out 16 in 14 innings this week while also sporting a 0.64 ERA and transparent 0.86 WHIP. Wow. All of it was done for the all seeing all-knowing Guru, who of course picked him up after he was traded and dropped for no reason in New Ro MLB. Josh Beckett is also one of the top dealers as he hasn't given up a run in over 17 innings, while striking out 14. Ryan Dempster has seemed to figure things out this month as he struck out 11 Giants in his last start and has given up a total of five runs in his last three starts.  That's particularly impressive when compared to him giving up 14 runs in his previous....6 Innings.

3 Players UP: Martin Prado (ATL), Victor Martinez (DET), Todd Helton (COL)

3 Players DOWN: Brian Roberts(BAL), Sam Fuld (TB), Jonny Gomes (CIN)