Rolling with Smoltz

John Smoltz has burned me twice already.

His first game back from right shoulder injury at Washington: 4 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP, and 4 ER in the first inning en route to opening his season to the tune of 9.00 ERA and a loss.

Smoltz@BAL? I passed on the action, fearing the lefty bats of Orioles would have a hit parade at my expense.

Home opener at Boston for Smoltz? Yes. Against the lowly Oakland Athletics? A resounding YES. No: 5 H for 4 ER in the fourth inning resulting in the second loss of the season.

Tonight vs the Kansas City Royals? Third time is the charm?

With forty-five minutes before tonight's 7:30 PM KC@BOS, I decided to give Smoltz's awful outing against the Oakland Athletics a review, hoping to have a better idea of whether to slot Smoltz into the starting lineup or not.

Smoltz left pitches up in the zone for a handful of well-struck doubles in the ugly fourth. He also had decent splitter and change-up going for him. A few of the singles were perhaps due to poor fielding on the Red Sox infielders or Smoltz mistakes that eluded the fielding positions.

In referencing fangraphs.com, Smoltz's BABIP was way over the league average and FIP lower than his career average.

In needs of wins, the only reason I would start Smoltz would be that he notches the W while not killing me in ERA and WHIP.

Gil Meche starts for the Royals, against a Boston team that he's had relative success with.

In the past seven games, the Royals have been hitting the ball better than the slumping Red Sox.

Basically, I have to admit that all signs point to benching Smoltz, other than that he's been rather unlucky in his return to the majors.

What am I going to do? Roll the dice with Smoltz.

If you hear screaming stemming from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, NY, please realize that I am pulling out my hair and attempting to torture myself to death in the most painful way possible as Smoltz further ruining my fantasy baseball season.