When I was setting my weekly lineup to begin the week the biggest dilemma I faced was whether to start Matt Moore or David Phelps. I originally had Phelps rated higher that Moore in my starting pitcher rankings last week, but after watching him get pummeled by the Orioles on Saturday I had to reconsider my ranking. Monday morning I replaced Phelps with Moore in my starting lineup. Basically, Moore and Phelps had the same strikeout rate and relatively the same walk rate, but the major difference between the two was the likelihood of dominating and earning a win. As I watched the Rays game (live for a change) I was pleasantly surprised to see pitching well in bursts. His command, again, continually shifted from great to awful, but fortunately for him the Astros have the highest strikeout rate (26.3 percent) against lefties. Like I said last week, Moore has a favorable matchup later this week against the White Sox. If he has a good start, trade him.

I also caught the Blue Jays, Tigers game. Total aside, but apparently it was Canada Day? I wanted to catch R.A Dickey because in his last three starts (prior to yesterday’s game) his box scores looked promising. Yesterday he had really good command of the knuckleball and threw the fastball more often, keeping hitter’s from sitting on the knuckleball. In his last four starts (including yesterday’s start) he’s reduced his walk rate from 9.3 percent to 6.3 percent while maintaining his strikeout rate. Also, he’s throwing more strikes; 70 percent compared to 62 percent. To begin the year Dickey was dealing with back and neck problems as well as a cracked fingernail, but this may be the beginning of a return to form. He’s not likely to return to the Cy Young level of performance, but he can certainly put up the numbers in 2011 with a 3.28 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. I’m buying low.