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The weekend is here, and with it we get a decent Saturday slate. Its a little light on top, with only two hurlers qualifying for elite status, but there are multiple options in the middle and lower tiers worth building around. Only five games are eligible for late-slate action, so if you dont like playing short slates, youll want to focus on the early or all-day contests.PitchingEliteSaturdays slate is anchored by Max Scherzer, who draws a favorable road matchup against the Mets. The right-hander has whiffed 10 or more batters in four of his past five starts, and he has a good chance to make it five of six against a Mets team that strikes out at a 23 percent clip. Hes also allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his past 11 outings. In other words, the Mets, who are middle-of-the-road at best against right-handed pitching, will find themselves in an uphill battle Saturday. Scherzer will cost a premium, but you get what you pay for.Lets get it out of the way: Jon Lester was bad his last time out. Really bad. Eight-earned-runs-while-getting-only-four-outs bad. Dont let one awful outing cloud your judgment, though. Lester is still a stable DFS play. That said, a road tilt against Pittsburgh will present its challenges. While the Pirates 24 percent whiff rate versus lefties makes them a high-upside opponent, they are also an above-average offense against southpaws (108 wRC+) and have been on a roll, winning seven of their past eight. Lester has handled the Pirates well this year, posting a 1.97 ERA in three starts. Still, Id rather roster him in GPPs than cash games Saturday.SolidCarlos Martinezs matchup against Milwaukee is enticing, to say the least. Not only are the Brewers punchless against righty pitching (88 wRC+), but they strike out at a whopping 26 percent clip against righties, by far the worst mark in baseball. Martinez hasnt been a strikeout machine this season, netting a K/9 rate of just 7.0. However, he has a history of missing more bats (9.2 K/9 in 2015), and he whiffed a season-high eight hitters (to go along with eight scoreless innings) when he last faced Milwaukee in late May, so theres still decent upside here. With Scherzer pitching in the evening, Carlos Martinez, who owns a 1.46 ERA in his past seven starts, should be one of the early slates more popular cash-game options.Danny Salazar gets a home date with the Yankees. Its a matchup with limited upside considering the Yanks strike out just 18.5 percent of the time versus righties. However, its also a matchup with limited downside, as the Yankees have largely been dormant against right-handed pitching this season (88 wRC+). While much of Salazars value comes from his strikeout potential (10.3 K/9), he owns a 2.05 ERA at Progressive Field this season, and, more importantly, hes been able to hold his walks in check at home (2.6 BB/9, compared to 5.3 BB/9 on the road).Jose Quintana frequently makes this list as a quality cash-game play when his turn in the rotation comes up, and thats certainly the case Saturday when the Braves come to town. The Braves have arguably the worst lineup in baseball. Its particularly brutal against left-handed pitching, as the teams 67 wRC+, .273 wOBA and .090 ISO all rank either worst or second-worst in baseball. Quintana is coming off a rough June (5.51 ERA), but he twirled seven innings of one-run ball his last time out and owns a 2.92 ERA at home this season. He should have little trouble carving through this Braves lineup.Theres been lots of discussion recently about how long Aaron Sanchez will remain in Torontos starting rotation, as the Blue Jays want to keep his innings in check. Hes still in the rotation now, though, and thats what matters to DFS players. Saturdays matchup against Detroit is far from ideal, as the Tigers feature a dangerous lineup that has done plenty of damage to right-handed pitching this season (.331 wOBA). Then again, its hard to ignore what the 24-year-old righty has done of late. He sports a 2.45 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in his past seven starts, and that includes starts at Coors Field (1 ER in 8 IP), Cellular Field (2 ER in 6 IP) and Camden Yards (1 ER in 6 IP), three of the most hitter-friendly venues in baseball. Its also worth noting that Sanchez hurled eight innings of two-run ball with a season-high 12 Ks when he faced the Tigers in early June. There are other pitchers in this tier that I prefer over Sanchez, but the Toronto righty at least deserves some consideration.Start-to-start consistency has been an issue for Adam Conley this season. However, a quick glance at his game log shows that hes generally had success against weak opponents, and his opponent on Saturday, the Reds, certainly qualify. Cincinnati has not been much of a threat to southpaws this season (87 wRC+), and they strike out a healthy 23 percent while not generating many walks (7.1 percent). That sets up nicely for Conley, who misses a decent number of bats (8.4 K/9) but can get in trouble with free passes (3.8 BB/9). The left-hander is in the conversation as a cost-effective SP2.StreamersThe Rays have hammered left-handed pitching this season. But right-handed pitching? Not so much. They currently sport an 88 wRC+ versus righties with a bloated 25 percent strikeout rate. That puts Rick Porcello in a nice spot Saturday.Jake Peavys 5.14 ERA is ugly. His 2.45 ERA in his past eight starts, however, shows why theres some streaming appeal here for his home matchup against Arizona. The Diamondbacks are below-average against right-handers and dont make a ton of contact (23 percent whiff rate), so this is a favorable spot for the veteran righty to continue providing value. Hes available in 82 percent of ESPN.com leagues.Brandon McCarthy thrived in his first start of the season after returning from elbow surgery, tossing five shutout innings against the Rockies while striking out eight and walking one. He gets an even more favorable matchup Saturday, as he squares off against a Padres team thats one of the worst in baseball against right-handed pitching (82 wRC+, 24 percent K rate). McCarthy is currently owned in only 20 percent of leagues.With the As coming to town, Lance McCullers finds himself in a very appealing spot. The As dont strike out much, but they also dont generate much offense, as they rank worst in the American League with an 84 wRC+ against right-handers. For his part, McCullers sports elite strikeout (11.2 K/9) and ground ball (58 percent) rates, and his ERA in his past five outings sits at 2.78. Yes, McCullers 5.1 walk rate is an issue, but it helps that the As sport the second-lowest walk rate in the AL (6.9 percent). Hes still a free agent in nearly half of ESPN.com leagues.AvoidMatt Moore has looked good of late, holding a 2.43 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in his past five starts. With a matchup against Boston coming up, however, it might be best to give the left-hander a breather and stick him on the bench. The Red Sox have mashed lefties this season, putting up a .349 wOBA against them. It also doesnt help that Moore has posted a 6.43 ERA away from Tropicana Field this year.HittingLeft-hander Matt Boyd will have his hands full Saturday. Not only has he allowed a career .375 wOBA to right-handed bats, but hes heading to Toronto to face the right-handed heavy Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Although you wont be able to afford them all, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin and Devon Travis are all highly desirable.John Lamb has had a tough go of it this season. He holds a 5.43 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 12 starts, hes been hit hard by both right- and left-handed hitters, and hes really struggled away from home (8.51 ERA). Giancarlo Stanton, who has rediscovered his groove, is an elite play, while righties Marcell Ozuna and J.T. Realmuto are top plays, as well.Cardinals hitters are a popular target in this space, and thats the case again Saturday with right-hander Chase Anderson on the mound. Anderson has shown reverse splits in his career, and thats been even more amplified this year, as righty swingers have battered him to the tune of a .418 wOBA. Take a long look at Aledmys Diaz, Matt Holliday, Stephen Piscotty and Jhonny Peralta in this one.With Joel De La Cruz drawing his third career starts for the Braves, White Sox hitters should be on the radar. The 27-year-old was underwhelming at Triple-A this year (4.68 ERA), and hes looked overmatched at the big leagues so far, allowing 11 extra-base hits, including three homers, in just 12 innings. All White Sox bats are in play here regardless of platoon advantage.Kendall Graveman has been drilled by lefties this year, allowing a .368 wOBA against them along with a 4.5 walk rate. With the Astros on the schedule, Colby Rasmus, Luis Valbuena and even rookie A.J. Reed are in play.Most likely to go yard: Giancarlo StantonStanton is crushing again, and lefty John Lamb, sporting a 17.1 percent HR/FB, figures to be his next victim.Most likely to swipe a bag: J.T. RealmutoWere doubling up on Marlins here, as Lamb also has trouble keeping baserunners honest. Hes allowed 10 stolen bases in 12 starts. Realmuto, who leads the team with seven swipes, will be off to the races if he gets the chance.J.J. Watt Texans Jersey . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. J.J. Watt Womens Jersey . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Lonnie-Johnson-Jersey/ .Y. - General manager Billy King says the Brooklyn Nets are looking to add a big man and confirmed the team worked out centre Jason Collins, who would become the first openly gay active NBA player if signed. Cullen Gillaspia Jersey . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Custom Houston Texans Jerseys . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon.When we last left Texas Motor Speedway on June 12, James Hinchcliffe was leading the Firestone 600, Josef Newgarden was in the hospital, and Simon Pagenaud had an 80-point cushion over Scott Dixon in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings.Oh yeah, and it was raining.That two-day deluge halted the proceedings at TMS two and a half months ago, with Hinchcliffe leading a slightly depleted field after 71 of the 248 scheduled laps were completed. Out of the race at that point was Newgarden, who was swept into a frightening crash by a spinning Conor Daly that landed him in a Dallas hospital with a broken wrist and fractured clavicle.Its not injury that will keep Newgarden from participating when the Texas race resumes on Saturday night. No, the INDYCAR rulebook mandates picking up where the red-flagged contest left off rather than starting fresh with a full field of cars.Newgarden and Daly will instead participate in an autograph session and join speedway president Eddie Gossage to take tickets at the turnstiles, one of several promotions designed to get fans to attend (or re-attend) a race that wasnt on anybodys radar in June.Fortunately, the weather radar is not likely to be an issue this time around, leaving the 20 remaining drivers free to concentrate on the remaining 177 laps of racing. Theyll be granted a 10-minute practice session, but will otherwise take the restart cold.We are excited to get back to Texas to finish off the Firestone 600, and certainly we hope the Arrow Electronics car ends up where we are now -- in the lead! remarked Hinchcliffe. But we know its a pretty unique situation with the restart and the parc ferme, so we will see how it plays out.Im going to miss people reminding me Im leading on Twitter, so hopefully we win and can keep the trend going.Hinchcliffes toughest competition may come from the fellow Honda drivers who dominated at Pocono Raceway last weekend. Smooth speedways are just about the only places the Honda aero kit has worked in 2016, and Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mikhail Aleshin will line up right behind Hinchliffe for the restart.Hunter-Reay drove through the field twice at Pocono on the way to a heartbreaking third-place finish, while Aleshin led 87 laps at Pocono and came very close to notching his first IndyCar Series win.Aleshin is Hinchcliffes teammate at Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports.Both of our cars looked good there last time with James in the lead and us in third, so we just need to do the same job weve been doing already and we will be up there at the front, Aleshin said. After our second-place finish this weekend in Pocono, we know we have the speed to do it.The plan to continue the existiing race rather than start from fresh has not been popular with everyone and its highly likely that INDYCAR will make a rule modification to prevent something similar from occurring in the future.ddddddddddddDixon, who has fallen 113 points behind championship leader Pagenaud, knows he needs a win in Texas to remain in title contention.I think there are obviously some strong opinions on each side of this race, he said. Its out of our hands as drivers, though, and we all have the same set of circumstances to deal with now. For me, I think the biggest challenge will be getting your car right for much different conditions than when we started the race.The subplot at Texas is the IndyCar Series championship, the complexion of which has changed considerably over the last 11 weeks.Since crashing out of the first race of the Detroit doubleheader the weekend before the Texas rainout, Power has racked up four wins and a pair of seconds in his last six starts.Before winning the second half of the Detroit doubleheader, he was 12th in the standings, 124 points behind leader Pagenaud. Now Power is just 20 points behind his Team Penske teammate and riding a wave of confidence.Power earned his first oval win at Texas in a half-length twin race in 2011 and hes coming off an accomplished victory at Pocono. Even more impressive, Power has worked his way into this position after missing the season opener with a severe sinus infection that produced concussion-like symptoms.The Verizon Chevy was awesome in Pocono and restarting fourth in Texas puts us in a great position to continue our momentum, said the Australian. Everything has been feeling great recently after starting off the season in such a bad place, personally. The whole team is clicking on all cylinders now and you have to get all you can when its going that way.Pagenaud, who will take the Texas restart from 15th place, vows to aggressively defend his points lead. Only two road races remain after Texas: at Watkins Glen International Sept. 4 and Sonoma Raceway Sept. 18.Pocono didnt go very well, but that happens, Pagenaud said. I wish it hadnt, but we have to move on and put it behind us. We dont lose sight of the big picture, but thats not the strategy. We got to where we are by attacking and being on the offensive. Thats not going to change. Well focus on winning races.P15 is not indicative of the car we had or will have, he added. We pitted later in the sequence than some of the other teams and theres a lot of racing left.Its going to be an exciting race. ' ' '