Roto Rush: Cahill Nearly Untouchable

Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Don't blame yourself if you didn't see a big line coming from Trevor Cahill. Coming off a three-inning, three-run game in Chicago, Cahill had to travel to Texas to take on a pretty good offense. On Wednesday, this offense was without Michael Young and Josh Hamilton, but that still left the hot Julio Borbon (.323 BA coming into the game) and Elvis Andrus (coming off a 16-game hitting streak), stars Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz, and other players that have been hot over the course of September.

Cahill was able to beat the odds, pitching seven innings while allowing just one hit (to Marlon Byrd) and two walks (both to Kinsler). He struck out seven batters while picking up his ninth win of the season and lowered his ERA to 4.54. Despite the great start, I wouldn't trust Cahill moving forward, at least not this year. Put this in the back of your mind and bring it back out when your looking for a last-round sleeper in 2010.

Bits From The Box Scores
• Drew Stubbs is taking over your fantasy playoffs. The former Longhorn hit another homer and stole another base, putting him at 7 HRs and 6 SBs through 123 ABs. While I doubt you can extrapolate the power, the speed is real. If he opens 2010 as a starting outfielder for Cincinnati, he could provide you with a cheap 10-15 HRs and 30+ SBs.

• Huge night from Justin Upton -- although he didn't hit a homer, he went 5 for 5 to bring his average up to .308 on the season. At 24 HRs and 19 SBs, Upton has been one of the best mid-round breakout players of 2009. If someone falls in love with Upton taking another step forward next year, we could see him drafted in the top 20.

• After slipping just a bit in August, Josh Johnson is back to dominating in September. He went six innings against a very good Cardinals team in St. Louis, allowing just one run and striking out five. The win took his record to 15-4 on the season, and even more impressive is his 22-5 record since the start of 2008. At 25 years old, the righty with a career 34-15 record should be considered one of the best young pitchers in the league.

• Mike Scioscia hinted that Kevin Jepsen might see some closing work down the stretch, much to the chagrin of Brian Fuentes. Yesterday, Scioscia turned to Jespen in the seventh inning, where he did very well. After being sent back out for the eighth, Jespen allowed a couple runs. So things are looking up for Fuentes, right? Wrong. The incumbent Angels closer blew another save, allowing two runs and taking the loss. Yeesh.

• Homers of note: rookies Matt LaPorta and Matt Wieters both homered for the second consecutive game and make great grabs in 2010; Adrian Gonzalez (38), Troy Tulowitzki (27), Carlos Lee (26), Matt Kemp (28), Torii Hunter (22), Aramis Ramirez (13), Hideki Matsui (25), and Michael Cuddyer (26) all hit a HR on Wednesday. Jayson Werth knocked a grand slam for his 34th HR of the season.

• Steals of note: Mark Reynolds continues to slump, going 0-5 in Wednesday's game, but he did steal his 24th base of the year; Chase Utley stole two bags to run his season count to 21 -- and by the way, one was home plate on a double steal; Michael Bourn (57), Bobby Abreu (29), Jason Bay (13), Miguel Cabrera (6), and Ryan Howard (7) all stole a base for your team.

• Two more pitching performances to mention: Hiroki Kuroda, a player available in many a league, threw another gem on Wednesday, pitching six innings while allowing a run and striking out seven, picking up a win in the process; Joe Blanton came off an eight-run implosion and shut out the Nations in six innings while striking out seven.

The Afflicted: Roy Oswalt is done for the year, finally succumbing to the back pain he's been dealing with for quite a while. His second-half numbers show he wasn't the same pitcher we've come to expect. Let's hope he's 100% for 2010. Gavin Floyd came out of his game with hip soreness after just three innings. Jonathan Papelbon is dealing with back issues, although his owners were lucky enough to not see Boston get a save opportunity. Derek Lowe left his start early with a blister.

Lineup Lock Time: Kansas City and Detroit start the day off at 1:05 ET, followed 75 minutes later by the Brewers-Cubs game.