Week 14 officially marks the halfway point of the regular season. This week I want to take a look back at some of the players I've recommended over the weeks and see how they're doing now. That's right! I'm calling myself out and grading some of my hits and, more importantly, my misses.

 The first of five I'll be talking about is the Angels' Joel Pineiro. Since writing about him back on April 17 he's gone 7-5 with a 4.9 ERA. As I said then, he's extremely streaky evidenced by the great month of June he's had. In June, he's gone 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA. He's had some bumps in the road, and is bound to have more, but for the most part Pineiro has been a good pick-up for fantasy owners. He's currently riding a red hot streak as he's won his last five straight and has produced 4 straight quality starts.  Grade: B

 The same week I talked about Pineiro, I also mentioned the Indians' Justin Masterson. I'll be the first to admit he was a big whiff. Maybe it's just the Indians fan in me, but I really expected more from him, especially consistency. When I first discussed him in Week 3, he sported a nice ERA and WHIP. Since then, his ERA has hovered just over 5 and is only recently starting to go down a bit. In fact, June was the first month of the season in which Masterson had a .500 record and ERA under 5 (2-2, 4.13). There's no questioning his stamina as he's thrown at least 90 pitches in all but one start this year. I still believe this kid can succeed at the big league level, as he does have the ability to throw gems like the complete game shutout against the Red Sox earlier this season, but perhaps he's still just another year or two away. As my good friend Rob so eloquently put it, "I wiped my ass with that pick." Good night, everybody! Grade: F

 Two weeks later I discussed the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia. Garcia has been a pleasant surprise for fantasy owners all season. He'll no doubt get mentioned in NL Rookie of the Year talks. He has sustained an ERA under 2 for the first two months of the season. During his last two starts he gave up 8 earned runs in 8 innings pitched. With that, his ERA has risen over 2 for the first time all season (2.27). It's also the only two starts this year that he's given up more than 2 earned runs in a game. That could be due to the fact that the league is starting to figure him out or that his last two starts happened to be interleague games. Whatever the reason, Garcia finished June with a 4.5 ERA indicating he's starting to come back down to Earth. I still think he'll be an effective pitcher the rest of the season, but now might be the time to start thinking about selling high. Grade: A

 The very next week I brought up the Padres' Wade LeBlanc. At the time, he was 2-0 with an outstanding ERA of 1.16. Since then, however, his ERA has gone up, although it's remained respectable at 3.25. The bad news is that it took May and June combined to match his win total from April (2). Currently, he sits at 4-6, but if you look at the stats, only half of those losses could be attributed to his pitching. The other half gets blamed on lousy run support. This shouldn't be too big of a surprise as I mentioned that very thing (bad run support) in that week's article. Overall, LeBlanc has been a consistent yet unspectacular pitcher so far this season. Think a younger Jamie Moyer or Tim Wakefield. He's still worth a pick-up in deeper leagues, won't hurt your ERA or WHIP in Roto's and is worth spot-starting for those weeks he has a favorable match-up and/or two starts. Still, given how well the Padres have played this year, you can't help but be a little disappointed by that win-loss record. Grade: C

 Just two weeks ago, I was singing the praises of the Orioles' Jake Arrieta. When I did, the kid was 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA. However, (you know where this is going) he's been atrocious ever since. In his last three starts, he's 0-2 with an 8.9 ERA and only 4 strikeouts. Like Masterson, I'll admit I was a bit premature, but he's still one of the Orioles' top prospects and I still think he can succeed at this level. Also like Masterson, the team he plays for likely won't help his struggles along the way, but he has a ton of room for improvement and is better than he's pitched his last three outings. As I said then, I wasn't convinced the kid would implode, but perhaps I jumped on his bandwagon a little too early with a little too much enthusiasm. Still, I'm not going to be easy on myself. Grade: F

 We also have two Injury Watch's to go over real quick. For the first we head to the Emerald City where Seattle Mariners pitcher Erik Bedard will make his long-awaited season debut at home on Tuesday against the Royals. Bedard has been dealing with shoulder issues dating back to 2008. He pitched great in the 15 starts he made last season, but injuries got the better of him. At this point in the season, he's worth stashing in most leagues, but I wouldn't dare put him in my lineup this week. I'd give him the ol' "wait and see" approach. Given his history of injuries, most of us aren't expecting much, but he is talented and pitched very effectively when healthy his last two years in Seattle. Stash him if your have room, but make sure to keep Bedard on your bench this week. Despite the favorable match-up at home, he's just too big of a risk his first start back.

 For our second Injury Watch we head to the Twin Cities where Minnesota's Kevin Slowey has been recovering from taking a grounder off his ankle in his last start. Technically, it's a right ankle contusion. From everything coming out of Minnesota is sounds like this is a minor injury. With the Twins off on Monday, he's scheduled to pitch on Tuesday at Toronto. However, the Twins are tinkering with the idea of shuffling around their rotation in order to give Slowey an extra day or two of rest. If he's someone you were counting on, keep an eye on this situation to see if the Twins do in fact shake up their rotation. If not, and Slowey is able to go on Tuesday, keeping his two-start status, go ahead put him in your lineup as you would normally.  

 Now, on to what we all came here for, the Two-Start Pitchers!

Of course, if you have any pitching questions, or now any fantasy football questions, don't hesitate to email me with them at scottmickels@fantasyplaymakers.com.

NOTE: These starts are not set in stone. They can change for any variety of reasons; managerial moves, injuries, rain-outs, etc. Please keep in mind they are probable.  

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NO-BRAINERS

ADVISABLE OPTIONS

OTHERS TO KEEP IN MIND

TRY TO AVOID

INJURY WATCH

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NO-BRAINERS

ADVISABLE OPTIONS

OTHERS TO KEEP IN MIND

TRY TO AVOID

INJURY WATCH

Scott Mickels, FPM Staff Writer/Editor, Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association