Going West

Marlins rookie Sean West, known to some as "Little Unit," carried a no-hitter into the seventh against the Giants and wound up with an eight-inning, two-hit shutout. The long, lean lefthander not only won for the first time in his fourth MLB start, he also beat Randy Johnson, the pitcher to whom he most often copmpared. Johnson sounded very impressed with the 22-year-old after the game.

“It’s a lot of pressure. You try not to think about it but it’s there. But he has to be happy about the way he pitched,” Johnson said.

Fantasy Impact: Johnson knows a thing or two about tossing no-hitters. West knows some things about pitching. He's sporting a 2.22 ERA and has allowed just 14 hits in 24 1/3 innings. He's worth a flier in most formats.

Dry-eyed David Ortiz

David Ortiz's eye exam turned up nothing unusual. He did get some drops for dry eyes, a condition that can actually screw up your vision rather seriously. In this case, however, it sounds like Ortiz is suffering from a lightweight case.

Fantasy Impact: Ortiz struggled with injuries in 2008, which is what limited his offensive numbers. After a slow start this year the Red Sox have tried everything to get him going again. Here's wondering if they've tried to do too much. Tampa Bay allowed B.J. Upton to battle through his early slump, and their center fielder is finally showing some life offensively. Maybe Ortiz needs to work through his problems by just staying consistent at the plate.

We wouldn't give up on Ortiz just yet. Hopefully you have a bench slot he can occupy for the remainder of his slump.

Poreda called up

The Chicago White Sox promoted rookie Aaron Poreda, according to multiple sources. Poreda, a big lefty, has dominated at Double-A Birmingham. Poreda just missed making the big league roster out of camp with Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon taking the No. 4 and No. 5 rotation spots.

Fantasy Impact: You'd have to believe the White Sox called up Poreda to join the rotation, but does that mean the end of days for Bartolo Colon? Contreras dazzled Monday night against Detroit while Colon served up four gopher balls to the lowly Indians over the weekend. The Sox top three of Mark Buerhle, John Danks and Gavin Floyd is solid. Poreda would need to unseat Colon for a rotation spot. The Sporting News says the White Sox might go with a six-man rotation, but it's more likely that either Clayton Richard or Poreda ends up in the 'pen. Maybe both do for the time being and the Sox give Colon a couple more chances to start.

Oh, Contreras!

White Sox starter Jose Contreras returned from a near month-long stint in the minors and 1-hit the Tigers over 8 innings. He picks up his first win in almost a year after a ruptured Achilles tendon cost him half of 2008. The Sox win, 6-1.

Fantasy impact: Contreras entered the year as a sleeper candidate thanks to coming back in great shape from his strenuous rehab. He didn't pitch well enough to stay in the big leagues, however, and now needs to string together a few quality starts before he can be trusted on a regular basis.

Fields frustrated over Beckham starts

White Sox third baseman Josh Fields sat down with Ozzie Guillen recently after Gordon Beckham came up from Triple-A Charlotte and immediately started a few times at Fields' position. Fields is frustrated that he's losing time to a rookie.

‘‘As a player you go through a thing where you kind of have people that have confidence in you — your front office and your manager having confidence in you — and I really don’t know this situation,’’ said Fields, who entered Monday hitting .242 with three home runs and 21 RBI. ‘‘It’s been weird. Ozzie sat me down the other day and tried to go through it a little bit, but it’s kind of hard to swallow. If I was still at .212 like I was for a while, it would be easier, but pulling my average up and the team getting into second place, it just kind of came surprising, I guess.“I asked [Guillen] a couple of questions, but I have more questions for [general manager] Kenny [Williams] and I haven’t been able to actually sit down and talk to him. I know the draft is coming up and stuff, but we’ll get to sit down here before long and we’ll get to ask all of the questions that I need to.’’Asked if he was frustrated about the timing of the Beckham call-up, Fields responded, “I think so.’’

Fantasy Impact: We've alreday felt some of the impact from Beckham getting a look at third. The 23-year-old has yet to produce in any way offensively, but he's stealing at bats from Fields in the process. Fields is a low-end option, anyway, so he's unlikely an important piece on any fantasy roster. It appears as if the White Sox are willing to let the two players battle it out for the job. That might be a good thing for the fantasy owners who pick the right horse.