Oh, Myers!

The Phillies Brett Myers is well on his way to making home run history in 2009. Myers gave up three home runs against the Colorado Rockies Saturday night, equaling the three blasts he served up to Atlanta on opening night. That's six home runs in two starts, which multiplies out to 90 homers over 30 starts, shattering both Jose Lima's National League record of 48 homers allowed in a single season and Bert Blyleven's Major League single-season record of 50 homers allowed.

Of course Myers is on pace to make at least 32 starts as the Phillies opening day starter, which means he could push 100 homers if he keeps up the pace!

Update: The Phillies win the game, 8-4 as Myers has never lost to Colorado.

Fantasy Impact: Myers is a power pitcher with streaks of both good and bad. He's a decent third option in a fantasy rotation who will provide as much risk as reward.

Less K in DiamondbacKs?

I felt like the Arizona Diamondbacks struck out a lot last season, but I had no idea that their 1,287 whiffs were ninth most in MLB history! They're putting in work this spring to bring that number down.

Behind a back field at the Diamondbacks' facility here, hitters stand inside a cage as pitching machines spin breaking balls at them. They stand and they watch them dip and dive. They track the pitches as they rotate past them.

The Diamondbacks last season set a franchise record for strikeouts, and the idea of these first-week drills is that the more breaking balls the hitters see, the more acclimated they will be to hitting them.

"I think it can definitely help," center fielder Chris Young said. "Those were the type of pitches that were getting us when things were going bad."

Certainly, Arizona can use some work with regard to putting the ball in play. A lot of improvement should come with a young lineup maturing each year, but with a strong pitching staff, an extra run or two with situational hitting late in games could be the difference between becoming a dominant force in the National League and missing the postseason altogether.