The Fantasy Baseball Hitting Planner is the essential guide to setting your lineup for the upcoming week. Every Saturday, we provide you with favorable hitting matchups for teams, as well as which hitters are hot or not. The Pitching Planner, complete with upcoming two-start pitchers, will be posted on Sunday.

Taking BP: With many teams going to six-man rotations down the stretch and rookie pitchers throwing an inning or two in relief, pitching staffs are being downgraded left and right in Fantasy play. Hitters should be able to take advantage of these matchups more than pitchers facing rookie hitters for pinch-hit at-bats and random starts. If your Fantasy team is hitting heavy this season, you should be able to get away with mediocre pitching, as opposed to someone with great pitching and subpar hitting ... Garret Anderson leads all outfielders in Head-to-Head points over the past two weeks. He's hitting .444 with seven homers and 22 RBI in that span. His RBI streak was at 12 consecutive games through Friday, which was two shy of the AL record ... Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games, going 14-for-42 with two doubles, three homers and 12 RBI in that span. He also has 86 RBI on the season, which is the third-highest total by a Padre since pitching-friendly Petco Park opened ... Orlando Hudson might need surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. He still hopes to come back in a couple days, without surgery, but he could be sidelined for at least six weeks if he goes under the knife. Alberto Callaspo could see playing time in his absence ... When rookie 1B Joey Votto starts, he has been able to hit. In two starts through Friday, the slugger has two walks, two singles, a double and a home run.

Projections are for Sept. 10-16 games. All stats are through Friday's games.

This week's matchups
AL early NL early AL late NL late
TB@BOS STL@CIN TB@SEA FLA@COL
NYY@TOR COL@PHI NYY@BOS CIN@MIL
MIN@KC MIL@PIT TEX@OAK ATL@WAS
CLE@CHW WAS@FLA KC@CLE PHI@NYM
OAK@SEA ATL@NYM LAA@CHW ARI@LAD
LAA@BAL ARI@SF BAL@TOR PIT@HOU
TEX@DET CHC@HOU DET@MIN SF@SD
SD@LAD CHC@STL
On Monday, the Blue Jays play at Detroit in a makeup game from an April 5 rainout and the Cardinals play at the Cubs to make up an Aug. 21 rainout. The Cardinals also host the Cubs for a double-header on Sept. 15 to make up for the April 29 game postponed because of the death of pitcher Josh Hancock. That means both the Cubs and Cardinals will have eight games this week -- five against each other. The Rangers and Tigers also have a double-header on Tuesday.
The following teams play seven games this week: Colorado, Detroit, Oakland, Philadelphia, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Toronto.

Taking into account all games with at least a 50 percent chance of precipitation according to the Weather.com, the following might be threatened by poor weather: N.Y. Yankees at Boston (60 percent chance) on Saturday.

B E S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SAT SUN
@CHC
Lilly 		@CIN
Belisle 		@CIN
Arroyo 		@CIN
Harang 		CHC
Trachsel 		CHC
Lilly 		CHC
Marquis 		CHC
Hill
CIN pitching: 5.02 ERA overall (29th), 5.00 Home ERA (28th), 6.23 Sept. ERA (26th).
CHC pitching: 4.09 ERA overall (7th), 4.20 Home ERA (16th), 4.20 Road ERA (16th), 5.81 Sept. ERA (24th).
The Angels draw the two worst pitching staffs since the All-Star break in the O's and the White Sox. And the Angels are the fifth-best offense since the break.

Five other favorable hitter schedules

  1. L.A. Angels -- at BAL (3), at CHW (3)
  • The Angels draw the two worst pitching staffs since the All-Star break in the O's and the White Sox. And the Angels are the fifth-best offense since the break.
  • Colorado Rockies -- at PHI (4), vs. FLA (3)
    • The Rockies get seven games at homer-friendly Citizens Bank Park and Coors Field, and three games against the homer-friendly Marlins' pitching staff.
  • Boston Red Sox -- vs. TB (3), vs. NYY (3)
    • The BoSox have six home games this week, and three are against the worst pitching staff in baseball (TB).
  • Milwaukee Brewers -- at PIT (3), vs. CIN (3)
    • The Pirates and Reds both rank among the bottom-three NL pitching staffs in ERA since the All-Star break.
  • Toronto Blue Jays -- at DET (1), vs. NYY (3), vs. BAL (3)
    • The Jays are one of a few teams with seven games, and they have six home games against inconsistent staffs.
    H O T   H I T T E R S
    We aren't suggesting you start these players no matter what, but you might consider starting them over struggling stars. The following eight hitters have extremely favorable matchups and/or are in the midst of hot streaks:
    Jeff Mathis, C, L.A. Angels: Subbing in for Mike Napoli, Mathis is hitting .325 with three homers and seven RBI in his past 40 at-bats.
    Matt Stairs, 1B/OF, Toronto: Over the past half of a month, Stairs has hit .482 with four homers and 12 RBI.
    Ian Kinsler, 2B, Texas: He's hitting .408 with three homers, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored over his past 50 at-bats.
    Jason Bartlett, SS, Minnesota: He has 17 hits over his past 49 at-bats (.347) with a homer, eight RBI and 10 runs scored.
    Troy Glaus, 3B, Toronto: Human-growth hormone allegations aside, Glaus is playing well. He has four homers and 11 RBI in the past two weeks, with a .378 batting average.
    Rick Ankiel, OF, St. Louis: Only Garret Anderson (22) has more RBI over the past two weeks than Ankiel's 21.
    Curtis Granderson, OF, Detroit: With four homers, nine RBI, 11 runs scored and a .373 batting average over the past two weeks, he ranks among the top 10 OF in that span.
    Corey Hart, OF, Milwaukee: In his past 15 games, Hart is batting .457 (21-for-46) with two homers and 15 RBI making him an extremely valuable Fantasy player again.
    W O R S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
    BALTIMORE ORIOLES
    MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
    -- LAA
    Colon     		LAA
    Escobar     		LAA
    Lackey     		@TOR
    Litsch     		@TOR
    Halladay     		@TOR
    Marcum
    LAA pitching: 4.15 ERA overall (10th), 3.82 Road ERA (4th), 4.64 Sept. ERA (13th).
    TOR pitching: 3.97 ERA overall (3rd), 3.63 Home ERA (3rd), 4.67 Sept. ERA (14th).
    The O's only have six games this week, and both series are against stellar AL pitching staffs. The Jays lead the majors in ERA since the All-Star break.

    Five other below-average hitter schedules

    1. San Diego Padres -- at LAD (3), vs. SF (3)
    • The Padres have six games against NL West foes. Both opponents have had solid seasons on the mound this year.
  • Kansas City Royals -- vs. KC (3), at CLE (3)
    • The Royals have six games this week, against two AL Central teams that rank among the top 12 in ERA since the break.
  • Florida Marlins -- vs. WAS (3), at COL (3)
    • Normally, seeing the Nats and Rockies on your schedule is good. But both pitching staffs rank in the top three in the NL in ERA since the All-Star break.
  • N.Y. Yankees -- at TOR (3), at BOS (3)
    • Six road games -- against two of the best pitching staffs in the majors since the All-Star break, make some of the Yankees' secondary hitters poor choices this week.
  • Arizona Diamondbacks -- at SF (3), at LAD (3)
    • The D-Backs are the lowest-scoring team in the majors on the road this season -- and they have two road series.
    C O L D   H I T T E R S
    We aren't suggesting you sit anyone, but take a look at your roster to see if you have a better alternative. The following eight hitters have poor matchups and/or are in the midst of cold streaks:
    Gerald Laird, C, Texas: How many times is Laird going to make this list? Over the past two weeks, he's batting just .133 with a homer and three RBI.
    Lyle Overbay, 1B, Toronto: He's hitting just .151 with two homers and five RBI since Aug. 26.
    Julio Lugo, SS, Boston: Since late August, Lugo is hitting just .205 with no homers and three RBI.
    Jose Reyes, SS, N.Y. Mets: He has one home run, one RBI, seven runs scored and four steals, with a .192 batting average over the past two weeks.
    Miguel Cabrera, 3B, Florida: In his past 43 at-bats, Cabrera is batting just .233 with one home run and five RBI.
    Jack Cust, OF, Oakland: He's in a bad streak again, hitting just .180 with one homer and five RBI over his past 39 at-bats.
    Jason Bay, OF, Pittsburgh: The Bucs' franchise player has just one RBI (on a solo home run) over his past 39 at-bats.
    Carlos Lee, OF, Houston: He has just one homer, three RBI and a .200 batting average over the past two weeks.

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