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: Don't forget that the first game this week is at 12:35 EST Monday, so lineups will need to be set earlier than usual. ... Diamondbacks 3B Chad Tracy (rib) will miss the weekend series vs. the Mets and is a risky start for the upcoming scoring period. He hit off a tee Friday, but manager Bob Melvin said he will rest him for a few more days. ... Mets OF Moises Alou (shoulder, knee) has an arthritic condition in his left knee that has caused some swelling and he should be considered a risky start at best for the upcoming week even if he sees action this weekend. ... Cardinals SS David Eckstein has been demoted to the eighth spot in the lineup and the team has no rush to get him back to the leadoff spot. His limited appeal in Fantasy leagues comes from the runs he scores while hitting atop a potent lineup. Keep him reserved if at all possible until he regains that slot. ... Pirates OF Nate McLouth started in center field and hit leadoff Friday, but that was just a temporary measure. Chris Duffy got the night off after going 4-for-30 (.133) in his last eight games. Neither player should be used outside of NL-only leagues, but Duffy is still the better option there. ... Dodgers 2B Jeff Kent got a planned day off Friday night and manager Grady Little said he plans to rest the veteran infielder one night per week. The Dodgers are slated for seven games next week, so Kent should still be considered a good start with six games. ... Reds 1B Scott Hatteberg hit leadoff Friday for the first time since 2003, but the 37-year-old won't be a regular fixture atop the order. He was put there to try to jumpstart a struggling offense. Hatteberg remains best used in NL-only play for now. ... Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki is benefiting from a move to the No. 2 slot in the order. He has a career-high seven game hitting streak entering play Saturday. The promising young prospect was tossed aside in many leagues and should be scooped up if he's available in any format. He's a potential Rookie of the Year candidate with high-average potential and decent pop. ... Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez began the weekend leading the National League with 27 RBI. He was hitting .538 with runners in scoring position, good for second in the league. He'll be 25 on Tuesday and the first overall pick in the 2000 draft has been one of the best values in Fantasy this season.

Projections are for May 7-May 13 games. All stats are through Friday's games.
This week's matchups
AL early NL early AL late NL late
TB@BAL LAD@FLA BAL@BOS FLA@WAS
TEX@NYY SD@ATL TB@TOR ATL@PIT
SEA@DET HOU@CIN NYY@SEA CHC@PHI
BOS@TOR WAS@MIL CLE@OAK MIL@NYM
CHW@MIN COL@STL DET@MIN STL@SD
OAK@KC PHI@ARI KC@CHW ARI@HOU
CLE@LAA NYM@SF LAA@TEX SF@COL
PIT@CHC CIN@LAD
Bold denotes a four-game series.
Cleveland at Baltimore, as well as Seattle at the Yankees, will be played on Monday as the finales of four-game series from this weekend.
The following teams play seven games this week: Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, Florida, Houston, L.A. Dodgers, N.Y. Yankees, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
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: Kansas City at Chicago White Sox (50), Milwaukee at New York Mets (60), Atlanta at Pittsburgh (60), Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia (60) and L.A. Angels at Texas (60) on Sunday.
B E S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
NEW YORK YANKEES
MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
SEA
Batista 		TEX
Millwood 		TEX
Tejeda 		TEX
McCarthy 		@SEA
Washburn 		@SEA
Batista 		@SEA
Ramirez
' 06 Stadium stats: Yankee Stadium, 9.9 RPG (12th); Safeco Field, 9.0 RPG (26th).
SEA pitching: 5.03 ERA overall (27th), 4.36 Home ERA (20th), 4.86 April ERA (26th).
TEX pitching: 5.81 ERA overall (30th), 5.94 Road ERA (29th), 5.42 April ERA (29th).
The Yanks have a full seven-game schedule this week against two teams in the bottom five in ERA. Bombs away.

Five other favorable hitter schedules

  1. Arizona Diamondbacks -- vs. PHI (3), at HOU (3)
  • Arizona gets two series against teams with a combined ERA of 4.33.
  • Boston Red Sox -- at TOR (3), vs. BAL (3)
    • The O's and Jays rank 20th and 21st in the league in pitching with team ERAs over 4.00.
  • L.A. Angels of Anaheim -- vs. CLE (3), at TEX (3)
    • The Rangers are second to last in the majors with a 5.22 ERA and Cleveland isn't much better at 4.22.
  • Oakland Athletics -- at KC (3), vs. CLE (3)
    • The A's get those same Indians plus three games against the lowly Royals' staff (4.21) ERA.
  • San Diego Padres -- at ATL (4), vs. STL (3)
    • The Padres have a full seven-game schedule against teams with a combined team ERA of 4.16.
    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:
    Jorge Posada, C, New York Yankees: Jorge ranks ninth in the AL in BA (.337) and was six for his last 12 heading into play Saturday.
    Prince Fielder, 1B, Milwaukee: Cecil's son was 7-for-18 (.388) with two homers during a five-game streak heading into Saturday.
    Orlando Hudson, 2B, Arizona: He's hitting .393 over his last seven games (11-for-28) with two homers and eight RBI.
    J.J. Hardy, SS, Milwaukee: He's hitting .464 (13-for-28) in his last seven games with four doubles, a homer and six RBI.
    Troy Glaus, 3B, Toronto: He's clearly over his recent heel injury, going 9-for-24 (.375) with three HRs and eight RBI since returning.
    Gary Sheffield, OF, Tigers: After suffering through a horrible April, he's off to a quick start in May hitting .409 in his last seven games.
    Vladimir Guerrero., OF, L.A. Angels: He has three homers, two doubles and nine RBI over the last week.
    Ken Griffey, Jr., OF, Cincinnati: He's also showing he's healthy now, batting .500 (7-for-14) with three homers since returning to the lineup.
    W O R S T   H I T T I N G   S C H E D U L E
    CLEVELAND INDIANS
    MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
    @BAL
    Trachsel     		@LAA
    Santana     		@LAA
    Weaver     		@LAA
    Escobar     		@OAK
    Blanton     		@OAK
    Gaudin     		@OAK
    Haren
    ' 06 Stadium stats: Oriole Park, 10.2 RPG (9th); Angel Stadium, 8.8 RPG (29th); McAfee Coliseum, 8.9 RPG (28th)
    BAL pitching: 4.24 ERA overall (20th), 3.02 Home ERA (4th), 4.33 April ERA (22nd).
    LAA pitching: 3.66 ERA overall (9th), 2.91 Home ERA (2nd), 3.65 April ERA (9th).
    OAK pitching: 3.21 ERA overall (2nd), 3.00 Home ERA (3rd), 3.16 April ERA (2nd).
    Sure, they have a full seven-game schedule this week, but a trip to the west coast has them facing two of the best staffs in baseball.

    Five other below-average hitter schedules

    1. Cincinnati Reds -- vs. HOU (4), at LAD (3)
    • The Reds get seven games, but they'll face a Dodgers staff that is third in the majors with a 3.29 ERA.
  • Houston Astros -- at CIN (4), vs. ARI (3)
    • The combined ERA of the Reds and D'Backs this season is 3.75, which qualifies top-10.
  • Kansas City Royals -- vs. OAK (3), at CHW (3)
    • The A's have the second-best ERA in baseball (3.21) and the White Sox are also sub-4.00.
  • Minnesota Twins -- vs. CHW (3), vs. DET (3)
    • The White Sox and Tigers are their chief competition in the AL Central, making for some tight contests.
  • Philadelphia Philles -- at ARI (3), vs. CHC (3)
    • The D'Backs and Cubs are top-5 in the National League in pitching with a combined ERA of 3.61.
    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:
    Joe Mauer, C, Minnesota: He's batting just 2-for-12 with Michael Cuddyer (back) out of the lineup.
    Carlos Delgado, 1B, N.Y. Mets: He's batting just .196 this season and hasn't hit a homer since April 23, his only one of 2007.
    Ian Kinsler, 2B, Texas: He was due for a cold streak and is three for his last 23 (.130) from the plate.
    Khalil Greene, SS, San Diego: He's hitting just .182 (4-for-22) over his last seven contests, lowering his average to .261 this season.
    Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B, San Diego: He's hitting just .115 this season and is actually hitting lower than that (.111) over his last seven games.
    Johnny Damon, OF, N.Y. Yankees: Nagging injuries haven't allowed him to get into a groove and he's four for his last 19 (.211) from the plate.
    Nick Markakis, OF, Baltimore: The future Fantasy stud is five for his last 24 (.208) over his last six games with no homers since April 18.
    Pat Burrell, OF, Philadelphia: The struggling slugger has just two hits in his last 18 at bats (.111).
    You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to include "Attn: Hitting Planner" in the subject heading. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.