This is my first year in a Fantasy baseball league (AL & NL), but not my first exposure to Fantasy sports. As a perennial Fantasy Football League commissioner, I know how to analyze stats and so far I've been leading my baseball league for 13 of 17 weeks.

I have had to overcome some injuries this year, and my strategy is to ride the hot hand. Here are some examples:

When Tino Martinez got drilled by Armando Benitez - I knew that Joe Torre was going to rest Tino, since the Yankees had a sizeable lead in the AL East. So I went looking for a hot 1B. Each week I download weekly and seasonal totals from CBS Sportsline, that way I can crunch the numbers any way I want to. Looking at totals through week eight, I noticed Rico Brogna was having a better season than other free agents that were available. I passed over Fred McGriff, Will Clark, and Eric Karros, and took the underestimated Brogna, knowing that he'd be a temporary replacement. By now, everyone knows he's having a great season, and once Tino was playing again, I took him off my reserve and put him back in my everyday lineup.

When Jeff Kent got his knee rolled-up on by Alex Rodriguez - it was further along in the season. I wanted to crunch some new numbers and look at who has been hot over the previous four week period. I subtracted week seven season totals from week 11 season totals and found that Ray Durham had been the hottest free agent second baseman available for the past month. Since his return, Kent has been on a bit of a tear, including last week's grand slam - but I've kept Ray Durham in reserve for two reasons.

1. In case Kent reinjures himself, I've got a quality replacement.

2. The team currently in third lost Delino DeShields, and replaced him with Wilton Guerrero. If I drop Durham, he would certainly be a better replacement than Guerrero, so I'm keeping him just to keep another team down.

When I lost Mike Lieberthal last week, I used a similar strategy. Looking back only four weeks I saw that not only has Lenny Webster been a hot catcher, but he's gotten most of the starts and at bats since the resurging Orioles have been winning. I figured I take a chance on Webster and the O's, also hoping Lieberthal would be back soon. I knew if I didn't like the results I could pick up another scrub catcher. The few catchers that provide good offensive numbers were already taken. But I was happy to see Webster homer last night, and I think I've found an adequate replacement for the time being.

As the season goes on, I try to find the good players that are overlooked. Cliff Floyd is a perfect example. On an "expansion" team like the Marlins, he has been the only consistent producer. I realized this back in week six, and was prepared with a quality replacement when Rondell White went down for the season not long ago. Perhaps I should have had Floyd in all along - you might say - but I had my reasons. Anyway, I saw Floyd's production was good months ago, and it paid off for me as he was sitting on my reserve roster when I lost White for the season.

What does all this mean? Early in the season you should do some number crunching if you can. See who's playing well week after week, and pick him up as a reserve if possible. You'll be better equipped to deal with an injury. If you can't do this, then look at recent production when replacing someone on the DL. If you're lucky, you can ride the hot hand until your regular starter returns, and look like a genius doing it.