STUDS OF THE WEEK
Yankees' OF Bobby Abreu is heating up just at the right time. He hit his fourth homer in as many games in Saturday's win over the Angels and has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games. His .387 clip this week has raised his season average to .286 and once again made him a must-start in fantasy. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed two hits in seven shutout innings to win his fourth straight start for the Rockies on Friday night. He increased his shutout streak to 13 innings and has allowed just one run in his last three starts.

DUDS OF THE WEEK
J.J. Hardy has cooled off entering August as fast as he heated up entering July. Over the past seven games the Brewers' shortstop is hitting just .061 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. His performance  contributed to Milwaukee's disappointing effort earlier this week against Chicago, in which they were swept in a four-game series at Miller Park. It has been a week that White Sox pitcher Mark Buerhle would soon like to forget. He's 0-2 over the past 7 days as he's lasted just 9 2/3 innings in that stretch while posting a 11.57 ERA and a 2.46 WHIP.

KEY INJURIES
Brian McCann (concussion) - served as pinch-hitter this weekend
Rick Ankiel (abdominal) - hopes to return Tuesday
Chipper Jones (hamstring) - eligible to return from DL on 8/12
Kerry Wood (blister) - throwing with wound protected, could return this week
Tim Hudson (elbow) - set to undergo Tommy John surgery
Aaron Harang (forearm) - will make rehab start at Triple A on Monday
Erik Bedard (shoulder) - just now starting to throw and likely out this week
Jeff Francis (shoulder) - slated to start Tue night vs. WAS
Vernon Wells (hamstring) - hopes to return in mid-August
Chien-Ming Wang (foot) - Joe Girardi stated regular season return unlikely

TWICE AS NICE
Here are some two-start pitchers to consider this week:

AL
Must-starts:
Roy Halladay – OAK (Greg Smith), CLE (Matt Ginter)
Joe Saunders - BAL (Dennis Sarfate), NYY (Andy Pettite)
Matt Garza - CLE (Cliff Lee), @SEA (Miguel Batista)

Sleeper Picks:
Glen Perkins - @SEA (Miguel Batista), @KC (Gil Meche)
Edwin Jackson - CLE (Fausto Carmona), @SEA (R.A. Dickey)

NL
Must-Starts:
Dan Haren – PIT (Yoslan Herrera), ATL (Jair Jurrjens)
Ryan Dempster - HOU (Brian Moehler), STL (Chris Carpernter)
Chad Billingsley - @STL (Chris Carpernter), @SF (Matt Cain)

Sleeper Picks:
Josh Johnson - @PHI (Jamie Moyer), @NYM (Mike Pelfrey)
Jeff Francis - WAS (John Lannan), SD (Chris R. Young)

WAIVER WATCH (from leagues played at CBSSports.com)
Five most added:
SP Chris Carpenter (+33% roster change)
SP Chris R. Young (+31%)
SP Anibal Sanchez (+26%)
3B/C Brandon Inge (+22%)
RP Jeff Samardzija (+20%)

Five most dropped (non-injured):
RP Ryan Franklin (-15%)
SP Hiroki Kuroda (-11%)
1B Paul Konerko (-10%)
OF Cody Ross (-10%)
SP Jesse Litsch (-10%)

GAMES PLAYED
Let's take a look at how many games each team will be playing this week:

AL
7: NYY, TB, TOR, CHW, DET, OAK, SEA, TEX
6: BAL, BOS, CLE, KC, MIN, LAA

NL
7: ATL, FLA, NYM, PHI, WAS, CIN, HOU, ARI, COL, SF
6: CHC, MIL, PIT, STL, LAD, SD

The Reds continue to struggle against teams that they should beat and on Saturday night there was yet another indicator of this as they dropped their second straight to Major League Baseball's worst team, the Washington Nationals, 10-6.

A closer look at the team's performance against the league's weaker teams gives us great insight on why the Reds are nine games under .500 (51-60) and in last place once again in the NL Central, 15 games behind the division-leading Cubs. 

• 32-29 vs. teams .500 or better
• 19-31 vs. teams with record under .500
  

Playing on the road also continues to be a problem for the Redlegs. Saturday night's loss insures yet another losing road trip, the 20th losing road trip in the team's last 23 trips away from GABP dating back to 2006. Cincinnati's '08 road mark fell to 21-25 following Saturaday's loss.

If the Reds are ever going to turn things around they are going to have to find a way to win more frequently on the road and beat the teams they should beat. Until then, strap in and enjoy the ride as Cincinnati on its way to an eighth straight losing season. 

Ken Griffey Jr. issued a press release on Saturday thanking the Reds and their fans: 

I would like to thank the Cincinnati Reds organization for allowing me to fulfill a lifelong dream of playing for my hometown team. I will always value the lasting friendships I have with the Lindner, Castellini and Williams families.

While my nine seasons there were filled with personal highlights - like hitting my 400th, 500th and 600th home runs in a Reds uniform - and the negatives of having to fight through too many injuries, my biggest regret is that we were not able to win a world championship while I was there.

I also would like to thank my many teammates, managers, coaches and Reds employees for their help and support and to acknowledge the many friendly relationships I had with most of the members of the local media. I will miss the banter.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Reds fans for their support. I really do understand that the overwhelming majority of fans wanted so badly for me to succeed. Additionally, I would like to sincerely apologize to those fans offended by my wrongful actions last Saturday night. It was an overreaction on my part to what I felt was a series of public inaccurate and unfair remarks about me.

I wish nothing but success for the Reds both on and off the field.

Sincerely,

Ken Griffey Jr.