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By the second inning of Thursday night’s game between the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies, the concerned, panicked and, let’s face it, angry tweets about right-hander Matt Cain started flowing in consistently. Cain allowed three home runs early in what ended up as a victory in Coors Field, as Todd Helton, Nolan Arenado and Wilin Rosario each took him deep. But still, I’m neither concerned, panicked nor angry, despite the fact Cain leads the big leagues in home runs permitted with 13.

It’s dangerous to make major decisions from start to start with reliable pitchers who were perhaps originally drafted as a team’s ace. Yes, Cain had some hiccups in April, posting a 6.49 ERA and serving up nine home runs in six winless starts, though his reasonable 1.29 WHIP and strong strikeout rate alleviated worry for me. In two May outings before Thursday, Cain righted the ship, so to speak, winning twice and permitting eight hits and one long ball in 15 1/3 innings. So we weren’t particularly worried entering Thursday, but an outing at Coors Field changes that again? Fantasy can be a roller coaster, but outings in Denver should be considered part of a different ride.

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While it seems as if everyone acknowledges Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout and Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper as the best young players in baseball, it sure looks as though the Baltimore Orioles have themselves a special young talent as well in third baseman Manny Machado. The 20-year-old had four more hits Wednesday, the fourth time in a week he delivered three or more, and raised his season batting average to .343, right up there among the league leaders.

I can’t admit I expected Machado, only a few months older than Harper, to do quite this well, but after six weeks of standout play I’m certainly on the proverbial bandwagon, a fact shown by my generous mid-May ranking. (Click here for the staff rankings!) I admit to being surprised my colleagues aren’t completely on board; after all, in addition to the lofty batting average, Machado is on pace for 20 home runs, 97 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who knows a thing or two, clearly trusted Machado when he exalted him to the No. 2 lineup spot, and fantasy owners should trust him, too. He is now my No. 5 third baseman, and yes, his outstanding play has pushed him into the dynasty league discussion with Trout and Harper. We should stop discussing the fact he’s not playing shortstop and realize he is a clear stud regardless.

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Tampa Bay Rays left-hander David Price left his Wednesday outing prematurely with a triceps injury. Of course it stinks, and of course we're all concerned about how much time he's going to miss, but then again, now a little adventure can commence, too. It happened with the Philadelphia Phillies a few weeks ago when the Roy Halladay implosions were backed up by obvious injury. Oh, who will replace him? What if it's the next Clayton Kershaw! I'd better sign Adam Morgan now! Fantasy owners just love this stuff. Sure, Price was a top-10 starting pitcher on draft day, the defending AL Cy Young Award winner and we all love him … but step aside because we want to see what Chris Archer or Jake Odorizzi can do!

I'm only being partly facetious, you know. As of Thursday morning, the update on Price, who was pummeled while he was out there against the Boston Red Sox and saw his ERA rise back over 5.00 again, was that he suffered a strained left triceps. The pessimist in all of us immediately thinks Tommy John surgery is pending and we won't see Price again until June 2014, but it really could be just a missed start or two, perhaps a short disabled list stint. It should go without saying, but don't cut Price today in any leagues. If he's visiting Dr. James Andrews tomorrow, however, well, all moves are fair game. Honestly though, I was buying low on Price a week ago, and I'm still doing so. Injury often explains poor performance, so if Price doesn't start again until mid-June, you definitely buy in. And this is not Halladay.

But hey, what about Archer and Odorizzi and the other outstanding young fireballing hurlers on the Triple-A Durham staff? The Phillies promoted right-hander Jonathan Pettibone recently, and he's no star, but he is 3-0 with a 3.41 ERA, and that's better than a lot of No. 6 fantasy starters. What the Durham Bulls are using is better than that: potential aces in Archer, right-hander Alex Colome and lefty Alex Torres, and Odorizzi tossed seven no-hit innings at Pawtucket a few outings ago. The first thing I look for when a pitcher is unlikely to make his next start is who started for the Triple-A club that same night of injury/premature exit. Organizations are all about keeping the pitchers on schedule and want to avoid disrupting routine. Odorizzi twirled in Rochester on Wednesday night, but it went poorly, as he permitted six runs, including three home runs, over 5 1/3 innings.

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What interests me most about the return of New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson to the lineup is not, oddly enough, the two-time 40-home run, 100-RBI player himself. Granderson is going to play regularly. He’s going to hit home runs and strike out an awful lot, none of it surprising eager fantasy owners, and hopefully he’ll steal enough bases to really impact that category, as well. Regardless, I had no qualms about activating him right away for his season debut Tuesday night, even against the great King Felix Hernandez, which resulted in little help for fantasy owners. At least he’s back.

Actually, what I want to see is how Yankees skipper Joe Girardi -- and honestly, looking at that shell of a daily lineup it’s hard to believe this team is in first place, so credit where it’s due -- handles his future lineups now that the Grandy man is back, because that’s going to affect quite a few fantasy owners, as well. The Yankees still have precious little on the left side of their infield until Derek Jeter and Kevin Youkilis return, since their four starting-caliber (on the surface) outfielders can’t play there. Granderson, Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki do appear worthy of regular at-bats, and then there’s the lefty-hitting designated hitter, Travis Hafner, with a higher OPS than every Yankee except second baseman Robinson Cano, and he led him entering Tuesday night. What will Girardi do?

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A month ago, the focus on Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland was on how he was the weak link in a strong lineup and should be replaced in the lineup by hotshot prospect Jurickson Profar. Ian Kinsler would slide from second base to first base and all would be right with the offense. Well, all is right with the Texas offense because Moreland was left alone to hit; on Tuesday night in Oakland, he smashed two more home runs, including a 10th-inning blast that ultimately stood for the winning run in an exciting 6-5 victory.

It's merely the ides of May and no slugger has managed to reach the bleachers more this month than the oft-overlooked Moreland. He has smacked six home runs in 49 at-bats in May, hitting .347 with a .796 slugging percentage, and his next home run will give him double digits on the season. In 2011-12, Moreland averaged 15.5 home runs and 50.5 RBIs with 791 total at-bats. While few would have projected him to emerge for a 30-homer campaign and contribute mightily in batting average (he's a career .268 hitter), he's certainly on that track.

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Detroit Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson had been struggling at the plate for a few weeks, probably because of the sore left hamstring that eventually landed him on the 15-day disabled list Monday afternoon. Of course, that was a few hours too late for most weekly league owners to make a move by the time their rosters locked, but we’re all at the mercy of the teams making decisions. Jackson scored a few runs Friday night, played the entire game Saturday, sat Sunday and figured to remain active because manager Jim Leyland called his day off precautionary, but now he’ll miss a few more Mondays getting healthy.

Jackson got off to a fine start to the season but had regressed to his occasional old ways of late, striking out at a high rate, eschewing the plate discipline that had helped him hit .300 last season, and he has not stolen a base since April 21. His normally elevated BABIP was a more normal .336, far below his career mark of .367. The Tigers deserve credit for making the safe choice to sit him down, which good teams can afford to do in mid-May. Fantasy owners should be embracing this if it helps Jackson play better the final four months, because he hadn’t been contributing much the past couple weeks anyway.

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While rehabbing Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke gets the headlines for the possibility he will come off the disabled list and pitch Wednesday, the relatively unknown shortstop prospect acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Los Angeles Angels for Greinke’s rights last summer had another big night Monday, and now boasts the honor of being fantasy’s top player. That’s right, Brewers speedster Jean Segura entered Monday as fantasy’s No. 3 overall option on the Player Rater, then secured the top spot after producing three more hits, an RBI and three stolen bases Monday against the overwhelmed Pittsburgh Pirates.

Segura certainly doesn’t have the name value Greinke does, but considering all the terrific performances in fantasy this season, the fact he’s ahead of Miguel Cabrera, Justin Upton and Matt Harvey on the Rater is pretty impressive. This is a shortstop hitting .368 and on pace for 27 home runs, 72 RBIs, 59 stolen bases and 90 runs scored. Segura was never expected to be the next Alex Rodriguez (circa 1998), but those who took the chance to add him as a free agent a week or two into April love the results. Segura, 23, went undrafted in most leagues, despite being a middle infielder with the potential for major stolen base totals. He’s being viewed as an obvious sell-high choice and yes, by definition he is, because it’s awfully unlikely he remains ahead of the likes of Cabrera and the top pitchers, but he’s not going to be Brendan Ryan the rest of the way, either.

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Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon got the call to replace injured Hanley Ramirez in the big leagues barely a week ago, and while it’s a bit premature to call the lanky speedster a finished product or safe to keep his starting role the rest of the season, the early returns are promising. Gordon singled and stole his fourth base in eight games Sunday afternoon in a win over the Miami Marlins. He enters Monday hitting .269, which isn’t particularly noteworthy or telling (it’s only 30 at-bats), but the best sign of all are the walks, because for him it’s a potential game-changer.

Gordon has drawn five walks already, which continues a theme he featured at Triple-A Albuquerque, where he drew 14 walks in 25 games while striking out only 17 times. It’s often tough to judge Pacific Coast League statistics, since most of the ballparks are somewhat equivalent to your neighborhood little league parks, but plate discipline doesn’t depend on stadium. A season ago, Gordon wasn’t taking free passes with the Dodgers, and it showed in his paltry .280 on-base percentage. Gordon doesn’t project as a .300 hitter, and strength to drive the ball might always be an issue, but he should at least be getting on base. Fantasy owners want the stolen bases, but it’s quite impossible to steal them when you’re not on base.

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Two Tampa Bay Rays hitters are featured among the top 10 hitters on ESPN's most added list, but only one of them is intriguing. That's second baseman/outfielder Kelly Johnson, who has fit in well in the team's No. 2 lineup slot while playing mainly left field. Johnson struck out in his lone official at-bat Sunday, but he also drew three walks. Jackpot! Johnson is hitting a cool .275, well above last season's miserable .225 mark with the Toronto Blue Jays, but even then he was contributing valuable power and speed from a middle-infield spot.

Johnson is still providing the power/speed combo, and while he's still swinging and missing quite a bit -- he's on pace for 22 home runs, 18 steals and 136 strikeouts -- anyone capable of a 20-homer/20-steal season is worth a look. The well-traveled Johnson might seem eminently capable of dropping 50 batting average points soon, but despite the whiffs, he's making considerably more contact than last season. Remember, this is a player who averaged 21 home runs and 14 steals the past three seasons (and hit .245). Hey, I'd take those numbers in 2013, and he's on pace to better each mark, thanks to the mercurial ways of the Rays. He is and should be attractive in ESPN 10-team standard leagues.

Teammate James Loney is also popular, the No. 2 most-added first baseman over the past week. The No. 1 guy is the Texas Rangers' Mitch Moreland, but Loney is owned in more leagues. Wow, Rays, take a bow! Loney is a mere one base hit away from leading the major leagues in hitting here in mid-May. He homered Sunday, his third of the season, and he's batting .376 with a .989 OPS. Only Miguel Cabrera has a higher batting average. The comparisons end there.

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The defending Cy Young award winners faced off Thursday night, each struggling with ERAs on the wrong side of 5 and scaring fantasy owners quite a bit for a variety of reasons. But while neither Toronto Blue Jays right-hander R.A. Dickey nor Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price earned the win in this rare head-to-head matchup of reigning Cy Young winners (only the third time), each pitched well enough to restore some confidence to panicking owners and remain wise buy-low fantasy options.

Price tossed eight solid innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk, striking out eight. It’s arguably his best outing of the season (second in game score), only the second time he went as many as eight innings, the second time he didn’t allow a home run and quite a change from the previous weekend, when he was lit up at Coors Field for nine runs. The best sign was Price’s velocity was back into the mid-90s again; he entered the game averaging 93.3 MPH on his fastball, down from 95.5 a year ago.

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Heading into Thursday's games, plenty of players with 100 at-bats this season had yet to hit a home run, but the names read like a who’s who of powerless singles hitters, from Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus to San Francisco Giants infielder Marco Scutaro and Miami Marlins contact guys Placido Polanco and Juan Pierre. Sitting there on the cusp of 100 at-bats at 97 was Kansas City Royals disappointment Eric Hosmer, a player manning a power position at first base but providing virtually no power.

Hosmer mercifully hit a Freddy Garcia pitch the opposite way over the left-center-field fence in Baltimore on Thursday night, driving in two runs and exiting the class of the homerless Ben Revere types of the world. However, it hardly means this is the start of something big. In fact, many fantasy owners have already moved on. I admit I’ve thought about it, too, and I’ve been a big supporter. Nobody sets a drop-dead date for when they give up on players, though. There’s still little evidence that Hosmer’s 2011 season, when he hit .293 with 19 home runs in 128 games, is what we should expect in 2013, although I hold out hope. Last year was a major step back for Hosmer, as he hit .232 with 14 home runs.

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I'm not quite sure how San Francisco Giants left-hander Barry Zito does it, since his stuff seems pretty average -- OK, perhaps below average -- but there he was on center stage Wednesday afternoon mowing down the Philadelphia Phillies at AT&T Park for seven innings of four-hit, one-run ball. Zito is owned in roughly half of ESPN's standard mixed leagues, which makes sense because he's worth owning about half the time. That's right, Zito is currently one of the best examples of a hurler fantasy owners should stream for home games, but avoid when he's on the road.

When one watches Matt Harvey and Yu Darvish, one marvels at their ability, and it's not only velocity. Their stuff is tremendous. Watching Zito on Wednesday, I was trying to figure out why Phillies hitters were falling for the off-speed junk and couldn't hit it hard. Nevertheless, Zito has twirled 33 innings at San Francisco's beautiful yet pitcher-friendly stadium in 2013, and permitted two runs. That's all. It's a 0.55 ERA, best in baseball for any pitcher with a minimum 20 home innings. In Zito's case, he's not a strikeout guy, and with a larger stadium, more fly balls are catchable. Perhaps it brings extra confidence that even if foes hit the ball hard, it's not leaving the yard. From 2010-12, Zito's home ERA was 3.63, his road mark 5.12. Zito is worth owning even in shallow 10-team leagues if you're the spot-starting type of owner that plans ahead in daily formats.

Who else has been money so far at home? Some of the top home pitchers are just awesome pitchers one would use in any stadium at any time, such as Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw or Washington Nationals right-handers Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg. Seattle Mariners lefty Joe Saunders is third in home ERA with a 0.81 mark, which is not surprising. Lovely Safeco Field also is large, helpful for pitchers. A year ago, Jason Vargas, a similar softer-tossing lefty, posted a 2.74 home ERA, and that mark was more than two runs higher on the road. Now Vargas is in Anaheim, but still boasts a considerable edge in home ERA. I'd use Saunders and most of the time Vargas at home, but rarely away from home.

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Big league managers don't always make what others perceive as the best choices when deciding who should and who should not be the designated closer for their teams. In fact, one might argue, when faced with a less-than-obvious choice, they seem to rarely do so. But those decisions are pretty important and dictate fantasy value. For example, did I particularly want to recommend and own Detroit Tigers right-hander Jose Valverde? Absolutely not! But he's the one getting closing opportunities, and so far, so good, he types with fingers crossed. Now here come the Arizona Diamondbacks with an injured J.J. Putz and does manager Kirk Gibson choose the perfectly reasonable setup man with strong numbers the past few seasons?

Well, his words suggested he didn't make a decision at all, but his actions clearly went with right-hander Heath Bell. Fantasy owners -- and Diamondbacks fans! -- might not like it, but Bell is the one to own.

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You have to give Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Michael Young credit for a few things: 1) He is among the league leaders in batting average and hits; and 2) While he's no Gold Glover at third base, he's certainly not killing the team there.

As a Phillies fan, I wasn't exactly doing cartwheels after hearing of the relatively risk-free trade that landed him in Philly, but it has been tough to complain about his early results.

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