Every so often a sports story comes along that defies logic and reminds us why our games can be great. Enter Daniel Nava, who became only the second major leaguer to hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the show. (Kevin Kouzmanoff, 2006, Indians was the other.)

But that's not all that made Nava's story special. He had overcome great odds just to get that chance to appear in the Red Sox's lineup yesterday.

Nava weighed only 70 pounds when he started high school before undergoing a growth spurt in college. Now, he's listed at 5-11, 200 pounds.

But wait, it gets better.

Nava was a walk-on player in college at Santa Clara, but was cut and became the team's equipment manager. He returned to Santa Clara after two years playing at junior college but didn't get drafted in 2006 after a stellar senior season.

Nava played with the Chico Outlaws in an independent league and gained notice from Baseball America after a season when he hit .371 and had a 1.100 OPS in 72 games. That led the Red Sox signing him for $1 in 2008 and Nava gradually worked his way up the farm system.

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Everyone always complains about the Red Sox-Yankees' fixation the national media seem to have, but dare I say the Red Sox have flown under the radar this year.

They started off slow and many questioned their offense, but Boston has led the league in runs over the past two weeks, thanks in part to a hot streak from Marco Scutaro. David Ortiz's turnaround has garnered more pub (and deservedly so), but Scutaro is possibly still available in fantasy leagues.

If so, now would be a good time to grab him. He's moved up to the leadoff spot, and he's hitting .348 with two HRs, seven Rs and seven RBIs in his past 10 games. Better yet, the Red Sox are one of 16 teams scheduled to play every day next week.

They're joined in the AL by Cleveland, Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle and Texas. In the NL, Arizona, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego and San Francisco have full slates. Every other team will play six games.

Only St. Louis and the Dodgers have off-days on Thursday. Every other team not listed above will have an off-day on Monday.

Set your lineups accordingly.

Keep track of every pitching matchup with Fantasy Source's Projected Starter's Grid.

Whether it's on Mailbag or in today's Live Chat, one name keeps popping up: Clay Buchholz.

Buchholz accelerated the talk by locking down the Rays on Monday with six innings of one-run ball.

The appeal with Buchholz, 25, is obvious. He's a live-armed, mega-market pitcher with big-sky potential, potential he realized in September of 2009.

In fact, if you attach Buchholz's September stats from last season to his 2010 line you get this:

93.1 IP, 10-4, 74 Ks, 2.99 ERA

That's the stuff of borderline fantasy aces. Not bad for someone who was fighting for a rotation spot in spring training.

Well, there's a few things you know before commissioning a Buchholz statue on Yawkey Way. He has been super on the road (4-0, 1.79/1.30), but has struggled at Fenway Park (2-3, 4.15/1.48). He's also 0-2 with 6.53 ERA in four career starts against the Yankees. In this case, that matters. He's also getting an average run support of 5.7 rpg. Who couldn't work with that?

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A look inside Tuesday's best and worst performances:

3 UP

1. Jose Bautista, 3B/OF, Blue Jays. If it seems like we can put Bautista in this spot every day, it's because we can. With a home run on Tuesday night against the Angels, Bautista now has the major league lead at 15. He has homered eight times in his past 11 games. Sure, this streak can't possibly continue, but it has been fun, hasn't it?

2. Jon Lester, SP, Red Sox. I still remember quite fondly some of the panicky emails we got early in the season that were calling out Lester and asking whether he was tradeable. The response from me was to "be patient", and I hope people listened. Lester struck out nine Rays in six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 3.15 on the season.

3. Vladimir Guerrero, DH, Rangers. I am happy to see Vlad get his mojo back after struggling last season. He hit two home runs on Tuesday night and drove in five, and his average now stands at .349. Is he a good sell-high candidate? At his age, yes. But it's not unreasonable to think he can be pretty productive the rest of the way hitting in Rangers Ballpark.

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The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball and rank third in the majors in runs scored. Yet, several of their players can be categorized as having "disappointing" fantasy seasons so far.

One guy who hasn't disappointed -- Evan Longoria. The third-year star is doing a little bit of everything -- or, actually, a lot of everything -- with his .322 average, nine HRs, seven SBs, 32 Rs and 37 RBIs. He's really killing the ball at home (.373/.429/.707), and, wouldn't you know, that's where the Rays will play all seven of their games next week.

Tampa is one of five teams scheduled to play every day. They're joined by their two opponents -- the Red Sox and the White Sox -- in the AL while the Reds and Pirates are the only teams to play seven in the NL.

Texas, Detroit and Seattle will only play five games. Every other team will play six.

Only eight teams (Tampa, Boston, the White Sox, the Angels, Cleveland, Toronto, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh) play on Monday, so don't be too worried if you're outmanned on Day 1. You'll likely catch up on Thursday, as Cleveland, Detroit, the Angels, Seattle, Texas and Toronto have that day off.

Set your lineups accordingly.

Keep track of every pitching matchup with Fantasy Source's Projected Starter's Grid.

It has been a rough start to the 2010 season for Josh Beckett. But he can start to make everything right, with Red Sox fans and fantasy owners, by putting for a good effort on Tuesday against the Yankees.

Beckett is scheduled to return to Boston's rotation after missing his previous start because of back spasms. He hopes to put his first seven starts of '10 behind him (7.46 ERA, 1.66 WHIP). But the Yankees touched up Beckett for nine runs in 5.1 innings during his last outing.

Beckett has a habit of bouncing back from slow starts, but you might want to act conservatively and give him a start or two to make sure the back is OK. Still, it's something to watch this week. Now, here are some other things fantasy owners should be looking for:

Injury Watch

All eyes will be on Andre Ethier to see how his re-evaluation goes on a fractured pinkie. It's the type of injury that can either cause major problems with his hitting or be shrugged off. Ethier has been one of fantasy's top hitters in the early going. Bill Bender had more on the Ethier situation in an earlier Fastball post.

Grady Sizemore left Sunday's game with a knee contusion. Did anyone notice? Sure, Sizemore isn't contributing much to fantasy teams anyway (.206, no homers, four steals), but even the most bitter owners aren't hoping this will turn out to be more serious.

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Daisuke Matsuzaka in, Tim Wakefield out. There you go Red Sox fans -- your problems are solved.

Manager Terry Francona announced on Thursday that Matsuzaka would rejoin the Red Sox rotation sometime next week. He will ultimately be taking Wakefield's spot, though he won't necessarily be taking Wakefield's turn.

The veteran knuckleballer is still slated to start Sunday vs. Baltimore, and it's unclear when Dice-K will take the hill for the first time. His last rehab outing was on Wednesday, putting him on pace to start Monday at Toronto. That would knock Josh Beckett off his regular schedule, though.

Dice-K's placement in the rotation could affect weekly leaguers if he goes Monday and Beckett loses his two-start status for the week.

Another possibility is that Dice-K goes on Wednesday in place of Jon Lester, especially if Lester continues struggling tonight. Lester would then likely get pushed back to Saturday, which might actually be better anyway because then he could face Baltimore, against whom he's 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA against in his career.

Either way, Matsuzaka is back and Wakefield is in the 'pen. Fantasy owners are probably wondering if Dice-K is worth the risk, though.

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Everything has seemingly run afoul in Red Sox Nation. It's to the point where Sox fans are like that kid who falls in the mud after the merry-go-round starts spinning too fast. Only in this case there's a bully who sticks out his foot and boots the fallen Sox fan in the you-know-where.

Among Boston's many problems during a 5-9 start are injuries (Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron both went on the DL on Tuesday), embarrassingly poor performances (nine steals by the Rangers attributed to, however you see it, Tim Wakefield or Victor Martinez) and slow starts, which is where the subject of our post, Jon Lester, comes in.

Yes, it's a crazy time for Sox fans, and really it's unheard of during a recent run of success. But I can't believe how many owners I've heard from who want to rid themselves of Lester.

The 26-year-old lefty has started out poorly with an 8.44 ERA and 1.88 WHIP in three starts. That's for sure. But is that enough to erase the past two seasons when Lester compiled a 31-14 record with a 3.31 ERA and 1.25 WHIP?

Sure, Lester has racked up a lot of innings over the past two years (413.2 to be exact), but there have been no signs that he's pitching with an injury. In fact, his K-rate is quite good at 7.9 (14 Ks in 16 IP).

Then, what's going on? It could be just another one of Lester's characteristically slow starts and our overreaction to a small sample size, that's what.

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Don't forget Patriots' Day! It's like fantasy baseball's version of daylight savings time. You don't want to wake up Monday in a time warp. 

First pitch for the Red Sox versus Rays is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. ET, so there will be an earlier-than-usual roster lock. If your Monday mornings are typically too hectic to make educated fantasy decisions, then don't delay in dissecting your Week 3 lineups.

The pitching matchup in Boston will be John Lackey vs. Jeff Niemman. After wrapping up this series, both the Red Sox and Rays will go on to enjoy a full slate of fantasy action with six more games this week.

Besides Patriots' Day, there are a few other items to keep track of this week, mostly due to injuries that are piling up at a quick rate and are causing owners to do a double-take.

Injury Watch

Manny Ramirez used to be a regular on Patriots' Day in Boston. But now he's in LA, and over the weekend he sat out two games because of calf tightness. Joe Torre has been taking it easy with the veteran outfielder this season, so expect the Dodgers to be extra cautious.

Derek Jeter was too sick to play on Sunday, but was due a day off anyway. He should be OK by the time the Yankees take the field on Tuesday in Oakland.

Torii Hunter sat out Sunday's game with lower-body soreness, but it was likely that the Angels were giving the veteran a rest from the Rogers Centre turf. Expect Hunter to be back Monday against the Tigers.

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Every year, there are a handful of proven, veteran hitters who struggle. And, almost without fail, when the following season rolls around, fantasy owners want nothing to do with them. Case in point: Magglio Ordonez.

The Tigers' slugger was just two years removed from a .317-21-103 line, but after hitting .310 with nine HRs and 50 RBIs in '08, his ADP was a paltry 284.62 this year.

Ordonez is proving the doubters wrong, though, at least in the early going. Entering Saturday's games, he was hitting .342 with three HRs, eight RBIs and eight runs. Perhaps just as surprising, Detroit ranks 11th in runs scored (52).

Ordonez and the Tigers will have seven chances next week to continue their opening-season surges, as they're one of eight teams scheduled to play every day. Boston, Los Angeles and Tampa Bay join them in the AL, while Chicago, Colorado, New York and Washington join them in the NL. Every other team is scheduled to play six games.

There are no Tuesday and Wednesday off-days like the first two weeks -- just Mondays and Thursdays. This week, there are more Monday off-days (14) than Thursday (eight), so don't be upset if you're outmanned early on. Chances are, things will even out.

Keep track of every pitching matchup with Fantasy Source's Projected Starter's Grid.