Rich Harden, Chicago Cubs: All indications are that his missed turn in the rotation last week was a planned thing and that he'll be back and ready to go for two starts this period. He did indeed feel some slight discomfort after his last outing, but if he's scheduled to go (which he is), you know he'll be firing away as always. When he's healthy, he's as good as there is in the game.

Adam Wainwright, St. Louis: An 8-3 record with a 2.97 ERA in 16 starts is enough for me to believe he's a good play no matter who lies in front of him. He'll get the Cubs and Pirates this week, neither of whom are playing particularly well right now, so that just solidifies things.

Sleepers

Jesse Litsch, Toronto: You probably didn't know it, but Litsch hasn't given up a run in three of his last four starts, including a four-hit shutout of the Twins on Thursday. He doesn't strike out many men (71 all year), but his ERA is plummetting every time he takes the hill these days. He'll also get a break by getting to face a White Sox team without Carlos Quentin.

Oliver Perez, New York Mets: He hasn't been dominant by any means, but the Mets have won five of his last six starts, and he'll get home game matchups against two of the worst hitting teams in baseball this week (Washington, Atlanta). And his strikeouts are always above average. Gotta like his chances for a big week.

Randy Wolf, Houston: The ERA definitely won't prove it, but Wolf has been a "W" machine of late. His teams have won seven of the last eigth games he's started, with him striking out 37 men in that period. The best thing, though, is that his matchups this week are nice ones. Pittsburgh's the obvious one. The Cubs are the other one, and they may seem to be bad, but he just came off a stellar outing against them last week, and the Astros just have something in for Chicago this season, as they've handled them better than any team in the N.L.

Dave Bush, Milwaukee: The Brewers had won five straight Bush starts and eight of his last nine before his ugly outing last week. But that should be enough for you to believe he'll get at least one good performance out of him this week, if not two.

Potential disappointments

Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati: I really don't like his matchups this week (at Milwaukee, at Arizona), which makes the 13 runs he's allowed in the last three games look even worse. His ERA went over 3.00 for the first time this season after his last disastrous outing, so be on notice ... he's nowhere near the stud he was in the first half of the season.