Scott White

How quickly the wheels came off.

Jason Isringhausen, always reliable, had gotten off to a possibly career-setting pace. One of the many beneficiaries of the Cardinals' unexpected good start, he led the National League with 11 saves, causing his Fantasy owners to point and laugh and generally torment the high bidders for J.J. Putz. The whole scenario seemed almost too perfect.

And it was. Somewhere in between all those saves, Isringhausen lost the consistency that made him so good in the first place. And with it, he lost his job.

"He's still prepared to pitch important innings, but for a while we'll try to keep him out of the ninth inning," manager Tony La Russa announced Saturday afternoon after Isringhausen blew his fifth save Friday and his fourth in his last seven appearances.

If you're a Jason Isringhausen owner, you'll no doubt feel his loss. He was a staple of your Fantasy team. His 11 saves probably placed your team among the league leaders in the category, and you might have even drafted him as your No. 1 relief pitcher. Moreover, the Cardinals plan to split the save opportunities between Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer, meaning you can't just plug in Isringhausen's replacement and call it a day. In shallow leagues, you probably don't want to mess with either.

But the good news is this isn't a Manny Corpas situation. Isringhausen has too much of a track record, and Franklin and Springer in no way compare to Brian Fuentes. So if you own Isringhausen, you'll just have to sit on him for now. Find a short-term replacement in Head-to-Head leagues -- preferably not Franklin or Springer -- and give him a couple weeks to clear his head, reclaim his role, and hopefully return to his record-setting pace.

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Jimmy Rollins is back -- and we mean it this time.

After the reigning NL MVP teased us for two weeks with the occasional pinch-hit appearance, hobbling down the first-base line with each groundout before putting us all out of our misery with a two-week DL stint, he's back for real and doing all the things you expected from your likely first-round pick, coming a triple short of the cycle in his first game back Friday.

Of course, unless you play in a ridiculously deep league, you probably had him stashed safely on your bench for the occasion. In Fantasy, you always have reason to complain.

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Vernon Wells broke his wrist and will miss about two months, which is a shame for obvious reasons, but especially since he had just started to heat up. After slumping to .245 with 16 home runs last year, he looked back on track this year -- not as the .300, 30-homer guy we saw in 2003 and 2006, but the .270, 25-homer guy we saw all those other years. He's a big name and a starter in all leagues, so stash him if you can, but don't feel like you have to turn your roster upside down to hang on to him for the next two months. He's not a superstar.

Remember also wrist injuries have a way of interfering with power, as Derrek Lee showed us in 2006 when he came back from his.

That's all for now.