(Baseball) Diamonds In The Rough Oct 25, 2008 | More

In honor of the World Series and in the current color commentary fashion of mixed sports metaphors, let’s examine some players likely to be a big “hit” on your fantasy team in Week 8:

Quarterback: Trent Edwards

Trent returned from the bye week looking fresh as a daisy after taking a blow to the coconut in Week 5. Other than his early departure against Arizona, Edwards has been Mr. Consistent, throwing a touchdown in each game. He torched the Dolphins with four touchdowns the last time they faced off, so expect more of the same on Sunday when they square off again. With stud quarterbacks Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, and Aaron Rodgers either on bye or injured, Edwards looks like the perfect fill-in in your fantasy batting lineup.

Baseball Equivalent: A pinch hitter who drives in a couple of runs with a base-clearing double.

Running Back: Chris Johnson

See Chris Run. Run Chris Run. See Chris Juke. Juke Chris Juke. For those still living under a rock and not yet convinced of the awesomeness of this running back rookie phenomenon, when Johnson rolls over the Colts on Monday Night Football, you’ll be jumping on the bandwagon. If you are a CJ owner prepare hit this one out of the park: beginning in Week 13 the Titans go on a running-back friendly schedule, facing the Jets, Lion, Browns, and Texans.

Baseball Equivalent: A catcher’s nightmare! He steals second base, and then third. And just when you thought he’s finished running wild, the suicide squeeze is on, and he steals home too!

Wide Receiver: Randy Moss

Whether you have Santana or Randy, you know that there is a risk of a boom or bust performance in every game when you put a Moss in your starting lineup. While Randy’s elevator-like season may have reached the penthouse against the Broncos last week, I expect one more game of hardy stats this week against the Rams. Reality should settle in when the Patriots return to a more modest looking schedule in November, so, following Sunday’s game would be a the perfect time to move Moss to another ball club.

Baseball Equivalent: A slugger who swings for the fences at every at bat. Against a better team he would have multiple strikeouts, but against this rotation expect a towering dinger or two. 

Tight End: Jeremy Shockey

Jeremy’s spoken (and, yeah, he’s complaining again), and he doesn’t just have a big mouth. He also seems to have a lot of trouble staying injury-free. Yet, when he is healthy, he always seems to put up solid numbers. Patient owners who held on to him will reap the benefits this week in an internationally located game against the Chargers. Without Reggie Bush, I expect Drew Brees to start moving Shockey up in the batting order and getting him more involved in the Saint offense.

Baseball Equivalent: The unofficial mascot of the team who gets beaned by the pitcher and causes a bench-clearing brawl.

Defense: New York Jets

The Jets haven’t been a very reliable or consistent defense this season, but a matchup against the embarrassingly inept Kansas City Chiefs should do the trick. As if the Chiefs weren’t bad enough, in Week 8 they have to make do without Johnson and settle with third string quarterback Tyler Thigpen. Don’t be surprised if the Jets defense gets their act together and bat some runs in during the upcoming games as well against the Bills, Rams, and Patriots.

Baseball Equivalent: Every team needs a gold glove fielder to save the day. A big play can bring the fans to their feet and change the momentum of the game.

Round out your roster with these candidates, and you should have a World Series (or, rather, Super Bowl) worthy fantasy football team in Week 8.