Travis Wood(notes) finally ended the cycle of mixing in six- and seven-run shellackings in between quality starts. On Monday, he shutout the Astros for 6.2 innings for his second win of the season, this after coming away with a six-inning, two-run no-decision against Houston his last time out.

Owned in less than 20 percent of Yahoo! leagues heading into Monday's outing, Wood had been the poster child for bad luck. He led MLB in difference between his actual ERA (6.21) and his FIP (3.20). His .365 BABIP was second-highest in the league behind Matt Garza(notes). And his Strand Rate (59.5) was the seventh-lowest among starters.

If you want to see what the opposite side end of the fortune spectrum looks like, take Cleveland's Josh Tomlin(notes), ranked No. 35 in the Y! game. His ERA-FIP is -2.27. His Strand Rate is 90.9. And his BABIP is .157. He's owned in more than three times as many leagues as Wood. But in the Yahoo! Friends and Family League, Tomlin can be had for free while Wood has

Madison Bumgarner(notes) was a hard-luck loser on Monday, allowing two unearned runs in seven innings against Washington. In our Sunday night live chat, his name consistently popped in the questions queue, most everyone wondering what his deal was and if he should continue to take up roster space.

His Yahoo! ownership is hovering around 50 percent, so many of you have already decided to cut bait. If you are one of those owners, it's already time to reconsider. First off, he's been unlucky to this point, with a BABIP among the league's highest, and he's been uncharacteristically wild (about two more walks per 9 IP than his career rate). But, on the positive side, he's throwing harder than ever and he's coming off two very impressive outings – combined 13 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 14 K. Only 21 years old, he's got a lot of room for growth and I would quickly get back on his bandwagon if you jumped off in April.

Alright, let's circle the bases and see what else caught my eye this past week:

After collecting five hits in his previous 10 at bats, Derek Jeter(notes) went 0-for-4 on Monday night, dropping his batting average to .244. He has just two extra-base hits in 86 plate appearances – among the 189 players with at least 65 plate appearances, only five have fewer. Jeter has not stolen a base, and has only attempted to steal once. His ground-ball rate is an off-the-charts 73.5%, easily highest in the league. This is all made further damning by the fact that only a handful of players in the league are seeing a higher percentage of fastballs, which he has been producing negative value against for the first time in his career.

April is almost in the books. We're nearly 20 percent into the season. This is not a case of small sample size, especially after what we saw go down with Jeter last season. I stood on the side of a Jeter rebound in the spring, and now I'm willing to say I was wrong. Sure, things might take a turn for the better here soon but given the dire peripherals,

Roughly three weeks into the season, Rihanna-free Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp(notes) is the top player in the Yahoo! roto game, leading the league in steals and batting average while delivering a healthy return in the other 5x5 categories. Sure, a large dose of luck has helped him get out to such a rockin' start, but don't discount the stability provided by new manager Don Mattingly, who has cemented Kemp into the cleanup spot in the lineup, after previous manager Joe Torre had him hitting in eight different spots in the lineup last season and all nine spots the previous season. On and off the field, clearly there is less for Kemp to think about. And his focus seems to be clearer, if only judging by the small sample size we've seen thus far. His declining success against fastballs has turned back in a positive direction and he's drawing walks at almost double his career pace. There's no reason to get skittish about Kemp's torrid start. When he's at the top of his game, top 10

As I dive into the '11 MLB Skinny campaign, I'll float out the caveat that everything discussed here this week is based upon a small sample size (10 games or less). Ideally, you want to see a bit more baseball than that before formulating strong opinions about hot or cold starts. But most owners don't have the luxury of slow playing things, so rash decisions come with the territory. With that, here's some players that have made an impression on me in the first week-plus of the season:

CORNER INFIELDERS

Rising from the ashes –> Travis Hafner(notes): Hafner has been dogged by a bum shoulder the past three seasons but came into '11 claiming to have put the issue behind him. It sure looked like that was the case from my vantage point last Friday night, when he hit a tee shot at Safeco Field (about 20 yards from where I sat) off the window of the Hit It Here Cafe in right field. At 33, Hafner is young enough to put together a strong rebound campaign assuming health. It wasn't that long

According to our numbers, less than 20 percent of leagues choose to decide a champion in Week 17. I stated last week that I don't like leaving a NFL regular season week on the table and that I'm all for playing it out until the bitter end. But I understand the other side of the debate. Week 17 can get goofy as teams prepare for the playoffs or, in most cases, vacation.

Whether you're a proponent of Week 17 or not, if you find yourself in a championship game this week, you better know the scenarios for every team in the league. Colleague Andy Behrens posted a nice Week 17 primer, going through each possible playoff team and spelling out what is at stake, if anything. Make sure that, along with this week's Skinny (Lite), you make that column part of your Week 17 preparation.

Alright, this is for all the marbles. Best of luck to all. And have a happy, and safe, New Year's. Time to get after it …

Note: The red light remains eliminated this week (we don't waste time in the red-light

Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | K | D

The following list comprises the top 60 wide receiver rankings for Week 12 of each Yahoo! Sports fantasy expert. The list is ordered by the overall top 60 composite ranking of the four experts, with the remaining wide receivers that received votes rounding out the bottom of the list.

Week 12 Wide Receiver Rankings
	Brandon Funston	Andy Behrens	Brad Evans	Scott Pianowski	Composite Ranking
Calvin Johnson(notes)	1	1	1	3	1
Dwayne Bowe(notes)	3	2	5	2	2
Greg Jennings(notes)	4	6	3	1	3
Andre Johnson(notes)	2	3	4	6	4
Roddy White(notes)	5	4	7	5	5
Brandon Lloyd(notes)	8	5	6	7	6
Marques Colston(notes)	7	7	2	11	7
Reggie Wayne(notes)	6	8	18	4	8
Dez Bryant(notes)	16	9	13	10	9
Santonio Holmes(notes)	18	10	10	15	10
Mario Manningham(notes)	9	15	11	18	11
Mike Wallace(notes)	10	23	8	13	12
Larry Fitzgerald(notes)	11	12	19	14	13
DeSean Jackson(notes)	13	19	16	8	14
Anquan Boldin(notes)	25	13	9	9	15
Mike Williams (TB)	12	14	14	20	16
Steve Johnson(notes)	14	11

In another week or two, most fantasy owners will observe the passing of their league's virtual trade deadline. At that point, the individual owner will have no other means by which to address team weaknesses than through the waiver wire. With that in mind, I'm going to identify top category specialists owned in less than 15 percent of Yahoo! leagues this week, as opposed to the usual generic top five under 15 percent list (50 percent for starters).

Also, did anyone notice the recently-added "Last 14 days" sort in the "Stats" drop-down box on your league's "Players" page(s)? We (the fantasy writers) have been lobbying our production/engineering team to add that sort for a while now, arguing that a period glimpse between a week and a month was much needed in order to aid owners in the hunt for waiver help, among other things. So, in honor of that finally coming to fruition, I'm also including some notable last 14-day dynamos and duds (with Yahoo! rank for that span in parentheses) as a