The first time I ever played fantasy baseball was in a Yahoo! fantasy league during the 2001 season. Imagine how proud I was, in all my noobtastic glory, reaching the championship match in my first year! I set my lineups every day, and sat back to watch if my guys were going to perform better than his guys.

And then I saw it - he dropped Roger Clemens one day, and picked up some other guy. Then the next day, Randy Wolf and Kirk Reuter were shown the door. I didn’t know what was happening. Then I realized - he was loading up on starting pitchers to beef up his stats. It was the final week, so he had nothing to lose. He cheated to win the championship.

The next year, when I started my own league, I took up the practice of locking adds and drops in the playoffs for this very reason.

Two years ago, I relinquished my commissioner duties in a league I started and became only a participant. I didn’t make the playoffs that year, but I advised the new commish to lock adds and drops. She didn’t feel the need to, and guess what happened? Someone pulled the loading up on pitchers move in the championship, and the title was tainted. She has since realized why I stand where I stand, and locked adds and drops the following year.

So I advise you to do the same to keep the integrity of your league intact. Good luck in the playoffs!

It’s Jake Westbrook of the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians.

In six August starts, he went six plus innings in all of them and notched wins in all but one of them. He’s good for a 1.90 August ERA, and less than one percent of ESPN fantasy owners got to enjoy that. Maybe you’re looking at a good pickup for the September championship run.

Chamberlain has pitched 11.1 innings, has yet to give up an earned run, and has 17 strikeouts. That’s an unheard of 13.5 K/9! And the Yankees will definitely be using him. He’s not a bad pickup for a September championship run.

But setup men can be great for strikeouts, innings, and WHIP, if you pick the right guys. Here’s a few that could be useful, and are all owned in less than 50 percent of ESPN fantasy leagues.

Carlos Marmol, Chicago Cubs: 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA and a 12.6 K/9.

Jonathan Broxton, L.A. Dodgers: 4-2 with a 2.19 ERA and a 10.6 K/9.

Pat Neshek, Minnesota Twins: 7-2 with a 2.49 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP.

What’s up with Mike Mussina these days? He didn’t get out of the third inning yesterday - this only a week after he couldn’t get out of the second. The start before that wasn’t pretty either - six earned runs in five innings.

Today he stands with an 8-10 record and a 5.53 ERA. Yet he’s still owned in 25% of ESPN fantasy leagues. Why? Maybe it’s because his average draft position was 147th overall and people don’t like to admit when they’re wrong.

It’s time to drop Moose like a hot potato though.

Soriano is set to be activated in time for Tuesday’s game, back in the leadoff spot and ready to propel your fantasy team into the playoffs. Utley is going to be activated Monday in time for the Phillies’ game against the Mets.

Get them in your lineups now. If you have them on the DL, activate them tonight, if your league requires one day for transactions to go through. You don’t want to miss a single one of these guys’ at bats.

He’s owned in less than one percent of ESPN fantasy leagues. He’s red hot just in time for the fantasy playoffs.

Congrats, Garrett Anderson owners. All both of you.

But maybe it’s time you took a look at Tim Redding of the Washington Nationals. This guy has had a an up and down career, and has been designated for assignment or cut twice since 2005. He started this year with a minor league contract. It’s no wonder fantasy owners are completely ignoring him.

But I think if you knew about his 2.53 ERA and the fact that he’s taken in less than two percent of ESPN fantasy leagues, you might want to give him a closer look.

Last day of the fantasy week, two weeks until the playoffs, and you’ve got a chance to jump ahead for good on Sunday.

Enter Johan Santana and his SEVENTEEN strikeouts. Good pitchers need two starts to rack up that much. Decent pitchers do it in three starts. Johan just did it in ONE start, and on a Sunday to boot.

Congrats, fantasy owners!!