This week's Bulls seem to have come out of nowhere, while the Bears are generally well-established.  Don't go rushing out to pick up the Bulls or drop the Bears, but keep your eye on them to see if a trend is being established.  This far into the season, strategically starting or benching a player who is trending in a certain direction could make a big diference at the end of the season.  

Bulls

Marcus Thames - OF - (Detroit Tigers):  It is always hard to pick up a part-time player at any point in the season, but when a player is this hot, he is hard to ignore.  Thames has homered in five straight games, totaling six home runs in his last five games.  Four of those home runs have been of the solo variety, so he has only eight RBI to go with those six HR, but those are still impressive numbers for someone who has played in only 62% of his team's games.

Willy Taveras - OF - (Colorado Rockies):  Taveras has been absolutely brutal as a hitter this season, and even of late he isn't hitting.  His .240 AVG and .599 OPS are awfully ugly, but his seven SB in the last week make him look a whole lot better.  Taveras is running at will now, so on the few occasions that he gets on base, he generally steals the base.  If your team has a ton of power and average, but trails woefully in stolen bases, Taveras might be just the player to help you out.

Justin Duscherer - SP - (Oakland Athletics):  Duscherer is one of the most underrated pitchers in the game, but he is proving impossible to ignore this year.  After an injury-marred and ineffective 2007, Duscherer has been consistently excellent this year, but he has really turned up the notch in June.  In three June games, he has thrown 21.2 innings, to the tune of a 1.66 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and 13 K to 6 BB ratio.  Duscherer basically epitomizes the A's, getting the job done to little fanfare.

Runners-up Bulls:  Andy Pettitte - SP - (New York Yankees); Andrew Miller - SP - (Florida Marlins).

Bears

Chase Utley - 2B - (Philadelphia Phillies):  The early MVP fervor has dies down already for Utley, who went into today 0 for his last 16.  Part of it is bad luck, as Utley has struck out only three times in those 16 at-bats, but the slide has seen his AVG dip below .300, and he is in danger of losing his HR and RBI leads (Adrian Gonzalez has already caught up to him in RBI).  Utley, of course, is still far-and-away the best second baseman in the league, but he may be losing his foothold on the title of best player in the league.

Scott Olsen - SP - (Florida Marlins):  After a solid start to the season, Olsen has come crashing back to earth.  Olsen was 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in April, but he was a mess in May, pitching to a 4.97 ERA and 1.55 WHIP.  Though he has been a little better in June (3.09 ERA, 1.29 WHIP), he still gave up more than a hit per inning and has not found the same consistency he had in April.  The Marlins just hope he keeps his head and goes back to being the pitcher he was at the beginning of the season, but fantasy owners may not be able to wait that long.

Roy Oswalt - SP - (Houston Astros):  Fantasy owners keep waiting on Oswalt, thinking at some point that he will turn it around.  However, with each ineffective start, Oswalt looks more and more like a lost cause.  He has given up far too many hits this year, helping cause his ERA to balloon to 5.04.  Although his other peripherals are as good or better than last year, it is difficult to ignore the .292 AVG opposing batters have against him this year.

Runners-up Bears: Evan Longoria - 3B - (Tampa Bay Rays); Blake DeWitt - 3B - (Los Angeles Dodgers)