Welcome to Fantasy Island.
My fantasy team this year started out pretty decent. And then came the let-downs.
I’m in a Yahoo!Sports league with a few buddies. As it so happens, my choices got a little bit jumbled in the heat of the draft. In fact, my bullpen probably has the weirdest form ever.
Starting out with Chien-Ming Wang (WAS), Cliff Lee (SEA), and Bronson Arroyo (CIN) all having some trouble, it looked like I grabbed up some problem players. That’s not even mentioning that Cliff Lee, who has a 5-game suspension for throwing a ball at Arizona’s Chris Snyder after their collision in March, is hanging out in my bullpen with Carlos Zambrano (CHC), who is notorious for this meltdown last spring.
Needless to say, with Wang on at least the 60-day DL and how fantastic he did last year, I dropped him like third period French. Instead, I picked up Kevin Slowey (MIN) after his performance against St. Louis this weekend. I’m keeping Lee around for ***** and giggles – rumor has it he’ll be back by the end of April.
On the bright side, right now it looks like my main reliever, the legendary Mariano Rivera will be getting some action tonight.
My fielders look pretty decent. Not only did I pick up Brian Roberts (BAL) who served me well last season, I’ve got Brian McCann (ATL) behind the plate and his rookie teammate Jason Heyward on the bench. After he plays a few and gets a feel for the majors, I’ll probably move him into Alfonso Soriano’s (CHC) spot.
Ineberated out.
Really Tall Hot Fudge Sundae…on Monday Night.
Standing at 4′ 11″, I’m not exactly the tallest person in the world.
However, it was nice to see that the tallest pitching match-up recorded in Major League Baseball happened Monday night.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Big League Stew, this qualifies as some kind of accomplishment.
At AT&T Park, San Francisco’s Randy Johnson, the Big Unit himself, took the mound to square off against Daniel Cabrera and the Nationals.
With a combined height of 163 inches, the 6′ 10″ Johnson (*giggle*) and the 6′ 9″ Cabrera beat the record for tallest match-up buy an inch.
San Francisco won 11-7, which racked up the triumph over the Nats as Johnson’s 298th career W. He struck out 9 in 5 innings and gave up 3 home runs.
Cabrera gave up 8 runs in 4 2/3 innings, with 6 BB, a wild pitch and HBP piled on top.
All that’s missing is the cherry.
Worst-Case Scenario
So let’s say, hypothetically, you’re in the middle of the desert, your car’s got two wheels hanging off the edge of a 400 foot cliff, you’re tied to a cactus 50 feet away, you’ve really gotta pee, and it’s 40 miles to the next anything.
Well, you’d still be in better shape than the Yankees.
After ending up on the DL tuesday, Jorge Posada may have company. Leaving the game in the 5th inning after straining his quad rounding the bases, backup Jose Molina may join the company of 3 other bench players, including Xavier Nady and Cody Ransom. Of course, A-Rod comes back today.
I may have mentioned that the lack of bench players could make for a BIG PROBLEM. With the possiblity of both catchers out with injuries, one can only assume that Joe Girardi’s just going to throw a pitch-back net behind the plate and hope for the best.
The sad thing is that the pitch-back may have a better batting average than the alternative, despite not having any limbs.
And Then There Were…Some.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here and I’ve made a deal with myself that I’ll attempt to write on this blog once a week or so, even while keeping up with editing Suburban Justice and my own journal, too late, trotsky.
Shameless plugs aside, let’s talk about them Yankees.
With my cap hanging on the back of this chair, I shake my head as I watch the bullpen throw pretty much everything against the wall and pray something sticks. Basically reminded me of a pitcher I played fastpitch softball with, who had a streak that rivaled ‘Wild Thing’ Vaughn. During the first at bat of the game, this girl let go of a fastball that hit a metal sign bolted to the backstop fence about 8 feet off the ground. Despite my calling a low outside pitch, the next one hit the batter. My dad, commenting on the game, brought this up.
“Pretty much she was going to hit something, whether it was the strike zone or the batter, well…”
That’s pretty much how I’m feeling about the Yankees’ rotation.
So far, not so good.
Nothing’s clicked yet, and it’s come to the point where, yeah, a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes, but the squirrel who spends money on a gourmet meal keeps getting empty shells.
With everything focused on improving the pitching, it looks like we’ve all overlooked the problem of NOT HAVING ENOUGH BENCH PLAYERS.
And Jorge makes 4
After Monday’s game against the Red Sox at Yankees Stadium, Posada was placed on the DL with an injured hamstring. Not only does this really screw over my fantasy team, it also means that Jorge joins 3 other Yankees fielders on the bench.
Xavier Nady, out with a torn right elbow, said that he hopes to be back in late May or June, but says it’ll take time for him to work his way back out into the field.
Cody Ransom’s out with an issue pertaining to his right quad after the first NYY/BOS series at the end of April. He’s currently on the 60-day DL.
And, of course, who could forget A-Rod, who, according to a whole slew of sources, hopes to be back by this weekend.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Of course none of these were as epic as the spectacular play Rick Ankiel made during the Phillies/Cards game at Busch the other day, where, after an amazing catch, Ankiel slammed into the wall. He was taken off the field on a stretcher, but luckily there are no broken bones, even after taking a header into the left-center wall.
Baseball Tidbits, Vol. 1
Remember in 1948, when the Braves won the World Series?
Eh…that’s not a great question. I’m going to go ahead and say probably not.
Well, back in September of that season, Gerald Hern wrote a poem in the Boston Post about the pitching team that won the championship for the Atlanta team, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain.
- “First we’ll use Spahn
- then we’ll use Sain
- Then an off day
- followed by rain
- Back will come Spahn
- followed by Sain
- And followed
- we hope
- by two days of rain.” I’ll check back in when I find more baseball tidbits. It’s been kind of hellish, and last night was the first night in a while I could catch ESPN.
- then we’ll use Sain
Fantasy.
I’m offically dead last in my fantasy league.
It’s not because I didn’t get good players, oh no. Between Brian Roberts of the Orioles, Adam Dunn of the Nationals, and Jeff Francoeur and Jordan Shafer of the Braves, I don’t exactly have a problem in the roster department.
I don’t have time to manage it. I wish I did. I spend enough time watching baseball and on the internet, so I thought it’d be a good fit. Pretty epic compromise, right?
Yeah, I thought so, too.
Handshake.
Gotta love Santana. Guy is hilarious.
Opening Day
So I may have grossly underestimated how much I know and care about this sport.
Just saying.
Saturday afternoon I headed to the mall to pick up a couple things, and I ended up a Lidz because I needed a light cap with a short brim. You know, because it’s important. The two guys working there started to annoy me and asked what my teams are and so on and so forth. It took me about 20 minutes to shut them up and let me pick out a freakin’ hat. I love when guys assume that because I’m a girl I don’t know what I’m talking about. I don’t just pick the teams I like because their mascots are cool (though in the case of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA, I’d have to make an exception. That’s more of a respect due to my intense fear of velociraptors).
Back to baseball. It was opening day yesterday. Though considering I’m blogging at 2:30 in the morning, I probably have a terrible handle on what day it is. Technically it was yesterday. Just yesterday as in seven hours ago. But I digress.
As the magical hour of 8 PM EST approached, I started to get anxious and have those chills down my spine. You know the ones I’m talking about. The chills that you get when you see a celebrity in real life or right before you give a huge presentation. Those chills.
The game started and, in the second inning, Atlanta’s Jordan Shafer, a rookie I just picked up for my fantasy team about four days ago, rocked one into the back of the ballpark in his first Major League at bat.
I’m not bragging, I’m just still freaking out about it. Just a bit.
If you blog it, they will come.
So, I don’t really talk about baseball on the internet. There wasn’t that much of a market for it before these shenanigans.
Anyway, there are some things that really bother me about my relationship to the sport.
I always feel alienated from other fans because I grew up a Yankees fan. Just recently, in a public speaking course, a kid gave a speech on why the Yankees are the best franchise in baseball. I agree. Even though I DID grow up with my dad screaming at the TV from March to October, I still think that they’re one of the best teams in sports. The problem was that the speech was given to a hostile audience. I was one of three (in a class of 18) who either liked or didn’t mind Bronx Bombers.
I’m not as well all-around educated about players and franchises as I should be. Back when I still followed hockey (keep in mind this is back in 1997 when the Whale was still around), I knew which players were great and which teams were working towards the cup. I was never like that with baseball. I’d really like to be. It’s a beautiful sport.
Back when I was in middle school, my parents and I went to the Museum of Natural History and saw a baseball exhibit that sent tingles down my spine. I still want to make it up to Cooperstown. Maybe this summer.
When I was a baby, my parents met Yogi Berra at an airport in California. They got him to hold me. That’s one of my favorite anecdotes I don’t actually remember.
I never saw a game in old Yankees Stadium. I live in Connecticut and we never made it down there. That makes me sad. I’d like to see a game in Fenway and Wrigley before anything changes. I really hope they don’t.
I played softball since I was 5. My dad played beer leagues until I started playing. I remember running the bases after his games and sliding into home, even when I was wearing my nicest girl-clothes. After years of being “sent to the minors,” I played a season of college ball at DII level. After that, it was done. It’s hard to watch a game without thinking of how the infield dirt would make its way into my cleats and end up in my room. It’s hard, but I still love the smell of the field. I don’t think I’ll ever stop throwing with my dad. It’s like a ritual that has to happen every spring.
This is the first season that I’ve decided to do a fantasy team. I did my research and tossed my hat into the ring. Maybe that will help me learn.
Some of my favorite movies are about baseball. The Sandlot, The Natural, Bull Durham, and Field of Dreams will always have a place on my shelf.
All of that seems so profound, but it’s really not. I just can’t imagine a life without all baseball’s given me.
With many a Sunday I’ve spent on a diamond, catching fly balls, I can honestly say,
“I believe in the church of baseball.”
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