DET@CWS 6/9/09

Yesterday Mordecai and I took my cousin to the Tigers vs. White Sox game. Dontrelle Willis and Mark Buehrle pitched. Miguel Cabrera was playing 1B even though he has a slightly injured hamstring. In my head, I was rooting in twenty million directions. Ideally, I'd go the Jarrett Route and "transcend team loyalties," cheering for baseball more broadly, but no, I am still entangled in fantasy-reality-personal biases. I wanted Dontrelle to pitch well so he can preserve his spot in the Tigers rotation (Bonderwho?), but I also needed Alexei Ramirez, Jermaine Dye, Curtis Granderson, and Cabrera to hit to raise my average for fantasy. I wanted Rodney to not blow his save because he somehow looks like a gummy bear to me, but it was also nice to see Paul Konerko get some shit done tying the game. I'm not sure I've seen Mordecai get out of his seat to cheer for someone or something. I think he was fueled by both fantasy and reality concerns, but maybe more fantasy than he's willing to admit out loud. No one, not even the Tigers fans around us who stayed until the end of the game, cheered for Miggy's game winning homer. I think everyone wanted to go home because it was cold. From our seats, it looked like the ump was giving some bogus calls so he could go home too.

Here are some photo highlights from last night, possibly reflecting my various interests.

Dontrelle is a big man. Does he have a fan club? Can I be president?

Cabrera was wandering around with a bat in the dugout, until someone took it away from him. Then he looked like he wanted to dive forward, or do some gymnastics.

JIMMY GOBBLE! I wish I remembered his entrance music. Octavio Dotel, who requested and received a hug from President Obama at the White House, enters with Wisin & Yandel's "Ahora Es," whose chorus lyrics I tried but failed to learn.

Here's a picture of the little conversation that Laird and Pierzynski had and the drama that followed. Notice Buerhle smiling on the left, Jermaine Dye's shiny head, Beckham failing to have any substantial reason to be there except to witness his first exciting "incident" in the majors, and possibly Rick Porcello on the right somewhere in a hooded sweatshirt. IMO, Inge and Thome look like the biggest diplomats in this scene.

Here are Alexei (pronounced Al-eh-say and not Aleksei?) and Miggy in the bottom of the 9th. They look annoyed to be near each other. DON'T YOU GUYS KNOW YOU'RE TEAMMATES ON THE POPPERSTEINS? I almost typed Poopersteins.

Tonight Justin Verlander and John Danks are pitching. Mordecai pointed out that Danks looks like Popeye. Jenni and I agreed that Justin is good-looking. Hmm. Will I have to go to a bar to see this game tonight? Will I enjoy it or will it be torture?

5/13/09 Commentary (Starting off with Popperstein biases)

Detroit vs. Twins

Not Fantasy-related, but Dontrelle Willis returns to the mound! I have no interests in the Twinkies (nickname courtesy of "Hawk," the TV announcer for the White Sox) so I hope, for Fantasy purposes and real-life purposes (are they really separable?) that Dontrelle gets past the 5th inning and some run support.

Okay, he made it to 4.2 innings pitched, Leyland just took the ball out of his hand. GO DONTRELLE!

Okay, as I write, Inge just homered and the game is now 5-4 in the sixth inning. Inge is benched for me, but IT'S TO SUPPORT DONTRELLE even if he doesn't get the win! I don't know why I'm madly rooting for the Tigers, and it doesn't make sense since they're White Sox division opponents, but WHATEVER.

Yankees vs. Bluejays

As usual, Scutaro starts things off for the Bluejays by walking. He's really good at this; my Yahoo! note on him says he leads the league in walks right now, or something like that. The Yankees seem to be taking advantage of Mr. Halladay no longer pitching, as they lead 8-2 now.

Brewers vs. Marlins

Jorge is on my bench (I still insist, as a mere observation, that he reminds me of Robert Redford in both complexion and eyes), but he matters with respect to Hit By Pitch's Hanley if Hanley doesn't homer every time he goes up to bat. The Brewers seem to be on fire, and here they are again, leading 8-4 in the fifth inning. Princey has no double homeruns (yet) but he has so far had a hit and 2RBI. Thank you sir.

Okay, the Marlins are creeping up, it's now 8-7, Brewers.

Reds vs. Diamonbacks

Cueto pitches, with real-life teammate/fantasy-opponent Brandon Phillips backing him up. Phillips' real-life opponent but Fantasy-teammate is Felipe Lopez, but they don't seem to be aware in real life:

It looks like Phillips is in the midst of clapping his hands (I like how both feet are on the base, so as to elevate himself) and Lopez is in the midst of shaking his head.

Alright I have no volition to go on with the other games, I suspect everyone is paying attention to their own interests. Good luck to all.