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If Stat Tracker ever reads 7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports should give us each a million dollars.

Photos of the Day: 6/10/09

Raul Ibanez was like, dancing in the dugout when Chase Utley hit his HR. Here, they go "BELLISTIC" for Nar and Joe, fine graduates of Bell Elementary School.

Edwin Jackson: "I hope I can pitch as good as you tomorrow!"
Justin Verlander: "Yeah."

It worries me that many baseball players take care of their eyebrows better than I take care of mine. I fear David Wright is getting a little pluck happy, but maybe it's just the angle.

I like to see Big Papi happy.

Dustin Pedroia: "So, the last time we owned you was what, 1912? I'm getting excited just thinking about it, man."
Derek Jeter: "Shut up, you're such a twat."
But we all know in reality, Jeter would be more diplomatic about it, like "Stop being immature, young man."

Do all Japanese baseball players look like anime characters? Ichiro got hit by a pitch here, but it's more like the post-hit-by-pitch so I'm going to post it even though the hit-by-pitch-photos are technically reserved for Nar. (BTW, are there any pictures of Scott Baker getting hit by Pujols' bat?)

Hank Blalock of the Rangers enjoys his time off during the rain delay. Here are some other photos that show how bad the rain was.

Carlos Beltran cannot make the catch. Mordecai said this picture reminds him of this. I'm not sure I understand, but he's the commisioner, so let's just nod and smile.

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?

Photos of the Day, 6/9/09

Let's get the nasty out of the way.

A.J. Burnett kicks over a water cooler after being pulled from the game. I saw Jenni's frustration tweet but damn, I didn't know he was pulled so early and that it was what looks like pouring. That sucks.

The ugliest man in MOT, American, and Major Leagues. Congratulations on your Triple Crown, Youkilis.

Dontrelle didn't get destroyed, but it wasn't easy to watch him pitch either. Here he tries to tag Scotty Potty out, but fails. I can't bring myself to post the photo of him on the ground desperately throwing the ball to Miggy to get the last out.

Now onto the borderline nasty-acceptable photos.

Yunel Escobar joined Impending Doom recently, and has been contributing pretty decently. I heard his hair was frosted, but holy shit, this is some bullcookie straight from the 90's.

Rafael Furcal steals a base for arbitup. No one steals a base for the Poppersteins. GRRR.

Saving the best for last:

A beautiful portrait of Adrien Gonzalez (click for full Getty Image size). I imagine Joe rubbing his belly in delight at the sight of this photo.

Grandy hugs Miggy for game-winning home run. Which I happily witnessed!

"For the hell of it" Photo of the Day: Joe Torre is The Man on the west coast (click for full Getty Image size)!

Photos of Yesterday, 6/8/09

Ladies Love Us vs. CHUTLEY matchup captured in a photo.

Ian Kinsler needs some backup in reality and in fantasy for Impending Doom--he is ice cold.

PAULIE SAVES THE DAY FOR IMPENDING DOOM
(By the way, congrats to Impending Doom for having a strong start in his first couple of days. I don't know how aware people are, but this is truly a rare moment for our league.)

Troy Tulowitzki always looks like he's crying, even as he trots home from his solo HR. Does he not want to be on the Zone?

Andy Sonnanstine pouts after giving up a home run to Mark Teixeira.

Miggy doesn't like the call.

For the hell of it: Jim Leyland. He's THE MAN! He will put his hands down his pants in public if he wishes!

Photos of Week 9

This blog must live, as we have recently gained one non-league reader (Hi Adam!). Here are the Highlights of Week 9. There are many days missing not because I didn't save photos, but because Yahoo had a little brain fart and didn't have any photos for a while after Randy Johnson's 300th win.

June 1, 2009: Orlando Hudson holds Stephen Drew back. What's going on here? Is this permitted? I like Orlando Hudson after hearing that he pats the home plate umpire on the back and the catcher on the head when he goes up to bat. That latter move seems ambivalent in meaning--amicable, or condescending?

June 1, 2009: Hiroki Kuroda's face looks like Japanese animation here. The sweat is a perfect touch.

June 1, 2009: Jenni's friend's friend, Jeremy Sowers, pitches against the Yankees. I still can't believe baseball players are real people that one can be friends with.

June 1, 2009: Adrian Gonzalez has some words with an umpire after getting on base. It looks like A-Gon's telling the ump to suck it because he leads the league in home runs.

June 1, 2009: Dancing With the Stars and Olympic Champion Shawn Johnson throws the ceremonial first pitch at Dodgers stadium. This is an excellent "Bartolo Colon Face"! It's even kind of endearing, in a hamster-ly way. But lawdhamussy, look at those SANDALS! They're like, from my 1996-7 closet!

June 3, 2009: Brandon Phillips congratulates himself for stealing a base. He's proud to steal a base (a rather rare event) for the Poppersteins.

June 3, 2009: Koyie Hill breaks up a double play! Or did he? Can't find the original caption, so we'll just say he excelled here.

June 6, 2009: I thought this actor, Eric Martsolf, would be a Will Ferrell's-co-star kind of guy with this pose, but he apparently sang the national anthem this day, so maybe not. I have no idea who he is and don't care to look him up. But this is a good pose to bust out at Dodgertown.

June 6, 2009: "Television personality" Lauren Conrad throws the ceremonial first pitch at a Dodgers game. She got a personalized jersey! She looks serious here and avoided the Bartolo Colon face that plagued Shawn Johnson's pitch mug.

June 7, 2009: Ricky Nolasco tags Kung Fu Panda for a crotchout. I didn't know Kung Fu Panda was Pablo Sandoval's nickname. I like him even more now!

June 7, 2009: S.S. Choo looks like he should be a member of Rip Slyme. But then I noticed his thumbnail. GROSS! Is someone going to pick him up yet?

June 7, 2009: Pitcher Chris Jakubauskas wears a princess backpack. What's this tradition?

June 7, 2009: The insects seem to like Joba. Here, Joba defends himself by doing what I'm going to call the "MS." This is an absolutely not-right LPHS reference, so I can't really elaborate here online. I think to be safe, we should only refer to it as "MS" before we get reported to the Internet Moral Police.

Alright, on to today's photos! Stay tuned. Also, I just realized that many of these photos have little to do with Fantasy teams, but whatever.

Cutest Photo of the Day

Due to real life obligations, I have completely neglected Photos of the Day. I saved the ones I liked, but I didn't have time for coherent posts. My apologies. There were also a couple days recently where Yahoo! failed to update their gallery with the days' games, but they seem to be back on track. Today I present Cutest Photo of the Day, Daisuke Matsuzaka with his children. Matsuzaka might be having some struggles on the mound, but he's got some damn adorable children. He should bring them to all of is games in case his struggles persist! Maybe Big Papi can use some of that cute-children-positive-vibes for his problems.