Game ON!

So, last night the Mariners lost to their division rivals, the Anaheim Angels.

So What. Major League Baseball was played in Seattle, making myself extraordinaily happy. It’s the game for me, no matter what happens to it, or around it, or about it.

I just plain like it.

Now, switching hats, the game was a roto nightmare. The two largest portions of my team squared off against each other, and the result was (as my friend Carnes would put it) , A slobberknocker.

When the dust settled, the points looked like this

Real world: Angels 10, Mariners 5

Roto World (total) Angels 43, Mariners (-2)

Roto World (personal) Angels 1 , Mariners (-2).

Saddling me with a negative matchup. Go figure.

The one highlight of the Game (rotowise) occurred when 3 of my Seattle players were on base, with a 4th at bat. Swing and a miss on the third strike, but the ball got by the catcher, and the batter stole 1st base. This, of course, forced the other three baserunners to steal the next base. Normally, this would be a scoring coup, but alas, MLB’s official scorekeepers did not rule it so. They simply credited the pitcher with an earned run, and moved on.

Jerks.

Ouch. Luckily, this will only happen 21 more times this year. Already I can feel the dark sabermetric demon invading my thoughts.

On the bright side, when I returned home after a suitable alcoholic interval, the game was being replayed on cable, and I see the eighth inning (wherein the aforementioned play occured) again, this time on television. Saw myself in the stands as well, another opening day tradition. Along with the obligatory showing of my baseball fannish self on the Jumbotron.(or the Real One Video Screen, as it is known in Seattle.)

A few hours later, as I was reading in bed, the radio broadcast was repeated after midnight, and I heard the first three innings again. (The ones in which the wheels had not yet fallen off Jamie Moyer’s pitching performance, and the game was still fun.)