Shortstop Devil Woman

Off-topic:

Nomar had a terribly painful at-bat against the Cardinals tonight... it's all over ESPN, and it's so cringeworthy, it makes you turn away.

Unless you're a fantasy baseball addict. I've been in the same league with a bunch of guys for years now, and last season suffered an ego-bruising dead last, having won the year prior to that. This season, following little study, I employed the loaded infield draft strategy, and ended up with Nomar as my shortstop. Third-string. I also drafted Miguel Tejada, and Édgar Rentería.

Hey, it's a shallow league. And we're getting cheaper and lazier through the years, using Yahoo's free leagues with auto-draft and pre-ranking. Plus, my draft strategy could have used a little tweaking.

Everyone is allowed three rationalizations per day. It's my favorite made-up rule of life.

Until tonight, I was able to dangle any of my three top-tier shortstops as trade bait, but it doesn't look promising for Garciaparra. 15-day DL at least. I should have dangled him a week ago, when the league dubbed me, "Shortstop Devil Woman." OK, really only one of the owners dubbed me that, but he's a jackass.

At least it's still April. And having Tejada as your starter and Rentería on the bench -- not too shabby!

I used to be a lot better at fantasy baseball.

I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the Boys of Summer have gone

Well, Nomar's had his MRI and it appears his muscle tore away from the bone. In his groin.

Ouch.

He'll be lucky if he's back before August. Poop.