It's a Good Thing No Bets Are Placed

If you haven't been playing along at BallHype.com, you should. It's fun and you can win a shirt or something. But the best part is that if you are good and lead for a week, then your name is mentioned, which could just help lead more people to your site (if you blog that is). The trouble is, the Fan can't figure this season out. And it is showing big time on picks. The Fan was rolling during Spring Training amassing an impressive record. But as the season continues to mess around upside down where the Pirates and Royals are contenders and the Bay Rays aren't (yet), the Fan couldn't pick a game correctly if his life depended on it. Let's take a few of Thursday's games for examples:

Royals vs. Indians: The Royals started Gil (ga) Meche, who has really pitched well. The Indians started Anthony Reyes and his 4.94 lifetime ERA. Simple right? Pick the Royals. All was going well, but Trey Hillman is not having a good year managing his bullpen. Meche ran into trouble in the eighth inning and Hillman brought in Mahay (as in: Mahay I please lose this game for you?) who gave up a three run homer to Sizemore. Game over. Pick: LOSER!

Brewers vs. Phillies: It was Cole Hamels against Dave Bush. Bush had an ERA over 5.00 coming into the game. Hamels has had a little injury thing. But is still the much better pitcher. Both teams are struggling so all things being equal, Hamels should beat Bush. Well, Hamels gets pelted by a line drive. Bush flirts with a no-hitter. Brewers won running way. Pick: LOSER!

The Fan correctly picked the Cardinals to beat the Mets and Cueto and the Reds to beat the Cubbies. Whew! Now the Fan is even for the day. The Fan peaks above .500 when Ichiro and King Felix beat the Bay Rays, 1-0.

Okay. Next? In a grand matchup, Baltimore faced the White Sox and it was a battle of seemingly washed up pitchers. Bartolo Colon started for the White Sox and Eaton started for the Orioles. The Fan has been merciless at Eaton's expense and surely, in a battle of overweight pitchers, Colon should beat Eaton every time right? Colon gives the White Sox a colonoscopy and Eaton has a fantastic outing, fanning nine in seven innings. Pick: LOSER! Back to .500

Texas vs. Toronto: Kevin Millwood started for Texas. After picking on him all spring here in the FanDome, Millwood sprang out of the gate once the season started with two dominating starts and a 2-0 record. Feeling bad for ragging on Millwood, the Fan buys into his good start as he is facing an inexperienced Scott Richmond who has pitched in all of seven games in his big league career. Another no-brainer, right? Grrrr. Richmond only gives up two solo homers in six innings and fans eight and wins the game. Millwood wasn't bad but gave up three homers and thus the game. Pick: LOSER! Back in the red.

As of this writing, two games aren't finished yet. One is going the Fan's way, the other, not. So far this week, the Fan is 15-22. Does the Fan feel like a big dope or what? But you know what? The unpredictability of the games is what makes baseball so much fun. It's hell on prognosticating, but it sure is fun to see what happens every day. And like Josh Hamilton in Texas and the Bay Rays, the Fan's season is sure to turn around. Either way, what a great sport and what great fun!