My Baseball Fantasy: It's a Boy!

Private League: lost 6-4 (28-12 overall, 2nd place out of 10, 0 games out of 1st but down a tie-break)
Public League: 4th out of 12
My Player of the Week: Ryan Braun (Left Fielder, Brewers) with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 3 runs, 1 stolen base and a .292 batting average


Photo via EndScore

This was my first head-to-head loss in the private league, losing to Mock's brother. I'm going up against the guy ahead of me in the standings this week. That should be interesting.

It was another great week for Braun. I feel a couple of my other players deserve honorable mention. First, it was tempting to pick Ben Zobrist (Second Baseman/Right Fielder, Rays) as my PotW with his astonishing week: 2 home runs, 13 RBI, 8 runs, 2 stolen bases and a .440 batting average. But I benched him yesterday in favor of Nick Markakis (Right Fielder, Orioles), a new acquisition of mine in the public league. It was a wise choice, as it turned out, as Markakis had the better game on Sunday. I don't feel right picking a guy if I didn't start him for every game he played during the week.

Second, and really far more important, Ian Desmond (Nationals), my starting shortstop in both leagues, became a father and took advantage of the Major Leagues' new, highly enlightened paternity leave policy. Icing on the cake: he hit a homer and a triple in his first game back. Many congratulations to the young family!