-- Praise Jebus that Joey Votto finally made the NL All-Star team. Although I remain in a kind of disgusted awe that it took MLB's Final Vote thingie to get him in. So happy I drafted him for my Hurler team. So pissed I got cute and passed him over for Jacoby Ellsbury in my money league. Note to self: Never get cute again. Pick the guys you know are going to be good.

-- So Cliff Lee goes from a ballpark where not many home runs are hit in Seattle to a ballpark where a lot of home runs are hit in Arlington. But, then again, if C.J. Wilson, Tommy Hunter and Colby Lewis can all be carrying sub-3.40 ERAs while pitching there half the time, Cliff Lee should be able to post a number that looks like negative infinity.

-- I'm tired of hearing about Dallas Braden. No ... make that more than tired. Exhausted.

-- Hope you sold high on Phil Hughes. I didn't -- actually I couldn't, try as I might -- and he's now given up 23 earned runs in his past five games. Yeah, he could get things straightened out, but once he does, you'll then be fretting over how many innings the Yankees are going to let him throw this year.

Tired of him getting squeezed out of the Giants catcher scene thanks to the arrival of Buster Posey, I finally cut bait with Bengie Molina in the two-catcher Hurler league on Tuesday. Didn't seem like too much of a loss. The guy had posted only three home runs and 17 RBI so far this season. But then two days later -- before Molina had even cleared waivers, of course -- San Fran ships him off to a better lineup and a friendlier ballpark in Texas, where his numbers are almost guaranteed to improve. Obviously, he was claimed by another manager. That's not even the worst part. The player I cut Molina for was Rangers backstop Matt Treanor, who has now lost his job to the guy I just dropped.

You see why I hate love really mostly hate this game? You see why I'm compelled to write about it here? It's the only way to exorcise the demons.

We have a weird rule in my big-money league: A trade between two managers isn't completely binding until approved by the commissioner. What this means is that if Manager A agrees to trade Roy Halladay to Manager B for David Wright on a Tuesday night, but then Wright breaks both of his ankles in a tragic collision with his left fielder on Wednesday before the commish has approved the trade, Manager A has the right to request that the trade be rejected. And it will be.

I'm pretty sure this is backwards from how most leagues do it. Honestly, I can't even remember why we wrote the rule this way in our league constitution. (Yes, we have a league constitution. I run a freakin' fantasy baseball blog, for crying out loud. Are you surprised?) But for whatever reason, we decided that a trade would be binding between two managers not when they agree to trade and hit that "accept" button, but rather when the commissioner hits the "approve" button.

-- So we haven't had a new post up in more than a week ... which is much too long. Sorry about that. If you haven't noticed. it's been mostly just me posting for a while now. First half of last week, I was on vacation and returned home to find Bloguin knee-deep in a server switch. Rather than posting new content that could disappear during the move, I figured it would be best to wait until I got an all clear from the network. We did lose a few forum posts in the intervening days, but everything's running smoothly now. So let's resume our regularly scheduled programming ...

-- Tim Lincecum lasted only three innings against the Red Sox today. He's obviously still an elite fantasy starter, but he's putting considerably more guys on base this year, allowing more to cross the plate and striking out less. I just knew this would happen once the man took away his pot.

-- 2010's most under-appreciated fantasy stud could end up being Colby Rasmus. The sensational sophomore belted his 16th home run this afternoon. That's one more than Pujols, Fielder and Howard have posted.

-- You know who else went yard? Joey Votto. I promised 30 home runs from the man (check the comments), and barring injury, it's looking more and more like he'll have no problem getting there. I love it when my man-crushes prove to be worthy of my undying affection.

-- I wish Elvis Andrus would start stealing bases again. Seven in April. Eleven in May. Only three so far in June.

-- Fantasy Sports Weather is a new website that offers up daily fantasy advice based on the weather. Good idea for a site and worth a look.

I hate when this happens:

You're falling behind the pack in saves and really need your closers to go on a run. Home from the evening's activities, you click on your fantasy-baseball team page to see how your players performed today. At first glance, you notice that both of your relief pitchers posted stats. Score! your brain tells you. But then you focus in. Turns out your very best closer did indeed get into the game and pitched a scoreless inning, but he must have entered a tied contest because he ended up with a win instead of a save. Damn! your brain says. But we're good in wins. We needed the save! Still, all is not lost because your second closer pitched as well ... but as your eyes move down the page you realize those are not numbers in his ERA and WHIP column. Those are letters. INF. INF? How can this guy have an INF in the ERA column? Your brain quickly deduces how that can indeed happen. Crud.

The above is a true story. Special thanks to Jonathan Papelbon and Ryan Franklin for tricking me into thinking I might actually pick up a save or two last night.

Back in March, I recommended that you draft Alex Rios. My exact words:

Every year I trumpet Alex Rios as being worth owning on your team, and every year he lets me down. I'm not about to stop now, as I figure one of these years he'll fall deep enough in the draft and play sufficiently above expectations to make me look smart.

As it turns out, this year ended up being "one of these years." Rios is currently sporting a monster line of .315-42-13-32-19, good enough to make him the fifth-ranked hitter in the Yahoo game. I should feel triumphant. Instead, I feel like putting my fist through a wall. Despite my never-ending and seemingly irrational belief that Rios was going to explode one year -- though, it doesn't look so irrational now, does it? -- I don't own him in a single fantasy league this season. That, my friends, is not fair. I feel like a boxing manager who took on a talented young pugilist and taught him everything I know about the business, only to see him bolt for Don King right before winning the championship belt. (Wait, is Don King even still relevant in boxing? Doubtful. Shit, I don't know any other big-time boxing managers.)

Anyway, the point is I feel cheated. What makes it really sad is I had my eye on him in my 14-team money-league draft, watching as he fell past the 12th round, past the 13th round, past the 14th ... I knew he'd be a steal at that point, but I couldn't work up the nerve to pull the trigger because (a) I was desperately trying to accumulate starting pitching in those rounds and (b) I had already drafted four outfielders, including Curtis Granderson and Adam Jones, who both profiled to put up a range of stats similar to Rios. When I did draft an outfielder in the 15th round, I decided I needed a guy with power upside and took Kyle Blanks.

Sorry. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Rios ended up being drafted six picks after I took Blanks, by the manager who I'm currently battling for first place in this league. And the only thing I get out of it is the chance to come on here and say, "See! I told you Rios would spring to life at the plate one of these years!" But writing it doesn't help. I still feel I've been deeply, deeply wronged. You are an evil game, fantasy baseball.

Two years ago, I wrote about how every February I'd get jazzed over the arrival of that season's copy of Fantasy Sports magazine, despite the fact that the Internet had made printed fantasy mags, at best, outdated and, at worst, useless. A snippet from that post:

There's just something tangible and satisfying to lying sprawled out on your couch (as opposed to crouched over your computer desk) casually glancing through player projections. Fantasy Sports is the first fantasy mag I ever purchased and still my favorite of the lot.

This spring, however, the Fantasy Sports brand was purchased by Fanball.com, who is continuing to publish the magazine. I even received a card in the mail letting me know that I could subscribe to a full year's run of Fanball-produced magazines (11 issues) for just shy of $44. I decided to pass. In fact, the turnover in ownership for my once beloved magazine is what finally compelled me to go fully digital when it comes to prepping for a new fantasy baseball season. Heck, with all of today's tech gizmos -- smart phones and iPods and iPads and such -- I don't even need a magazine to take to the bathroom or sprawl out on the couch with anymore. The content in the new Fanball-published Fantasy Sports may be similar to what it was before. It may be even better. But that still doesn't make it the same magazine I remember picking up at the local grocery store to ready myself for fantasy seasons long since ended. I will miss that magazine and remember it fondly.

Now, I just need to save up for that iPad.

My Strasburg prediction from yesterday: 7 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks, no decision

Today's reality: 7 IP, 2 ER, 14 Ks, W

No doubt, the kid looked amazing. You fall behind 0-2 or 1-2 against him, you might as well head back to the bench right there and then because you can forget about getting any wood on the ball. I want to call Strasburg's breaking ball "filthy," but, honestly, I'm not sure that does it justice.

The Delwyn Young home run didn't surprise me. I did predict the two earned runs, after all. Nobody expects Strasburg to post zero after zero after zero on the scoreboard. But if you've had him stashed on your roster since draft day, you can expect a significant boost to your strikeout totals. Hopefully the other pitchers you drafted have kept you competitive in that category so the boost doesn't go for naught.

-- Being a Pittsburgh resident, I'm kind of bummed that I don't get to watch Bob Costas and the rest of the MLB Network endlessly fawn over Stephen Strasburg live tomorrow night. I'm stuck with local coverage. My Strasburg prediction: 7 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks, no decision. Who else wants to do some guesstimatin' on Strasburg's line?

-- Speaking of the Pirates, they're calling up Brad Lincoln, their best pitching prospect, to pitch on Wednesday. Strasburg he ain't, but Lincoln might be worth a look in deeper leagues.

-- Apparently, Jacoby Ellsbury is getting another second opinion on his still-achin' ribs. Which, being that this is his second second opinion, should probably be called a third opinion. Or do we multiply and make it a fourth opinion? Hmm. Regardless, I'm about ready to declare this season a lost cause for the Sox outfielder. For those of you who argue against spending an early round draft pick on a steals guy, Ellsbury is your new exhibit "A."

-- My "Edwin Encarnacion is going to save me at third base!" dream lasted all of one week. It's now been replaced by my equally ludicrous "Jose Lopez is going to save me at third base!" fantasy.

-- I'm starting both Cody Ross and Chris Coghlan in my big-money league this week, and the way those two have been playing of late, I feel just fine about it. But the arrival of Mike Stanton is going to wreak a little havoc in that outfield. Cameron Maybin will suffer the most, but I'm pretty sure the Marlins aren't just going to relegate him to full-time pinch-hit duty. Which means Ross and Coghlan are going to lose more starts than any of their owners feel comfortable with. As someone who owns both of them, the whole mess makes me feel slightly nauseous.

This is the way I'll always remember Ken Griffey Jr.:

And I'm not talking about the youthful appearance and charismatic smile. I'm talking about the whole damn card ... the '89 Upper Deck design and everything.

I was 15 years old and a baseball maniac that summer, and the Upper Deck Junior rookie was the card to find in a pack. I bought tons of them. Imagine how disappointing it was when I finally got one -- but it was the dreaded bottom card and thus marred by a slight glue stain on the back. To this day, I get a little pissed off when I think about it.

By 1989, I was already drafting fantasy baseball teams. Bear in mind, I wasn't actually playing fantasy baseball. Any attempt to do so, and to keep proper standings by utilizing box scores from the local paper, always fell apart by mid-May. (Damn you, pre-Internet age.) But that didn't stop my friends and I from drafting teams every March, and during Griffey's early years, he was always one of the first players taken off the board. It was a blessing -- a gift from above -- to get an early draft pick and scoop up Junior.

It's these memories I have, this neural tether to my youth, that make me sad Ken Griffey Junior officially retired yesterday. That grin will be missed.