Games we play

The organizers get little competitions together to make the games more interesting. Today you drew a spot in the batting order and, for each hit that spot got, you got $2. For each hit the others on that team got, you paid 25 cents.

I drew No. 1 in the Mets game, and it turned out to be Jose Reyes. Played the Tigers game also and drew No. 2, who turned out to be Placido Polanco. By my calculations, when they see the boxscores tomorrow I will be presented with my winnings of $2.25. I kept score today and was perfect, except for the half dozen times I had to ask, "What just happened?" Being on time helped.

In this game, you were the big loser if you had Marcus Thames, because Detroit had 21 hits and he didn't get any of them. That will be $5.25, please. Guy sitting in front of me on the bus had him. The game is basically like Dan Noxon's college football game, where you just take his word for how much you won or lost.

They also have you guess the attendance for a prize. I guessed 44,444 for the karma of the fours, ignoring the greater karma that Comerica holds only 40,000. One of the six young kids on the trip won, missing the actual attendance by three people. His prize was to choose the DVD they played on the bus after dark. He inflicted The Sandlot II on us. (Don't you think you should get a better prize than that for missing the attendance by three persons?)