I was especially pleased with my lineup Wednesday night, and it turned out okay. I cashed in both Double Ups and narrowly missed cashing in both tournaments (as of the seventh inning in the late games, they were all in the money, but barely, before falling out.) In the end, I broke even, leaving my bankroll at $992.

I've written about this before, but it still annoys me more than anything when players I don't own can derail the ones I do. Last night Manny Machado (of whom I have a lot of shares in season-long) was on second base and Ryan Flaherty, who I rostered, was on first with one out. Evereth Cabrera, who was on one of my teams, was scheduled to hit, giving me a chance to cash in the two larger tournaments. On deck was Alejandro de Aza, also on my DFS rosters. The Orioles chose to pinch hit Delmon Young for Cabrera, and on the first or second pitch, Young grounds into a double-play to end the game. It's one thing for the guys I picked to fail, quite another for some carcass like Young to make multiple outs in a single at-bat to erase both my base runner and deprive my other player of ever having a chance to hit. All while pinch-hitting for a third player on my team.

The remedy for this, of course, is not to track/watch while the contests are going on. It's better not to know what might have happened, and in any event, tracking all the games from 4 PM PT to the end of the night is time-consuming and emotionally draining. The problem is it's incredibly addictive and - if you're winning - somewhat enjoyable. I say "somewhat" because even when you're doing well, there are so many disappointing at-bats, missed opportunities with men on base and foul balls with two strikes against your pitcher (if you track the games on MLB.com's Gameday, the length of time between pitches and endless foul balls are maddening.) It's too much time flipping channels and waiting angrily and anxiously while staring at various screens. As an experiment, I'll try not to watch/check at all on Friday.