First Pick Blog

By Ben Simpson

I’ve been staring at this screen for thirty minutes, writing and re-writing, typing and then erasing. I keep searching for an angle, some way to look at this loss differently. I check Facebook and all I see are angry and sad fans, even more on Twitter, summing up the season in 140 characters. What do I say? Do I try to be funny, be sad, be angry? Do I blame Drew Storen, do I blame Ian Desmond, do I blame Gio? Do I blame my parents for moving me here to live in the land of “Shoulda, woulda, coulda”? Do I blame myself for choosing to support the Nats no matter what when they arrived in DC? What do I do…I suck it up, take it on the chin, and I remember that this is the burden we carry, welcome to DC Sports everybody.

This one hurts a little more than the others, cuts a little deeper. I guess I realize what Boston fans felt like, what Cubs fans still feel. What Texas felt last year. One pitch and everything changes. One strike away…one foul pop-up, one swing and a miss, one tapper to 3rd, one blazing fastball on the inside corner…any one of those could have sent the Nats fans back into the night with a smile on their face. I don’t like to compare a loss in sports to a death in the family, one is just a silly game and the other a great tragedy but today I feel like my heart was ripped out of my body. Sure, its dramatic. Yes, its only a game. But that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt like hell.

I look at what I wrote last night and they resemble the ramblings of a mad man. Today my head is a little clearer, my thoughts a little more coherent. There is still so much to celebrate about this team, the fact that they made it this far is cause enough for cheer. They accomplished the unthinkable this season, they stood up to the critics and the doubters and non-believers. Harper is too young and arrogant, Werth isn’t worth that kind of dough, LaRoche isn’t a prime time player, Strasburg is just going to get hurt…These are real things said at the beginning of the season. And they were wrong.

The future is bright in Washington. RGIII, the ever-growing potential of John Wall and his surrounding cast, the Caps (if hockey ever returns), and the team that gave DC a taste of playoff baseball. The rest of the fans in the world who have felt this heartache, maybe not only for years but for decades, welcome us in with open arms. Welcome to the club. Baseball is a funny game. The entire mood of a park can hinge on a single pitch. But that’s why we love it, why we respect it. It takes a lot out of you to watch your team play 162 games in the regular season. You watch the heroes emerge, the rookies rise. You see the ups and the downs. The team becomes your team. You know the players all by name, each little distinguishing characteristic or mannerism becomes common knowledge. This was a great group of guys.

I will wait patiently for Spring Training to roll around again, to see what Rizzo and the front office decide to do in the off-season. I hope it is not much, for this group knows how to win. This group is hungry to make it back to the postseason, this time with their ace on the hill. This group deserves another chance. The Nats are built for the future, and I am hopeful they will get their shot at a ring. I pine for the future, but today let’s remember these guys for what they accomplished and how they made us feel in Game 4 when Jayson Werth sent a baseball over the left field wall. Hold on to that memory, and wait.

I’ll admit, when I first learned of Jayson Werth’s $126 Million dollar, 7-year contract with the Nationals back in 2010 I wasn’t happy. To pay that kind of money for the 3rd best hitter in Philly, to expect a role player to suddenly be the leader of this franchise, it flummoxed me. I thought we could have spent that type of money and gotten at least two quality arms to put on the hill. He seemed sullen, spaced out, and I hadn’t actually heard him speak a word ever. Plus his hair….good lord that hair. Jayson Werth? No thank you…

My transformation of feelings did not begin last night, but when I watched him fall to the grass in agony holding his wrist in a game against the Phillies back in May. I realized that we needed this guy, needed his bat, needed his glove, needed his sullen calmness that never wavered. Just because he looks like the Geico Cave Man doesn’t mean he’s not valuable. And coincidentally, that injury gave us all Bryce Harper sooner than we thought. I’m not thanking Werth for getting hurt so we could see the kid play, just an awesome coincidence.

When Werth came back from his injury we witnessed a Jayson Werth Nats fans had never seen before. Suddenly instead of the number five in the lineup power hitter we all wanted him to be he was our leadoff guy: the spot the Nationals had tooled with more than an old Chevy. He could see a lot of pitches (2nd most in the MLB), he had plenty of speed, and could ramp up the power when needed. The perfect table-setter for Harper, Zimm, LaRoche, and Morse. And boy did he catch fire, making up for lost time. The Nats lineup suddenly resembled a formidable foe, it looked the way I had dreamed it would when the Nats first drafted Bryce Harper.

Last night’s at-bat epitomized not only Jayson Werth but the entire Washington Nationals this season: Just.Keep.Fighting. 13 pitches, 1 mistake, Nats win. Even if Washington is unable to close out the series tonight in Game 5, Werth gave the fans something not seen around here in decades: a memorable playoff moment. So from caveman to hero, Werth proved that yes…he is the $126 million dollar man.

It’s official now. It’s done. It’s over. Felix Hernandez may be nicknamed the “King” but Miguel Cabrera now wears the crown. To finish off a season for Detroit that was more topsy-turvy than a white-water raft, to help propel his team into the playoffs and a second consecutive AL Central Division Title, all just a few years removed from the alcoholic incidents that almost cost him a career; Cabrera has plenty of reason to showcase those pearly whites.     The Tigers are not without faults, plenty of questions still remain about the cast that surrounds Miguel and Prince Fielder, but with a Triple Crown winner in your lineup, can you really be in trouble?

Many arguments surround this AL MVP race. Trout vs. Cabrera, New School vs. Old School, Power Numbers vs. W.A.R, all arguments should be invalid after what transpired on Wednesday night. To  be the first player in 45 years to lead the Major League in Home Runs, Batting Average, and RBI is something special. Something beyond Wins Above Replacement. Something that deserves recognition. Mike Trout has the capability of becoming a Miguel Cabrera, maybe someone even better. He has the AL Rookie of the Year award on lock, no questions asked. The kid will surely win an MVP race in his career, pending some threatening injury.

The question of “value” of a player is hard to judge, that’s why W.A.R. was invented in the first place. The point of Wins Above Replacement is to, “show how many more wins a player would give a team as opposed to a ‘replacement level’, or minor league/bench player at that position.” Trout is around three points higher in that category, it is understandable to see that side of the argument. But put aside your wacky new-school ideas and get down to the basics: without Cabrera the Tigers don’t make the playoffs. Without Cabrera the Tigers finish in the middle of the division, squandering a pitching staff of studs. Without Cabrera, Prince Fielder would not be in Detroit. Without Cabrera, Jim Leyland might be out of a job. Cabrera is the heart and soul of the Detroit Tigers, he is the Most Valuable Player.

By Ben Simpson

As human beings, much of our lives is based on the successes and failures we experience. From that great grade in high school to losing a loved one, each event forms and molds us as people. Sports can be used as another outlet for finding that success we crave so deeply. I spent much of my childhood and young adult life playing sports, watching sports, and immersing myself into the culture that my dad passed along to me. My teams may have had sporadic success, but they were my teams now. My moods, my attitude, all relied on if they had won the night before. It may have been foolish, but is it any crazier than being a die hard fan of a band or loving math or science?

When the Nationals first came to Washington I was in a strange place as a sports fan. My beloved Detroit Tigers were in the process of a rebuild, a few years removed from the most losses in American League history. I had never really jumped onto the Orioles bandwagon, living in Northern Virginia it was always quite a hike to Camden Yards. Each trip to an O’s game was a big event, and we usually got out to one game a season. But now I had a professional baseball team relatively near me. Sure, it was the Montreal Expos castoffs but it was a team. It was now my team.

From the start I witnessed some of the most fun baseball moments I had ever seen. I was there at RFK on Father’s Day of 06 when Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk off homer to beat the hated Yankees. I was there also that year when Ramon Ortiz pitched a perfect game into the late innings against the Cardinals, only to have Albert “The Machine” Pujols spoil the party. I “Hailed to the Chief” Chad Cordero, I cheered for names like John Patterson, Christian Guzman, and Livan Hernandez who are all long gone now. I was living in two worlds, one where the Tigers made a World Series in 06, the other where the Nationals were losing 100 games. But I didn’t care, I would wait.

Today I am reminded of old faces, like Livo

I wish I could tell the 2008 Ben, “Don’t worry, they get better.” I’ll admit, it was hard to stick with a team that loses. But again, they were my team, I had to. It did get better. I got to see the drafting of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. The acquisitions of Jayson Werth, Adam LaRoche, Gio Gonzalez, and Kurt Suzuki. The growing of Danny Espinosa, Ian Desmond, Tyler Clippard, and Stephen Lombardozzi. I guess sometimes you have to deal with watching guys like Nyjer Morgan to get to guys like Bryce Harper. I watched it all, and waited, just waited.

This 2012 season turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I knew this team was good, I believed in this team, but I had no idea they were this good. Playoffs? We’re talking playoffs? No matter how this postseason ends up, even if the Nats get knocked out in the first round, this season has shown me if you wait good things will happen (now try telling that to Cubs fans). Its time, its our time, let’s win this thing….

By Ben Simpson