Luck and RG3: A New NFL Buddy Comedy

Five rookie quarterbacks started this season's opener in the NFL.  All five of them have at least one win.  In fact, only Brandon Weeden has less than 3 wins, and that may be because he is on the Cleveland Browns, a team going through ownership/front office change, and the team's personnel have suffered because of it.  Still, they have been competitive in all their games.  Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill have their teams performing well, though those two have not been the best part of their team so far.  Tannehill is enjoying the resurgence of the Miami running game, while Wilson has been helped out by arguably the best defense in football.  But really, the two QBs that will forever be linked from this draft are Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck. 

RG3 may be the most exciting player in football.  He has electrified the DC area, which was in sore need of a pick-me-up after the National's collapse.  It is a shame that he can't also play in the secondary, because he is faster than any of the Skins' corners and probably can cover better as well.  Still, he has given Skins fans hope, which was severely lacking in the recent past.

Andrew Luck, while not as flashy as RG3, has done a stellar job of righting the ship in Indianapolis.  He has put up some big numbers so far, and can even run for touchdowns too (when was the last time Peyton ran for one over 3 yards, eh?).  Not to mention that he has done all of this with a team that was awful last year, and whose coach is in treatment for leukemia.  His effort so far has made the Colts very respectable.  Just ask the Packers.

It is amazing for the league that both of these quarterbacks are blossoming into young stars.  Manning, Brees, and Brady are getting up there in years.  We still have Aaron Rodgers and Eli, of course, but this league needs star quarterbacks to sell jerseys and create buzz.  I don't know if there is a better choice of men than Luck and RG3.  Both are highly intelligent, highly talented, very articulate, charming, and personable.  They are huge stars in the making.  The media loves them.  The fans love them.  Their teams love them.  Everyone is happy.  It is nice when everyone is happy.

Page View Counter Problem

Well, it seems my page view number has reset.  No idea why.  I am not happy about it.  Having recently hit 10,000, I was looking forward to seeing my number grow.  Hey, blogspot, fix this!

JFLANland MLB Awards Spectacular!

Well, the MLB regular season is over.  And, for me at least, the playoffs are over because my Nats lost in amazingly heartbreaking fashion.  It hurt a lot, I won't lie.  But, we were still far better than most thought, and the division champs, so I'll live.  Anyway, now that the regular season is over, it is awards time!  So, here are the first annual JFLANland MLB Awards!  A quick explanation-  I am not giving out the Cy Young Award for Best Pitcher.  Why?  Because Cy Young is not the best pitcher of all time.  Walter Johnson is.  So, my award is called the Walter Johnson Award.

AL MVP:  Miguel Cabrera, 3B, Detroit Tigers

Yes.  Miggy.  Not Trout.  Sorry.  Sabremetric seamheads would hate me if I had a say in the actual awards.  I am a fan of history.  Miggy became the first Triple Crown winner since 1967.  That means something to me.  Add in the fact that he carried his team to the playoffs in September, played out of position all year, and... WON THE TRIPLE CROWN!  Sorry Trout, not for you.  It it an eternal question- are you that valuable when your team misses the playoffs?  Well, Alfonso Soriano had the first 40-40-40-20 season in MLB history, and finished 6th in the voting.  So, no MVP for Trout.  Oh, and just wait, it is going to get worse for the Angels' golden boy...


AL Walter Johnson: Fernando Rodney, RP, Tampa Bay Rays

Another surprise, I suppose, but his numbers do not lie.  48 saves, 9.56 K/9 innings, 5.07 K/BB ratio, .167 opponents batting average, and an absolutely insane 0.60 ERA, which is 0.01 lower than the previous record for lowest reliever ERA held by Dennis Eckersly.  I know relievers aren't the popular pick for the Cy Young, but no other pitcher in the AL had such a historic season.  That is a good reason to "shoot the moon"

AL Rookie of the Year:  The Oakland Athletics Pitching Staff, Derrick Norris, and Yoenis Cespedes

Ok, I know Mike Trout will obviously win this, as well he should.  But these are my awards, so I am going to give them to who I want.  So, I am going to give the award to rookies from Mike Trout's division who made sure their team finished ahead of Mike Trout's.  The point of baseball is to win, folks, not finish 3rd.  Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker, AJ Griffin, and Dan Straily carried the Oakland A's to the AL West title.  They were almost 20 games back of the Texas Rangers in the middle of the year.  Brandon McCarthey was injured.  Bartolo Colon was suspended.  Instead of folding, these rookies took a hold on the team's rotation and guided them to the playoffs.  It was an absolutely improbable season.  Then, two rookie position players helped the team down the stretch as well.  Derek Norris (along with Milone, Brad Peacock and AJ Cole) were part of the trade that sent Gio Gonzalez from Oakland to DC.  He started 53 games at catcher, and almost every game once Kurt Suzuki was also traded to DC in early August.  He provided a consistent battery-mate with the young pitching staff, and had a number of huge clutch hits in their drive to the postseason.  Cespedes is a legit ROY candidate on his own.  .292, 23 HR, 82 RBI are very impressive numbers.  He battles some injuries, but was there when it mattered for the AL West Champions.

AL Manager of the Year: Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles

I think this is a no-brainer.  The O's should have been terrible.  Like, 70 wins or so.  Instead, they brought the AL East race down to the last days of the season, and took the Yankees to Game 5 of the ALDS.  Since Buck took over, the O's are a completely different team.  Not even Peter Angelos' dismal ownership could stop him from willing this team into contention.  That alone makes him an easy winner.  Bob Melvin of the A's is a close 2nd. 

NL MVP:  Buster Posey, C, San Francisco Giants

Batting champ, division winner, probably comeback player of the year, arguably the best catcher in the game...  It is very difficult to argue against Posey.  You can argue for some others, sure.  But I don't think I can be convinced of someone that has impressed me more than Posey.


NL Walter Johnson:  Gio Gonzalez, SP, Washington Nationals

I am biased, I will admit this.  He is my pitcher on my team.  He got none of the press because of Strasburg, but guided the Nationals to an improbable 98-win season and a division title.  He won't win the Cy Young because RA Dickey's numbers are slightly better, and he is the "better story".  Again, I don't think awards should go to 4th place teams, because the point of baseball is to win.  We ignore wins in modern baseball voting, so it seems.  It is odd, because the only number Cy Young has over Walter Johnson is Wins.  Interesting...  Well, I don't ignore wins.  21-8, 2.89 ERA, 207 K's, .206 opponents batting average, 9.4 K/9, and that is without a gimmick pitch like the knuckleball.  He won't win the Cy Young, but he did win the Warren Spahn Award for best Lefty.  And now, he has the JFLANland Walter Johnson Award.


NL Rookie of the Year:  Bryce Harper, CF, Washington Nationals

Again, I am biased, but I think I will agree with the world at large on this one.  This would have been a lot closer if Todd Frazier didn't have a horrible September, or if Bryce Harper didn't have an amazing September.  It will still be close between Bryce and Wade Miley of the Diamondbacks, but I think you have to give it to the every day player over a pitcher when it is close.  As it was, Bryce ended up being the spark that the Nationals needed.  He was called up in late April and proved that he belonged in the big leagues right away.  He had the most pressure of any rookie this season, and lived up to it.  Furthermore, he did this all as a teenager (Happy 20th Birthday, Bryce!), and as a catcher playing center field.  He played with more fire, passion and hustle than anyone in the majors all year.  I don't think you can argue against him winning the award.  Question him winning?  That's a clown question, bro...

NL Manager of the Year:  Davey Johnson, Washington Nationals

Again, biased.  Again, he is going to win.  The Washington Nationals won 98 games and the NL East.  Do I really need to say more?  Give him the award, and a hug!

A Love Letter to My Washington Nationals

Dear Washington Nationals,

Thank you.  It hasn't been easy for me these past few years.  I went to school in central New York, surrounded by Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies fans.  I didn't have a team I could call my own.  Sure, I grew up an Orioles fan.  Cal Ripken Jr will always be my favorite player.  I still love the O's as my 2nd favorite team.  But I am from Virginia.  I went to middle and high school in Washington, DC.  I hang out in DC.  DC is my city.  It's my home.  So, that magical day when the Expos moved to town and got renamed the Nationals was a great moment in my life.  I have been one of their biggest supporters since.  My friends and I would buy $5 tickets and sit in centerfield of RFK, usually among the only people in the upper deck, and watch the likes of Brad Wilkerson, Junior Spivey and John Patterson lose a ton of games.  But it didn't matter because we finally had OUR TEAM.

We suffered through the incompetence of Jim Bowden and being owned by Major League Baseball.  We saw Alfonso Soriano have one of the greatest seasons in history and not finish in the top 5 of MVP voting (I mean seriously.  He became the first 40-40-40 player in history, and had 20 OF assists, and he finished 6th?!  Good lord).  We felt sorry for Ryan Zimmerman, a star on a sub-standard team for years.  But we went.  We cheered.  We were there every step of the way.  We rejoiced when the Lerner's bought the team and hired Mike Rizzo.  We will always remember where we were when Zim hit that walkoff home run on Opening Night at Nats Park.  We saw what was coming when we drafted Stras and Bryce.  We got glimpses of excellence when Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa turned their first double play.  It got to the point where my brother and I decided we needed to go to more games, so we bought season tickets.  We went on a roller-coaster relationship with Werth and LaRoche, from wondering why we signed them to loving their leadership.  We went crazy when Morse went Beast Mode last year, making us forget all about the scrub we traded for him (thank you, Ryan Langerhans).  And then there was this season...

It was amazing.  No one thought we would be this good.  We were a year away.  Morse and Drew Storen were hurt.  Zim got hurt in the season.  Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in the offseason, then tore his ACL.  But it didn't matter.  We came out and were in 1st place almost the entire year.  In late April, Bryce Harper came up and proved that he deserved the hype.  Stras and Gio Gonzalez anchored the best rotation in baseball.  Davey Johnson did a masterful job managing the club, and it all culminated on a rainy Monday night in October, when the Nats clinched the NL East.  I was there.  I went crazy.  It was the best feeling I have had related to sports since Syracuse won the 2003 National Championship.  One of my teams actually won something.  We then went out the next 2 days and made sure that the Phillies didn't have a winning season.  We clinched the best record in baseball.  Hell, Teddy even won the Presidents' Race!  The smile cannot be wiped off my face.

Sure, now that we are in the playoffs, I want more.  But no matter what happens in the postseason, this was a huge success for baseball in Washington.  Rizzo and his crew have built a team that looks like it can compete for the division title (if not the NL title) for years to come.  We will get to see playoff baseball for the first time since FDR was in office.  I don't even mind the new fans because it is building up the fanbase across the DC area.  Natitude is at an all-time high.

So, thank you, my beloved Washington Nationals.  Thank you for making this true diehard fan's year with our division title.  I can't wait until Opening Day next year, when we get to raise that NL East Champions banner.  Here's hoping that it isn't the only banner we are raising.  Go Nats!

Love,

JFLAN