Everyone loves a villain

I have always loved Ty Cobb the baseball player. Say what you will about his temper and off the field actions, but damn what a player. He was like part Pete Rose, part Terrell Owens, and completely ruthless on the base paths. Like a good Ron Artest if you will. I rewatched the movie Cobb the other day. What a great flick. Cheers to Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Wuhl. Completely under appreciated I think. But while watching it I couldn’t help but think this guy would be a terror in today’s game, that is of course if he could keep from getting suspended. You can only wonder.

I tell that story to tell this one… we’ll revisit Cobb later.

So I’m sitting here trying to figure out a good post commentary on the first half of the season and all I can think of is, “Damn, how in God’s name are the Nationals this bad?”

Sitting in the wind tunnel atop section 407 on Sunday was depressing. I honestly have never been to a ballgame where I was just waiting for the inevitable. The Astros took an early lead and from then on, we were pretty much just waiting for the ninth to see if the team still had a pulse. Turned out they do not. The Nationals are now barely the same team they once were. Besides Guzman and Kearns, there wasn’t anyone else from the regular starting lineup in the right place. Dukes, Milledge, Zimmerman, Lopez, Flores and Johnson were all gone from the game. I think it really was telling when Paul “Walnuts” Lo Duca – who was playing first by the way – got hit by a pitch and my first thought wasn’t if he was ok, it was more like, eh, maybe we will get to see some AAA guy up for a cup of coffee. And I’ve come around, even if just enough to admit it, to Lo Duca but that is a sad and true reaction folks. By the end of the day, we kept quoting Major League to keep our eyes open and laughing because a lot of it held true for the Nats.

(Harry Doyle: One hit? That’s all we got, one God Damn hit?
Monty: You can’t say God damn on the air.
Doyle: Eh that’s ok, nobody’s listening anyway)

Maybe what the Nats need is a Cobb like player. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here talent wise, but think about it. How great would it be to have that universally feared and respected player on your team? A guy who could talk the talk and walk the walk. So often players yell, scream and do nothing to justify it. If we had a villain of Cobb stature, it would not only give us a chance to win more games but it would provide the fans someone to identify with. Now I’ve been thinking about who could be our Cobb and the choice is clear. Elijah Dukes. He’s already known for his temper off the field, he has all the talent in the world, we know he likes to show off (see homerun chest thump) and he’s got that name you need with a villain. It’s kinda sinful and holy at the same time. The only problem is that he is on the mend right now. So short of renting Milton Bradley we will have to wait.

Unless Paulie Walnuts wants the gig, he did say he was willing to do anything for the team, right?