No MVP for Jacoby

Maybe next year, Jacoby. (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor and used with permission)

I want to be happy for Justin Verlander.  If I’m being honest, my first reaction to the news that he won MVP was “They chose a pitcher!!!” with much joy behind it.  So I will say that, generally speaking, I’m very happy for him.  He did an amazing job this season and he earned the unanimous voting for the Cy Young Award and obviously that translated to folks thinking he deserved the MVP as well.  I can’t argue with that.  By the rules, pitchers are eligible for the award and voters like Jim Ingraham are being petty and not following the rules by choosing to not vote for a pitcher for MVP.  (Frankly, I think every time a writer admits s/he didn’t choose a pitcher because s/he doesn’t think they should be allowed to be MVP, that writer should get his or her voting privileges revoked.)

But  here’s the thing: I’m an unabashed Red Sox homer and I will fully admit that I was really pinning my hopes on Jacoby Ellsbury winning the MVP this year.  I don’t live in some fantasy world where Jacoby coming home with the MVP Award would erase the ugliness surrounding the team right now.  I just think the kid deserved it.  (That isn’t to say Verlander doesn’t deserve it but, hey, I don’t have a vote and I wanted it more for Ellsbury.)

Also, as a Red Sox homer, Verlander winning just brings back the reminders of Pedro Martinez not winning it in 1999…after a season in which he most assuredly deserved it at least as much as Verlander did this year.  There aren’t many grudges I hold onto for very long.  I try to let most of them go.  But Pedro not winning the MVP in 1999 is one of those things that gnaws at me every year when they announce the MVP. (Other grudges I choose to keep include Alex Rodriguez and his slap move, Chuck Knoblauch’s phantom tag – Tim Tschida doesn’t ever want to meet me, I promise you – hating John Smoltz for absolutely sucking while with the Red Sox and that little bastard Jeffrey Maier.)

Jacoby  doesn’t have to hang his head for coming in second.  This season he was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year, he won the American League Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger as well.  He’ll do just fine.  But this is one award that I selfishly really wanted for him, so I might have to sit and pout about it for a little while.