I’m from Toronto. I openly disclose that fact, despite the fact that it actually may cost me some NFL cred. Its a great city and while we don’t have an NFL team (despite the ridiculous Mayor and his goofball sidekick brother thinking getting one is a pretty easy task) but, we’ve got some sport franchises that I love to support. The Blue Jays in particular.
This season, the Jays continued their supposed rebuild and we saw some signs of hope. We also had an up and down year, and watched the young pitching staff – once supposed to be a bright spot – struggle considerably. As part of those struggles, we ended up rolling with JoJo Reyes in the starting rotation for a couple of months.
JoJo seemed like a nice enough guy, and, he had his moments, but it was clear he didn’t really have the stuff to be a mid-rotation kind of guy. There are stats and situations I could include here, but, none are more glaring than the fact that he went 28 starts – spanning 3 years – without a win. That’s a long time.
Reyes, to his credit, kept a positive attitude and showed some flashses during the latter portion of this stretch which he spent with the Jays, and, finally he picked up the win at the end of May.
What does the above have to do with football? Not a whole lot, really. But, it came to mind when I was thinking about John Beck’s career record as a starter 0 and almost a season’s worth. Like Reyes, Beck has been hunting for the elusive win. Unlike Reyes, I’m not so sure he’ll get there. With JoJo, there were situations where he should have won, quality starts where the offense let him down, leads blown late, etc. Some of it was lack of talent, no doubt, but some of it was just sheer awful luck. He was easy to get behind too. You believed the win would come. Fans wanted to support him.
“The fans were certainly aware of the circumstances. Fans chanted “Jo-Jo, Jo-Jo” as Reyes faced the final batter. A sign reading “I believe in Jo-Jo” was seen in the stands. Even the players understood the significance of the win, as catcher J.P. Arencibia embraced the pitcher upon the final out” – nesn.com
With Beck, I just don’t see it. He’s lost in different locations before arriving in Washington and eventually supplanting Rex Grossman; following his ascension by engineering a 3 game slide and the offense has looked totally abysmal under his guidance. Since taking over the reigns, the ‘Skins have managed 31 points in 3 games. He’s averaging 6.5 YPA on the season, and, most of the passing yardage he has comes on checkdowns to Roy Helu. Its unimpressive, its ugly, and, despite the solid effort of the Redskins defense I’m not sure he’s got a win in him this season.
Vegas isn’t either. Somehow, the Redskins find themselves 4 point underdogs to a team that was leading the suck for Luck race until last week, and has 1 win in the last 12 games at home. Right now, there just isn’t a reason to believe in Beck or his team. Maybe I’m wrong, but, going into Miami this weekend I think the struggles will continue in a match up that should be exploited.
Even while Reyes was putting together a string of reasonable starts in search of his win, the team knew it would take a little extra something: “Prior to [the May 30th game in which he picked up the long awaited win], fellow Blue Jay starter Brandon Morrow tweeted “anyone know where to find a goat? We need for..uh…something special before JoJo takes the mound… A chicken may work in a pinch.” He was joking, of course but in Beck’s case – after reviewing his play, it might take something other worldly to get things going.
… Somebody get a goat.