In a back to the future type of move, the last time Edwin Jackson was in a Washington Nationals uniform was on October 12th of 2012, and former manager Davey Johnson declared pre-game that he would not go to Edwin Jackson as a reliever — and then he did. Jackson walked the first man he saw in that 7th inning in the decisive game five of the NLDS, and that lead-off walk eventually scored making that 6-3 lead a tighter 6-4 lead. Jackson was on a 1-year contract in 2012 with the Nationals, and ran the spectrum of very good to poor that season as he finished with a 4.03 ERA that season. That 12th day in October still haunts Nationals fans to this day. The Nationals just saw Drew Storen yesterday in a different uniform. Today they will see Jackson in a Nationals uniform, and he was complicit in that loss like many Nationals players were in game 5. Who would have thought Jackson would return in a Nationals uniform especially one with strong post-season aspirations. There is an irony here that you can find in the weavings of what makes up a team and each player on the roster and how players become part of the team.
Jackson would wear 5 other team’s MLB uniforms and 6 Minor League uniforms after he departed the Nationals in 2012, and now he is back with the Nationals today coming full circle in an occupation that gives multiple opportunities to some like the cat who has 9 lives only Jackson has been with 12 MLB teams under 15 different managers which included one manager who was the same guy, Joe Maddon, who had Jackson with two different teams.
Jackson was unconditionally released by the Baltimore Orioles last month and Mike Rizzo signed him to a Minor Legue deal where Jackson has pitched well in a small sample size of 20 1/3 innings for the Syracuse Chiefs in Triple-A. Dusty Baker was almost giddy upon hearing Rizzo signed Jackson when he said that “[Edwin Jackson] told me he always wanted to play for me.” Being nostalgic is great and who knows when Jackson told Dusty Baker that, but the dose of reality that comes back to you when you go out on a limb is what Dusty has said in the past “this is no try-out camp” has that same feel here, and Edwin Jackson just happened to be at the right spot on the right day this time with very limited options were available to the team after starting pitcher Joe Ross went down with a severe elbow injury and the choices were from a pool of Jacob Turner, A.J. Cole, Erick Fedde and Edwin Jackson. Our sources said that it was Dusty Baker who chose Jackson over Jacob Turner to start tonight.
As mentioned, Jackson has pitched for a dozen MLB teams in his career, one team short of Octavio Dotel’s baker’s dozen (13) of teams, and EJax has had the glory of that 2009 All-Star season when he played against Ryan Zimmerman 8 years ago. Could there be a similar resurrection here for Jackson like Zim has seen? We could find out tonight if this will be a scene out of Disneyland which is just outside the front door of the hotel where the Nationals are staying. Sprinkle on some pixie dust and see if EJax has some magic in his right arm and really gets Dusty Baker to a higher level of giddiness if that is possible.
Edwin Jackson will square off against right-hander Jesse Chavez of the Los Angeles Angels. Chavez had some of his best years for the Oakland A’s will turn 34-years-old next month and has struggled this season with an ERA that has been over 5+ for a chunk of the season and is currently at 4.99 in his 19 appearances. Continue reading →
