The Charge of Dontrelle Willis

28 February, 2010

After reading some press about the D-Train throwing well in early spring training drills for some reason I thought of Tennyson’s poem - about a group of soldiers riding to their doom because they didn’t know anything other than to follow their orders.

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:

Please, don’t get me wrong - I want to see him do well. He was one of those rare players who caught my attention while playing for a team I don’t follow. He was great. He was entertaining - I loved his persona on and off the field. I loved his delivery with the awesome old-timey leg kick. I loved that he always seemed genuine.

But after his past few seasons, and their well documented ups and (mostly) downs it’s hard to not wonder if he should call it quits and and do something else with his life. He seems like he’s still going out there because that’s what he does - not because that is what he wants to do. Of course it must be hard for him to decide something like that when he has shown in his rare moments off the DL that he can still physically hack it. Remember that game last year when he threw 5 innings of top-notch ball? That doesn’t come from nowhere - but what does it mean if he can’t do it consistently?

Still, I’m going to cheer for him. I’m going to wish him the best and, probably most importantly, i’m also going to assume he knows better than some random dude with a website when it’s time to give up his trade.

So, here’s to Dontrelle Willis proving us all wrong this season and having a great year.