Jason Marquis

Britain gave us rounders and cricket, and well, that might have made baseball, but other than that, you can have their royalty. Now, don't get me wrong; I lived in the country for 5.5 years during and after the Air Force, and had things been different, I would have stayed, but in the end, I'm glad I came back to America... to eventually find my wife, slot canyons, waterfalls, flowery gardens, and baseball... all of which are very good things.
Even though we might like big, stately mansions and gardens and pomp & cirumstance, we aren't caught up in this kings and queens stuff that Europe is, and perhaps, that's something that we don't have here. Sure, we had the Kennedys and some would call that American royalty, but Camelot was dead long before I was born.
I never thought much of the Kennedys, and frankly, I never once thought about waking up at 6am to watch the royal wedding. My sleep is too important to me to waste on hearing someone I've never met say "I do" to someone else that I've never met. In addition, I have no interest in hearing "God Save the Queen" - unless it's by the Sex Pistols, and even then, it's a sheer bit of nostalgia for the moments spent growing up and being heavily influenced by alternative music.
So in honor of the royal wedding, we'll celebrate a marquis... not necessarily a noble man, but a man who has been around and done some things that have made a difference through the years.
Jason Marquis, who threw a 5 hit complete game shoutout with 7 strikeouts for the Nationals and defeated Tim Lincecum and the Giants 3-0.
His ERA is now 2.62 (despite being 4.52 for his career). Since 2000, he's been rather pedestrian. In 2004, he had his best season with St. Louis posting a 3.71 ERA and 138 Ks (Dave Duncan can do amazing things). However, the next year, he came back down to Earth - still better than his career ERA (but over 4) and posted 3 additional 4+ seasons and 2 seasons of 6+ ERA. That's not good - even if the guy is an innings eater, but all the same, the sun still shines on a sleeping dog's ass from time to time, and Friday night was just that night for Marquis.
Here's to the good things in life.