Jackson Named MVP; To Have MRI On Back

There were few things that hadn’t already been written about Austin Jackson.

You can scratch 2008 Eastern League Playoff MVP off that list, too.

“I don’t think you can expect something like that,” Jackson said after emerging from a loud and lengthy closed door clubhouse celebration.

“I think you just have to go out and try to play your heart out.  It’s the end of the season and you want to just leave it all on the field and hopefully it pays off.  It did tonight.”

Jackson had so many clutch moments during this postseason and certainly earned my vote for MVP.  With all those moments in mind — the home runs off of Buchholz and Edell, the stellar defensive plays, etc. — I asked him if he approached the postseason any differently than the first 140 games.

“You try to take it like any other game, even thought it’s not,” he said.

“You just want to play the game like it’s supposed to be played and come out with the victory.”

But although he downplayed it initially, it was hard for him to control his excitement over winning his second consecutive Eastern League championship ring.

“This is definitely what you play this game for,” he said.

“At the end of the season, you want to be in the playoffs and you want to be in the championship series.  I don’t think anything’s better than winning it in front of the home crowd.”

But not everything was positive regarding Jackson.  He told reporters after the game that he’s heading to New York to “get an MRI maybe” on his back to get it checked out. 

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com