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Nelson Figueroa allowed five hits and six runs, four earned, while blowing three seperate one-run leads.
Figueroa told reporters that the cold, damp weather did not impact his ability to grip and throw the ball adding…
“At times it seemed like every pitch wouldn’t work. I literally tried to throw balls down the middle just to let them hit it. When they did, they fouled off six or seven pitches in a row…My pitch counts have been climbing…You’ve got to make that one pitch to get that one out.”
Figueroa, on the Nationals, who were singing, chanting and cheering against the Mets from their dugout, during last night’ game:
“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls. I’m a professional, just like anybody else. I take huge offense to that. If that’s what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it. I think you need to show a little bit more class, a little bit more professionalism. They won tonight, but again, in the long run, they are who they are…Even for the manager and the coaching staff to let that stuff carry on, it’s truly unprofessional. That’s why they are who they are.”
Milledge, regarding Figueroa’s comments…
“Well, what were we supposed to do? We’re not supposed to cater to anybody on the opposing team. We’re not going to cater to him or anybody else. We’ve been down the last couple of days and we wanted to get something going, and if he doesn’t like it, then he’s got to deal with it. Anybody don’t like it, they just have to deal with it.”
Reporters did not ask Randolph about the cheerleading.
…i was at the game but was informed of the elijah-dukes-led ‘cheerleading’ via phone call…i can’t speak to the classiness of the taunts, but it doesn’t seem very professional from afar…i do know that the people in the picnic area where i was were yelling some horrible things to Lastings Milledge for the whole entire game, several fans even got thrown out because of it…
…i have no problem with taunting other teams’ players, but it’s not like milledge traded himself…the trade seems to have worked out in the mets’ favor so i’m obviously happy about that…but, and i may be in the minority here, i didn’t dislike lastings, so personally, i just don’t get the hostility…
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Personally, I found the cheerleading amusing, but that’s because I was constantly running around and only got to glimpse the game every few minutes and was disgusted to see that every single time the Mets scored Figueroa let them take it right back. As a professional though, i can see that cheerleading as being ridiculous, and thats on Manny Acta for not reining his team in. How can a major league manager sit there and watch his team act like some little league team? They may not be able to compete like major leaguers, but at least pretend to be a part of a professional league.
Ummm, yeah. Where was Acta? Why didn’t he stop it?
Dugout celebrations and fancy handshakes are fine as all teams do them. And if you’re an opposing player, just don’t look over to the other side. But the cheers go beyond that and an opposing player can hear them regardless. It’s a distraction that you can’t really block out.
I like Milledge. I don’t mind him being booed but there is no reason to get personal. I don’t mind the cheerleading either. You don’t like it then use it as motivation. Figueroa shoulda started drilling guys instead of walking them.
“Figueroa shoulda started drilling guys instead of walking them.”
Sorry, but that’s not the Mets style, unfortunately. For the past two years it has been “Pee on the Mets, they will just stand there.”
Just ask Brad Penny.
well the mets have gotten back at brad penny quite a few times. Id rather they score 10 runs off him everytime he pitches than bean him or one his teammates.
Whatever. It’s a game, not some somber endeavor. Let them cheer.
Jose, anyone?
It’s one thing for the fans to cheer Jose (although I wish they would wait until he actually gets on base before starting the chant), it’s quite another for the players to do it from the dugout.
It sounded like one of my sisters Little league softball games.
Lets see if any “offended” Mets do something about it. Of course based on the last two years, they will probably do nothing.
I seem to recall a certain sentiment from some other NL East teams in particular, that some of the dugout antics of the Mets when in celebration mode were unsportsmanlike and unprofessional, and that Milledge was specifically named. I guess when he’s on your team it’s all right.
It’s not his fault he was traded, huh?
exactly .. milledge basically did trade himself and gets what he gets.. His talent out paces his brain
As fans, we wanted Milledge to succeed. His actions forced Minaya to trade him.
He turned out to be much more of a distraction (tardiness, nonchalant play on fly balls, excessive celebrations, bad attitude with veteran players, mental mistakes) than it was worth.
Everyone in the Mets organization wanted this kid to be the next star in NY. Milledge wrote his own ticket out of town with his mental mistakes.
Consider how the approach of David Wright and Jose Reyes and contrast that with Milledge’s first season. Wright and Reyes were hard-working, humble, and never took a play off. That’s the way you win over the team and fans.
Or, conversely, when he’s not on your team, it’s not all right.
Let’s just play the [frickin'] games. I’m sure if Figgy was shutting them out, they wouldn’t have been cheering, and if they were, it wouldn’t have been nearly as upsetting.
For the love of [heck], how’s about winning. Win first, whine later, everybody. Yeesh.
What exactly were they doing? I missed the “cheerleading”? What was it?
“Here we go Milli, Here we go” *clap clap*
sounded to me like there was also some “FIGGY” chanting which particularly drew his ire.
I remember a couple of years ago the Red Sox bullpen looked a lot like the Nats dugout last night. Actually in the Sox pen they used water bottles as drumsticks and acted like they were in a parade out there. I know the pen is a little bit further removed from the game than the dugout, but ESPN used to go ga-ga over the Sox antics. It’s like there’s a scale for what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable, and when the media darlings do it it’s cute, but when a horrible team does it it’s wrong.
It’s all bush league. Then again, there’s some old man walking around today telling everyone who will listen that in his day players didn’t act like that. No, they just yelled “J” and “N” words to guys like Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson. Yeah, the Nats looked like fools, but they’re not the first fools this game has ever seen, and they’re not the worst ones either. It’s still bush.
that sox bullpen was last fall in the playoffs
It’s not bush league. There is no such thing. Compete any way you can, and this obviously worked. Obviously yelling racial crap at guys like Aaron and Jackie Robinson is over the line, but last night wasn’t. This was the way baseball players played 100 years ago when America first fell in love with the sport. Babe Ruth always used to start crap, his ‘called shot’ was supposedly him having a verbal argument with the Cubs bullpen.
Take Jurgens in Atlanta when he was getting rattled and walking everyone, the Mets should’ve riled him up even further. Maybe he wouldn’t have made ito ut of the inning.
Sorry, it is bush league. At least wait until you’re out of last place before pulling that sort of crap. Acta should have reined them in. It’s about sportsmanship. Challenges and trash talk under one’s breath are one thing. Little dugout displays are something else entirely.
The game can and should be self-policing, however. The problem is that fines and suspensions, and umps too quick to warn benches have limited the natural response to those sorts of antics, which would be Milledge waking up this morning with a baseball sized lump over his ribs. If he plays today and is not drilled, I have to question the Mets.
Figgy is absolutely right about Acta not reigning them in. They made complete fools of themselvs–especially Dukes in his sweatshirt, no less. When I first heard “LETS GO FIGGY LETS GO!” I thought it was coming from his family in Wagner’s box! Then you could see Dukes running around in the dugout like a child and they just would not stop for innings at a time. Just really juvenille and as Figgy said, plain unprofessional.
It did inspire amusing commentary from the booth. Keith: “I’ve never seen anything like this…not even in the minor leagues.” Gary: “Yeah, maybe in a college game, maybe.” Keith: “I didn’t go to college.”
Hi, Keith and Gary!
I remember the days of LL ball –.
“We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher…”
Would love to see Maine drill someone in the ribs. Won’t happen though.
I dunno. Maine gave someone a little chin music last time he pitched due to some perceived slight. He’s entirely capable of sending a message if needed.
yea definatly did not belong in a MAJOR league game.
I loved how figz jabed right back at them when he finished that inning..classic
It was stupid and i do wonder where acta was through all of this. Maybe they should get dukes some red and white pom poms and a whistle lol have him cheer milledge on deck lol welp when your a last place team………..
Doesn’t Reyes dance all over the dugout? If you have a problem with the Nats last night then you have a problem with the way Reyes acts too.
Like I said in another thread, it was just weird to watch grown men act like little leaguers. But if Manny Acta wants to run his club like that, that’s a reflection on him.
As for the what’s good for the goose rhetoric, at least the Mets save the celebrating for after somebody has done something worthy, the Nationals were doing it between pitches….come on…
If it really bothers the Mets, just drill a few Nationals. Make em learn the hard way. But the Mets lack a pitcher that is going to send that kind of message.
They have one, he’s just in PSL.
The other one is not pitching this series. I’m sure Johan can send a message when he has to. The thing about Pedro and Johan they have such good control that they can do it and not even hit you but you know what they meant.
Bingo. If it’s that much of a problem, do something about it. If it doesn’t warrant “action,” then shut your yaps, throw strikes, and put some crooked numbers up.
What bee flew in my bonnet this morning?
You’d think (or hope) that Mr. Throw A Water Cooler Guy would have done it when Dukes came into pinch hit in the 9th.
Elijah Dukes has a rap sheet bigger than Castro’s chin.. Are you really surprised someone like him would make a fool out of himself like that? The guys a bum.. Hes the Brett Meyers of the Nats (woman beater).. Nothing idiotic he does should surprise anyone..
i was field level right of the mets dugout, i didnt catch the nats singing. but what a great opportunity for johnny maine to stick a fastball in someone’s ear tonight, maybe rile up the mets…
oh, wait…this is the mets we’re talking about. oops
“but it’s not like milledge traded himself…”
No…but he did throw the whole organization under the bus with his *nothing could be worse than New York* comments. That’s why fans boo him, not because he simply was traded. Some people seem to forget all of his immature, unprofessional comments after that trade.
You have a good point. I guess I just chalk those comments up to him being young, immature and voicing his disappointment in being traded, but I agree with you that they could justify boos for sure.
Why do we give him a free pass for being “young” and “immature”? The game is full of men his age who behave like men.
What about the fact that this young man still needs a compass and a map in the outfield, and often looks like a total ass at the plate? I never had anything against Milledge personally, but he seems to cling to immaturity in his play. If he would get a clue on the field, I wouldn’t have cared if he blew bubbles out his ass in the dugout.
I don’t see what the big deal was. I was watching the game and found it amusing. You don’t really see that kind of stuff in the bigs and they weren’t taunting any of the Mets (at least I didn’t hear it), they were just rooting their guys on. (Let’s go Milly, Kearnsy, Zimmy, etc.)
I’m reading a book called, “the Code”. It’s about baseballs unspoken, but widely knows code of conduct amongst its players.
If Figuero truly feels disrespected, per this code, a National is catching one in the ear tonight.
YES! Bench clearing brawl tonight, see you at Shea!
oh I REALLY hope that happens
Considering how Johnny Maine buzzed Jeff Kent last week, I think you can expect something, which I’d love to see. I love the way Maine has gone about his business this year. I think that buzz back on Kent showed Mets fans that he’s ready to be a no nonsense pitcher, compared to last year when Kuo hit a homer off him and he never responded.
Is dukes gonna play lol
I read “The Code,” too, and it illuminated a lot of things for me– these guys have elephant memories, and keep score in their heads. Often the broadcasters have no idea what set off the brawl because there’s no way they could keep track of how a particular grudge started and grew.
I still will never understand why some things are apparently permissible and some are not, though. Keith was harrumphing and disapproving of the Nats cheering, last night, but in Keith’s playing days, he was the foulest, loudest and deadliest of bench jockeys. Frank Cashen acknowledged this when he got KH from the Cardinals. I guess organized cheering = not good, un-organized screaming = OK.
Its ok when when the Mets do them? The Mets played like girls last night, they deserved to be showed up. Plus all of a sudden Figueroa is the spokesman for the team stirring up controverseHow about just getting the job done and not worrying about the other teams antics.
When the Mets do what?
Fancy handshakes are one thing…cheering like a girls’ softball team is another. Seriously, I haven’t seen this type of cheering at a ball game since I was in the sixth grade.
Wha Wha Wha..how about stop getting trounced by one of the worst teams in the league. Worrying about the Nationals and the lack of respect for the game is not gonna get you to the playoffs. Figueroa fed right into what they wanted, he acknowledged them. How about not saying anything and win the next 3 games via blow out. That’s how you make a statement.
ok so your saying when we have pounded the snot out of any team we beat its ok to act like a bunch of kids…..
Its about respect and its one thing to root for a guy on your team and another to do what they did. I just wish the crowd would have drowned them out with “lets go figgy” or something. But still it does not belong in a MAJOR league game period.
So, let me get this straight…
You don’t want “Everybody” to clap their hands?
Don’t say “everybody” if you don’t mean it.
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
that was HORRIBLe, lol
come on, I thought that was pretty clever.
I don’t think there was anything wrong with the cheering. However, I’ve never seen a MLB team do it. I think it was geared more towards motivating their team than disrespecting the Mets.
I wouldn’t doubt if it was a bit of both…
I think if you could hear “come on Milli, smack one!” and one liners of the sort, it wouldn’t have been so bad..
but to hear it as a chant, I can see that being pretty bush league.
I do think this is different than the mets celebrating though,
the mets will basically wait until they DID something, and lately its on the top step of the dugout or inside…they don’t dance at the plate or in the dugout as pitches are coming
I think Figgy would have understood if after a hit, there was some celebrating going on
Yeah I could see that. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like it, but they were cheering eachother and not razzing the Mets. And trust me, in no way am I justifying what was going on. Even on our softball team we don’t cheer like that. We go about our business.
I can’t believe the Mets lost to Arizona’s Softball Team.
I don’t want to hear about it being unprofessional.. This is baseball people, a game where the players are supposed to be having fun. As long as your fun is not at the expense of someone else’s mom, then please carry on.
If the Mets did it and got a rally started, we’d all be cheering it.
The main point is that we, the fan, would be cheering it, and not the team like the Nats did.
But really, who cares about the Nats. They will remain at the bottom of the pack in the division for a really long time. Can’t take out our teams frustrations on some cheerleading non-sense by a girls minor-league softball practice squad. Let’s just focus on taking this series before heading to the Bronx this weekend.
LETSGOMETS!
If you don’t care about the Nats at this point, you aren’t a real Mets fan. They were the team that beat us the most (5 of 6 games) over the last 2 weeks of last year’s end-of-the-season mess. Over that span we went 4-3 against Florida and 0-1 against St. Louis, but 1-5 against the Nationals hurt us the most.
I think now we’re starting to understand why figgy hasn’t pitched for a major league team in X amount of years. Throw strikes. What an ugly game to watch. The nats were cheering on figgy because he was beating himself.
Is it just me or does it appear that jose reyes has hit a complete developmental wall? His plate discipline is frustrating at best, infuriating at worst. I feel like he’s getting thrown out more often these days as well, though the stats show 25% of the time, up from his norm of < 20%.
Amen…
Time for Figgy to catch the next bus to Binghamton.
Ugh. Nobody would be cheering and goofing on him if only threw strikes…. nobody likes the unprofessional crap the Nat’s pulled, but more distasteful is figgy’s pitching.
the clock has chimed midnight figgy, get back on the pumpkin and disappear, busher.
elijah dukes picked the chants up from a high school girls softball team
that he impregnated
but it was consensual, and then he threw gatorade at them and sent them texts of guns.
I LOL’ed
He says “I’m a professional” Is Figuroua serious? He is the one who acted like a total child stomping off the mound.
Well professionals shouldn’t let something as harmless as what they did get to them. Well, he certainly got what he deserved cause he downright embarrassed himself in front of his friends and family last night.
Then he talks about the Nats like he has been here for years. Seriously, who is this guy? A professional wouldn’t say those post game comments. Let sleeping dogs lie. Don’t give a last place team any reason to get fired up to play you.
Listen, his story was nice but it is time for this guy to take his act somewhere else. He has terrible stuff and when he can’t locate he is just downright awful. Bring up Armas or Vargas or let Bostick stick around is he does a decent job. But Figgy needs to go.
Figgy has earned his way back to the bigs. If anyone can appreciate what it takes to get there, it’s him.
Anyway, here’s what should happen:
(1) Nats’ GM calls Acta and tells him to tell team to cut the ****, or else.
(2) Acta tells Dukes to cut the ****, or else he’s permanently pined.
(3) Maine throws pitch behind Milledge. “Bend Ya Knees,” LMillz.
End of story. No one gets hurt. A player betrays us, a player is brushed back.
i’m not sure why a young team, if any, would want dukes on their roster. the bloom is off the rose with lord acta.
as for the nasty things said to milledge from the picnic area, it’s nothing we didn’t know about a small group of mets fans: nasty and hate-filled.
I recall the ‘86 Mets on the top steps of the Fenway dugout in game 3 yelling out “Sh*tcan! Sh*tcan!” to Oil-can Boyd. Guys….this is the game. You don’t like it, than go coach a co-ed 10 year old tee-ball league that doesn’t keep score and where everyone gets a trophy and a SunnyD after the game.
Whether or not the WASH bench was or was not in the wrong is debatable, but irrelevant to me. I don’t care what the other team does. I care about how my team reacts. And they better react like men. WASH may have acted lke a womens college softball team, but so far we have responded like a girls HS softball team. Figgy was absolutely in the wrong for recognizing it and then commenting on it after the game. A game in which he sucked and lost. This game polices itself, and these matters should be resolved on the field like men, and not in the newspapers or talk radio shows.
Honestly…..I have no problem with players chanting and rooting on for their teammates. If Dukes and Co. were taunting Figgy (which I still have no issue with), than that is certainly grounds for a response by the Mets within the field of play. This should not be about how you were disrespected and hoping it stops just b/c it’s ‘bushleague’ and by calling the culprits immature. They aren’t going to stop just b/c you don’t like it. They are going to stop b/c they got smacked in the head by a bigger bully. This should be about controling the situation and not letting ANYONE phuk with you. So far, the Mets have failed that one.
But I will say, I do like Willie’s silence on the manner. Despite how critical I am of him, I think he is old-school enough to respond to this appropriately tonight. So hence, someone on the Nats should have gone down HARD last night, but didn’t. So now one MUST GO DOWN tonight. If not, than the Mets walk away from this far less credible and show no ability to protect their house, their image, and their game.
Didn’t Figgy hit 2 batters last night?
b/c he sucks.
not b/c he is a man.
yea john’s gonna give someone some sweet chin music tonite im sure. Just hope no warnings are given out before the game.
Don’t hold your breath. The team tends to take their cue from Sleepy Willie and as we all know, Willie is not that type of player.
Hell, he hardly goes out to argue with the umps.
To say that this team need fire and a swift kick in the rear is an understatement.
Back in Sept 2005 I saw the Mets play in STL. They were already out of the race and were just looking to finish the season. PIazza came off the DL and hit a HR in his first AB. Singled his next AB. What happened after this resulted in me choosing to not waste my time watching another Mets game that season.
Julian Taveraz comes into the game in the 8th and beans Piazza. Most Mets players stayed sitting on the bench with little or no reaction. Willie chooses to retiliate by plunking Eckstein on the shoulder the next inning with a pitch the Heilman practically underhanded at him. Pujols should have bought it, but instead it was little scrappy David who then sprinted to 1st base. Probably the most pathetic reaction one could imagine by the manager and PIazza’s teammates. 2 things were clear after that moment: 1) No way was Piazza coming back to play for the Mets. 2) That ‘05 team had no unity, passion, or balls down the stretch.
I forgot that was a Willie team. So maybe I am concerned about WIllie exercising the “Don’t mess with us” mentalitiy tonight.
“But I will say, I do like Willie’s silence on the manner. Despite how critical I am of him, I think he is old-school enough to respond to this appropriately tonight.”
Willie can claim he is old-school, because he played in the 70s/80s, but that doesn’t mean that is his style now.
What events, over the past two years of the Mets being intimidated or shown-up on the field by pitchers/batters, has led you to believe that anything will happen because of last night?
If the Mets had a pair, Chipper would have tasted dirt years ago.
You are right. I already corrected myself above.
The difference is that Chipper does his job without the additude. He hits. He hi-fives his team. He sits down. My T-Ball team doesn’t even do that cheer-leading crap. Nevermind a bottom-feeding team like the Nats. I want someone’s head taken off tonight.
could a fight galvanize this team? the mets dont have any players you could see gettin into a fight like a varitek, ventura, etc. can you imagine beltran getting itno the middle of a fight?
I don’t want a brawl. I just want some additude from this team.
timely hitting. reliable bullpen. focus. smart fundamentals. etc. etc. etc.
I think we just found the REAL issue with this ballclub.
who the heck does nelson figueroa think he is making those comments. hey nelson, say what you like about washington but you did not get the job done. you made an error, you walked the park, you got shelled by the worst offense in baseball in front of your home crowd. why dont you focus on pitching instead of worrying about what the opponent does in the bench.
and hey, nelson: you are not a met. PERIOD. you have done nothing to earn your stripes. do not identify with this team and do not make comments on behalf the mets. you are a career journeyman, a fringe major leaguer- dont act like youre the ace of the mets.
and lastly, you said the nationals are in last place. guess what? the mets are closer to the bottom than they are to the top. play the game man, dont talk.
Figgy…nonsense, your teammate is the king of that kind of behavior, just because you were terrible….
as you said you are a professional how do you let that get in your head??? goodbye and good luck, have fun in Nawlins
Elijah Dukes: Wife beater by day, Cheerleader by night.
Really though…we can’t get rid of Willie fast enough in order to get Manny Acta in here to right this ship. Seems to me he has done a great job so far imparting lessons of professionalism and maturity to L-Milz and Mr Dukes.
i want bobby valentine!!!!!!!!!!1
Dear Figgs-
What’s so bad about being a girl? You’re married to one, right? You have a daughter, right? Please explain, really, I’d like to know.
Thanks.