Nats cheer 10-4 win over Mets

Washington 10 NEW YORK (NL) 4 (Boxscore) - ESPN

With the Trash Flying, Nats Take Out Mets - The Post

NEW YORK, May 12 -- Shea Stadium, decrepit and months from demolition, deserved a game like this one -- filled with both trash and trash talk. Shea's walkways around the visitor's clubhouse are a dump of discarded energy drinks and tangled extension cords. On Monday, a 20-mph wind ripped in from the outfield, at one point causing a garbage bag to tumble-weed across the infield.

Okay, I think we'll be fine with Chico Harlan succeeding Barry Svrluga.

Shaky Perez finally gets win - The Wash. Times
Luck turns for perez, offense - The Free Lance-Star
Only Applause for Mets Comes From Nationals - The Times
After Mets' loss, Nelson Figueroa calls Nationals 'bunch of softball girls' - The Daily News
'FIGUER' HATER - NY Post
Nats shrug off Figueroa's comments - nationals.com
Last night the bottom of the order led the way at the plate, getting the Nats on the board in the first few innings to keep pace with the Mets. LHP Odalis Perez, perhaps frustrated by his lack of run support this season, had three hits to help his own cause. It is a good thing too, because he did not have his best night on the mound, giving up 11 hits, including two home runs, over 6 1/3 innings. Perez proved good enough to earn the win though, his first in a Washington uniform.

The Nats and Mets kept pace with each other for four innings, before the Nats busted out in the fifth and six to reach double-digit runs. The was controversy though as the Nats started clapping and cheering in the third innings. Mets starter Nelson Figueroa was offended.

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. They could show a little more class, a little more professionalism now that they won tonight, but in the long run, they're still who they are.

It is kind of hard to read that and not laugh. Figueroa probably ought to worry about why he gave six runs over five innings to a bunch of "softball girls" rather than how the Nats conduct themselves in the dugout. As for the Mets, they are stuck in third place, despite high expectations this season; they are still who they are too.

"CF" Lastings Milledge, who doubled in two runs in the sixth, responded to the criticism:

I'm not going to cater to him or anybody else. We have been down the last couple of days, so we want to get something going. If he doesn't like it, then he has to deal with it. We didn't try to rattle him. We tried to get our guys going. We are not worried about him.

Perhaps next time they face Figueroa the Nats ought to cheer like "T-ball boys;" this sort of thing seems to get to him. One thing is certain, when the Mets show up in D.C. again fans, especially ladies, need to show up early with a softball for Figueroa to sign. If the Nats had a decent promotions department, the next Figueroa appearance would be "Girls Softball Night" at the ballpark. They could reach out to area girls softball teams and sell them blocks of tickets behind home plate at a discounted rate.

By the way, the cheering was started by Elijah Dukes. Will this effect his zero tolerance standing with the team?

Who's No. 5? Don't ask Nats - The Free Lance-Star
The Nats have done pretty well with the first four starters in the rotation, but finding a #5 has been elusive. Mike O'Connor was the latest to be in that position and it did not go well at all.

Chico Looks Solid in Stint Out of Bullpen - The Post
Matt Chico has been okay in the bullpen, allowing only one run in four innings, but Manny Acta is not convinced that a move back to the rotation is in order. The Nats don't know who will pitch on Thursday yet.

Acta wants more out of his bullpen - The Wash. Times
Acta needs someone other than Luis Ayala, Saul Rivera and Jon Rauch to step up in the bullpen.

THOM LOVERRO - Not fun from any perspective - The Wash. Times
"But the Lerners bought a major league team two years ago in a town that put up more than $600 million for a ballpark, and the decision not to spend more money on the major league payroll was a mistake in judgment. They underestimated the unique situation here in the District, where a damaged fan base had to root for another city's team for more than three decades, which is kind of like sitting at the kids' table every year for Thanksgiving.

To ask that fan base to wait even a little longer showed a lack of understanding of the state of baseball in the D.C. area."

Washington Nationals, Nats, New York Mets, NelsonFigueroa, softball girls

Labels: Nats/MLB 2008

posted by WFY @ 6:34 AM | |