But I don't want to talk about today's game - I want to talk about Lastings Milledge.
To start things off, L Millz made a windmill motion while rounding the bases following John Maine's 2-run homer on Tuesday, playing third base coach and irritating the Pirates enough to hit him in his next at-bat. Then, after Milledge hit a towering home run to left in the at-bat after, he and Jose Reyes exchanged one of Reyes' trademark elaborate handshakes, in full view between home plate and the Mets dugout.
The Pirates weren't pleased about this, either. Solomon Torres plunked Milledge last night in the ribs on a 3-0 pitch in the 6th inning, and it looked intentional.
Anyway, the upshot of all this pretty much is apparently that L Millz is a flamboyantly cocky jerk who is sure to swiftly get on the first and last nerves of every team in the National League, the Pirates simply being the first of many teams to be put off by the 22 year-old's antics. Said Pittsburgh pitcher Tony Armas, Jr., who hit Milledge on Tuesday night: "Sooner or later, it's going to get him (Milledge) in trouble. I don't know him; he could be one of the best people around. But down the road a lot of veteran guys are going to notice."
Like trial lawyers chasing an ambulance, the New York media pounced on any story pinning Milledge in the middle of controversy, with pretty much every newspaper mentioning something about the trouble that young Lastings had gotten himself in now. Many articles quoted Willie Randolph when he said, after being asked about Milledge, that he felt the young outfielder's theatrics were "a little overzealous."
Milledge didn't hesitate in coming to his own defense. Said Lastings: “I like to use the word colorful; I don’t like to use the word flamboyant. It’s like you’ve got two TVs, a black-and-white one and a color one. What are you going to choose? They both show the same thing, but one of them’s more appealing to the eye.”
More appealing to the eye. This guy is one cocky dude and I'm loving it.
Let's show this guy some loveThere's no way that Milledge should "tone down his act," in the language of some who have wondered aloud whether the man that I for one call "Thrilledge" is too exuberant. I think it's pretty clear that while he may put some teams off, he's not intentionally trying to show anyone up; he just loves playing baseball, loves being successful at baseball, and demonstrates it though the "colorful" style of play that comes naturally and seems to feel right for him. Showing the other team up at a certain point is about lacking respect for the game, and I don't think that Milledge has that problem at all.
The bottom line is that the Mets could use more players who put other teams off. My disappointment at the lack of brawlage in the 2007 Mets season notwithstanding, we all know that the Mets have put their tails between their legs a couple of times this year, and in general that they can sometimes come across as too nice. While it's weird for a rookie (effectively) to be providing such a needed spark, (maybe it's not) I think it's hard to argue that independent of his 12 RBIs in 14 games since being called up, Lastings Milledge has had a positive effect on the Mets attitudinally as well.
Just keep doing your thing, L Millz. You play hard, are extremely talented, and bring a lot of energy to the Mets as a team. Who cares if you irritate some of the other teams in the league sometimes? Let them be angry, and then let them be angrier when you help insure their defeat at the hands of your mighty squad.
At the end of the day the Mets are still trying to find some guts, and they're doing much better in their gut search ever since Milledge was called up a couple weeks ago.
Sorry, Tony Armas Jr.
(Pictures courtesy CNN.com, wikimedia.com)
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