Nelson Figueroa should consider pitching underhanded to the Nationals, if there is a next time for him.
Here it is, girls, go ahead and hit it.
"They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls," the beleaguered Mets right-hander said after getting stomped in a 10-4 loss to the Nationals last night. "If that's what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it. They need to show a little more class and professionalism."
Lastings Milledge, the former Met who was vilified for such exuberant behavior during his two seasons here, had another take.
"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Milledge said. "We're not going to cater to him or anybody else, so whatever. If you don't like it, you've just got to deal with it."
Though Milledge wasn't singled out by Figueroa, the Shea faithful now have one more reason to boo him for the remainder of this four-game series. And the Mets would appear to have a National enemy.
"They won tonight, but in the long run they are still who they are," Figueroa said. "Even for the manager and the coaching staff to let that stuff carry on, it's truly unprofessional."
Milledge admitted to making hand gestures on second base after pounding a two-run double in the sixth inning against Jorge Sosa. It's believed that Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes was among the chief instigators from the dugout.
Of course, if Figueroa could have gotten a few people out last night, he might not have heard a peep from the "softball girls."
Figueroa was the Mets' Cinderella story in April, but don't look now: The clock may have struck midnight.
Actually, if Figueroa were allowed to keep going last night, the game might have lasted until midnight.
It took Figueroa a mere 108 pitches to complete five innings, with the Nationals just as content to walk or take one for the team as they were to swing the bat against the erratic Figueroa.
Milledge got the last laugh, drilling a two-run double in the sixth against Sosa - perhaps the final chapter in what has been a disappointing season for the veteran right-hander.
The Mets will have roster decisions to make in the coming days, and Sosa (7.06 ERA) has to be considered an option for removal, even with his $2 million salary.
The journeyman Figueroa may have put himself in that same boat by allowing six runs, four of them earned, on five hits, five walks and two hit batters over five innings. Figueroa (2-3) has been bludgeoned in his last two starts, raising his ERA to 5.12 after finishing April at 4.08.
Sosa's one inning of work consisted of four earned runs allowed on four hits and two walks.
Any chance Figueroa had at escaping with a respectable line disappeared in the fifth, when the Nationals scored three runs against him and extended their lead to 6-3.
The Mets showed some offensive spark, collecting 12 hits, but never got the big inning they needed against Odalis Perez (1-3). Damion Easley, starting at second for Luis Castillo (strained left quadriceps), and David Wright both hit solo homers.
"It was one of those nights nothing seemed to go right on both sides of the ball for us," Figueroa said. "At times it seemed like every pitch wasn't working. I literally tried to throw balls down the middle, just to let them hit it, and when they did, they fouled off six or seven pitches in a row."
Next time, pitch underhanded.
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Originally Posted by gRYFYN1
