Nobody was happier to play baseball last night than Lastings Milledge.
While every other NL team had the night off the Mets and Reds were forced to cut their All Star break short and begin a 4 game series. Man was I excited to be a Mets fan when Reyes & Gotay led off the game with back to back homers. That was the first in Mets history the first two batters of the game hit back to back home runs.
But even on a night when El Duque pitched a gem, the night belonged to Lastings.
You have to feel for the kid who should have been the starting left fielder. But the Mets picked up Moises Alou in the off season and Milledge was sent down to Triple A where he got hurt. And we all know the revolving door that has been left field this season, so Milledge would have had a shot at proving he deserves to be the everyday left fielder.
But it had to wait until last night. Milledge on an awkwardly fielded Gotay single, hustled all the way from first base to score what would be the game winning run. A superb slide by Milledge is what made the play. He should have been dead to rights and Sandy Alomar had no business sending the runner, but sometimes risks payoff.
I'm hoping Milledge gets some good at bats and proves he's the prospect we all want him to be. Now let's sweep the Reds.
1 comment:
Loved the energy he brought to the game, and he had good ABs. Looked patient at the plate, which shows some signs of maturity.
By the way, not sure f you saw Willie's post gaem prss conference, but he criticized Milledge for the way he slid into home - and he was serious about it being a bad, almost stupid slide.
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