Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Showoff

Alay Soler got the Mets a much needed victory...and convincing victory at that...tonight at Dodger Stadium. Soler went seven innings, striking out seven and giving up six hits and only one run in a 4-1 Mets victory over Los Angeles. It was only their second victory by a starting pitcher not named Glavine or Martinez since April 25th.

But not everyone is pleased. The Dodgers felt that many of Soler's actions which included raising his eyebrows after he walked off the mound, getting a base hit, and giving Paul Lo Duca a high five in the dugout, constituted showboating.

"I don't know what he thought he was doing out there," said Dodgers center fielder Kenny Lofton, "he thinks with all of his strikeouts were just helping his team, but making me look silly on a curve ball? That's not right. For a player that young to do something like that, he's gotta know that there will be consequences later on."

Soler, who received political asylum in the Dominican Republic, will probably face much scrutiny for his actions.

"You know you think that a guy who went through what he went through defecting from Cuba would respect the game a little more," said Dodger starter and loser Brett Tomko. "I mean, a rookie pitcher getting a base hit? He's gotta know better than that. He's a young kid though, I'm sure he knows what he's done."

But Tomko wasn't done there. He went on to accuse Jose Reyes of showboating, saying "It's an unwritten rule that leadoff hitters don't hit home runs to lead off the game. I'm not going to say much, but let's just say there's going to be some retribution coming his way at some point. He's got to understand that this is the major leagues."

From the Mets side, there was resignation that what Soler did is going to carry some repercussions down the line.

"Well, having experience in these matters I would just tell Alay that it's fine if he wants to high five his catcher in the dugout, but there are going to be consequences down the line" said Mets right fielder Lastings Milledge. "I mean, look what happened with me...I was a hot topic on all of the local and national baseball shows. Chris Cotter even did a one on one interview with me before the game...Chris Cotter! I mean, that's how you know you've done wrong. I'll have a talk with Alay and make sure that doesn't happen again."

Keith Hernandez, reached at home by the Metstradamus staff during his week off, said that he thinks that a little showboating is okay...unless you're a woman, because women had no place in the game. Hernandez had no further comment.

13 comments:

Mike V said...

And then Keith came after the Dodgers for quitting against Chad Bradford.

Anonymous said...

I was disgusted by Soler's arrogance. It wasn't just against the Dodgers, either. In the fifth inning, third batter, second pitch, Soler shook off LoDuca. Who does he think he is - Sandy Koufax?

Anonymous said...

To quote William Shakespeare....can you quote William Shakespeare on a Mets blog?....."Much Ado About Nothing!"

Anonymous said...

Hi Metradamus- I do hope this whole article is just something you hatched with your very sharp sense of humor-I didn't see much of the game last night, but I didnt see any showboating on Soler's part, I really hope this is a joke- especially with what Tomko said with Reye's home run.

tell me you are just playing off of the whole Milledge thing-otherwise this era of political correctness and emotionless baseball is truly sickening.

Toasty Joe said...

Shari, please tell me you're not serious.

Anonymous said...

Honestly Joe, Yeah I am, with all of the political correctness in the world these days it's hard to tell with the stuff. Thats why I am asking.

michael o. said...

Classic.

The sad thing is, with the these ball players act like sissies, it is believable.

Metstradamus said...

Hi Shari!

Not to fret. Pure satire.

But it is a commentary on our sports watching society that this could be taken seriously in some way shape or form.

Anonymous said...

Hi Metsradamus- Thats why I asked, you just can't tell what is going to get someone's j-strap in a buch these days-sorry, LOL I"m not usually that humorless, but I only saw about an hour of the game last night, and on the heels of the whole Milledge thing I just didn't know.

Metstradamus said...

LOL!!!! Shari, no need to apologize. It is true...baseball players can be a whiny bunch sometimes.

Anonymous said...

ROFLMAO!!!111

nLak..B) said...

Was Lastings really excited about talking with Chris Cotter or did you just make up?

Sorry... I always ask 9834728374982734823794 questions a day.

Metstradamus said...

nlak...

It's satire (or at least my attempt at satire).

Damus