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.