Down with Mets rookie

[Blue Jeans]

I'm not talking about the Mets recent demolition on the road... I'm going on a road trip until about the 24th so I won't be here until at least then. I will talk to you all then, and I hope by then we are 50-23.

 

We will meet again.

[Plax 4 Prez]

I'm not talking about the Mets recent demolition on the road... I'm going on a road trip until about the 24th so I won't be here until at least then. I will talk to you all then, and I hope by then we are 50-23.

 

We will meet again.

Have fun my friend...semd us some post-cards

[Reaper]

Well this current road trip was awesome, nearly flawless with a 9-1 record!

 

Swept the 1st Place Diamondbacks 4-0

 

Swept the 2nd Place Phillies 3-0

[Blue Jeans]

Have fun my friend...semd us some post-cards

 

Thanks!

 

Here's to the Mets being 50-23. upon my return!

[420]

Link

 

 

Down with Mets rookie

Friday, June 16, 2006

PHILADELPHIA -- It was fun -- thrilling, even -- at the beginning. But it has to end.

 

The Mets need to send Lastings Milledge back to the minor leagues as soon as possible. They need to dispatch him to Norfolk on this morning's first flight. They need to postpone the Milledge era until 2007.

 

Because 2006 is too potentially special to let a kid with a lousy, lazy attitude mess with it.

 

The Mets beat the Phillies again yesterday, stomping them further into the garbage can that is the rest of the NL East. It was the Mets' eighth victory in a row, their ninth on a 10-game road trip. It widened their lead in the division to 9 1/2 games. It dropped their magic number to 88.

 

And when it was over, players were looking at Lastings Milledge -- who didn't even play in the game -- and shaking their heads.

 

"He just doesn't get it," left fielder Cliff Floyd said. "He just doesn't understand."

 

Milledge ticked off his teammates by showing up for yesterday's 1:05 p.m. game at 11:55 a.m. He didn't break any rules, because the Mets were not taking batting practice and did not have an official mandatory reporting time. But he was, by far, the last player to arrive.

 

Pedro Martinez, an established veteran and future Hall of Famer who's usually the last one to the clubhouse, had already been there for an hour, dancing to the loud Latin beat emanating from Duaner Sanchez's new Bose iPod speakers. Most of the players had been in the clubhouse for nearly two hours. Everybody saw Milledge cruise in an hour and 10 minutes before game time. Everybody noticed.

 

"You want your teammates believing you're doing the right things to stay here," Floyd said. "You're a rookie. Nobody should be talking about anything other than what you're doing on the field."

 

Of course, the night before, the talk was about what Milledge had done on the field. In the seventh inning of Wednesday's game, Milledge got thrown out at the plate because he didn't run hard from first base on Julio Franco's double. That prompted a calm but stern mini-lecture from manager Willie Randolph in the dugout.

 

"I just told him, on a ball in the gap like that, it's the best thing to put your head down and run," Randolph said. "If you'd put your head down and run, you would've scored."

 

True to his nature, Randolph downplayed the whole thing, calling it a teaching opportunity. And he insisted that the incident had nothing to do with Milledge not being in yesterday's starting lineup.

 

But the thing is, Milledge didn't know until 11:55 a.m. that he wasn't in the starting lineup. And he was late anyway. The day after he got scolded for not running hard.

 

"It was a day game," Milledge said. "It's the same every day game. It doesn't take much to get going on a day game. It doesn't take as much to get up for it, and there's less preparation."

 

Not the kind of humble explanation you'd expect from a rookie who'd just had the two days Milledge had.

 

"Granted, one day, he's going to be a great ballplayer up here, but you don't know," Floyd said. "You can't know. And he's too good to have everybody wondering where he is at 12 o'clock."

 

So, first base coach Sandy Alomar had a little talk with Milledge about being on time. And GM Omar Minaya chalked the whole thing up to youth and said he wasn't upset. And some players, publicly, gave Milledge a break.

 

"It's probably going to be a one-time mistake and he'll learn from it," third baseman David Wright said. "I think he knows that showing up that late is unacceptable."

 

Probably. But soon, the Mets will have a decision to make. Soon, Xavier Nady will come off the disabled list, and they'll have to decide whether to keep Milledge in the majors or send him back to Triple A.

 

And while there are many reasons to keep him (he's exciting, he seems unafraid in the batter's box, he's a far better defensive player than Nady is ... ), the Mets have to send him back.

 

Milledge simply doesn't fit in with the 2006 plan. The Mets are loaded with positive personalities who know they have a unique chance to win a championship. They can't invite negative feelings into this environment -- not at a time when everything is going this well.

 

"When you lose respect with your teammates, it's hard to regain that, no matter what team you go to," Floyd said. "Because people talk."

 

Yesterday, when they could have been talking about so many good things, they were talking about Lastings Milledge being late.

 

And that just can't happen. Not this year. Not with this team.

 

Lastings Milledge is fun and cool and full of promise. But right now, he needs to go.

 

 

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Link

 

GM downplays Milledge's lateness

Friday, June 16, 2006

BY DON BURKE

Star-Ledger Staff

 

PHILADELPHIA -- Lastings Milledge was not in the Mets' lineup yesterday. In fact, relative to his more seasoned teammates, the 21-year-old outfielder was barely in the ballpark by the time the game started.

 

A day after getting a talking-to from manager Willie Randolph after failing to run hard around the bases and being thrown out at home plate, the rookie showed up at 11:55 a.m., well after the rest of the team, and roughly 70 minutes before the afternoon's first pitch.

 

The Mets did not take batting practice yesterday so, technically, there was no set reporting time. But the team bus had left the hotel at 10:45 a.m. Most players either take that bus or have already arrived at the ballpark by the time the bus gets there.

 

"That's the rule of thumb," third baseman David Wright said.

 

Even Pedro Martinez was dressed before Milledge arrived. That's a very good barometer of who is late and who isn't. If the marches-to-his-own-drummer Martinez is there first, you're late. Very late.

 

"When you're young and talented everything is highlighted," said Mets general manager Omar Minaya, who downplayed Milledge's tardiness. "That's why he's here, to learn. Every young player goes through these things. ... If he wasn't good, we wouldn't be talking about it."

 

Milledge, who was regularly among the last players to report for work during spring training, said he's never had anyone mentor him in the way the game should be played.

 

"I never had to deal with any teacher really because I pretty much played the game well enough where people just leave me alone," the outfielder said. "But here, with everything being so crucial, it's just certain things that I've got to know and I have to work on."

 

Randolph didn't address Milledge's lateness. But before the game, he said that Milledge's not being in the lineup yesterday had nothing to do with the previous night's incident.

 

"Don't read anything into it," he said. "Mr. Milledge will be back in there (today)."

 

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Link

 

 

Mets notebook: Milledge caught, gets a lesson

Thursday, June 15, 2006

BY DON BURKE

Star-Ledger Staff

PHILADELPHIA -- It was the perfect time to let it slide. But Willie Randolph wouldn't let it.

 

The Mets already had last night's game in their hip pocket when Lastings Milledge was thrown out at the plate on Julio Franco's two-out, pinch-hit double in the seventh inning.

 

But the Mets manager saw something he didn't like as Milledge ran the bases, and he let the rookie know about it in a brief dugout chat, an exchange picked up by television cameras.

 

"He should have scored on that ball," Randolph said following the game. "There were two outs. I thought he was a spectator."

 

Milledge admitted to peeking to find the ball on two occasions as he rounded the bases from first. But, while he owned up to the his gaffe, he didn't seem all that repentant about his mistake.

 

"I got thrown out. I peeked into right (field) and I guess that slowed me down. I peaked twice and it slowed me down a little bit."

 

Milledge was narrowly thrown out on a strong relay throw by the Phillies, who have done little else right defensively in the series' first two games. Milledge was asked if he could have scored.

 

"I could have. I should have. I didn't," he said. "We won the game, so it doesn't matter."

 

Said Randolph, "He's a young player, learning about the game. I'm just trying to teach him."

 

Carlos Delgado said he thought Randolph did the right thing.

 

"That's part of the learning process," he said. "In the long run, it will make (Milledge) a better player."

[Plax 4 Prez]

Damn...this kid doesn't take anything serious does he... He will never be "good" until he learns how to be professional

[Ditto]

Good for Willie. You have to nip this thing in the bud. Torre used to let Soriano get away with murder.

[gateb]

I agree with this for the most part but... Floyd's comments are a little bit uncalled for. He's been on his back ever since Lastings has come up relentlessly. Originally I thought he's good but now he's pushing it. Anyone else notice that?

[Ditto]

I agree with this for the most part but... Floyd's comments are a little bit uncalled for. He's been on his back ever since Lastings has come up relentlessly. Originally I thought he's good but now he's pushing it. Anyone else notice that?

Floyd sees his replacement. I see Floyd as a bench player for the Yankees next year if we don't sign Bonds.

[gateb]

Floyd sees his replacement. I see Floyd as a bench player for the Yankees next year if we don't sign Bonds.

I'd rather just trade Floyd to you guys this year for some more depth in middle relief.

 

We'll take Proctor.

[Ditto]

I'd rather just trade Floyd to you guys this year for some more depth in middle relief.

 

We'll take Proctor.

That's kind of interesting because I still don't view Proctor as a reliever. A starter, yes, but not a reliever. The Yankees can use Floyd, and I think we have a few pitchers in the minors that can take Proctor's place.

[gateb]

That's kind of interesting because I still don't view Proctor as a reliever. A starter, yes, but not a reliever. The Yankees can use Floyd, and I think we have a few pitchers in the minors that can take Proctor's place.

It'd be interesting to see how that would work out.

 

I wouldn't mind trading Cliff to you guys if we get the right things in return. With that short porch in right, that may help Cliff out.

[Plow]

wow and just think about all those people who argued with me about his attitude and how it wont matter.

[Plax 4 Prez]

The guy acts like a child begging for attention... and yes gateb, I noticed that Floyd's comments were very rude... David Wright said it best,

"It's probably going to be a one-time mistake and he'll learn from it."

but when something "new" happens the kid in him will show again

[Plax 4 Prez]

Thanks!

 

Here's to the Mets being 50-23. upon my return!

cheers to that!!

[Reaper]

True Milledge can use better judgement but he deserves a chance to learn from these Mets. The lessons learned now from Randolph, LoDuca, Wright, Beltran, Delgado and the rest of the guys will carry him through out his career. Willie will not allow this kid to screw up the entire 2006 season!