Posts tagged ‘Elijah Dukes’

Just when we thought the Nats MIGHT be getting on some sort of track (I would say back on track but that would assume that they were on track to begin with) yet another “best player on the team” goes down with an injury. Elijah Dukes is the Nats third No. 3 hitter to suffer the injury bug this season, joining the prestigious ranks of Ryan Zimmerman and Lastings Milledge. This just goes to show that the whole season is a wash. Pack it up and go home. I can no longer get mad at the kids partying at the Red Loft instead of watching the game. Hell, I might join you. I was just getting excited about the Duke too. I had all these great homerun calls using John Wayne references and channeling the spirits of the Dukes from Trading Places – “Looking good Elijah… feeling good Lastings!” – ugh, what a waste of my pointless popular culture knowledge.

There is a positive way to look at this however. We now get to see the future of the team and how good they may be. That is something for Nats fans to be excited about. Bring up the boys from AAA and AA… hell even A, to see what they can do. It’s not like they’d be taking anyone’s roster spot.

So who will be the next No.3 hitter? It was Austin Kearns the other day after he had a cup of coffee down in AA over the weekend. But I’m hoping that this may be the break… and he has had many… that Dmitri Young needs to shine. There is no one to take first from him and an open lineup to pick his spot. We will address this next show I’m sure.

So here’s to the Hook - Go get ‘em Meat.

Well it’s about time. Or is it?

With a two-run job in the 10th inning last night to seal the win against the Pirates, it seems that young Lastings Milledge might be coming around. In his last 10 games, Milledge is batting .308 with two home runs. Now true, that’s not exactly superman like and he only has four RBI over that span, but for a team that continues to get shellacked by lesser opponents and no run support, is that much of a surprise? It’s almost the all-star break and we have finally some glimpses of what may be - kinda.

Speaking of our young guns, how about the Elijah “I’m not mad, I just look like that at all times” Dukes getting into the swing of things this week too? Nice walk off at home followed by the ever-so-endearing “turn to the fans chest thump.” I think it’s nice to see some fire and moxy on this team but I could be in the minority here. It all depends if Dukes is doing that stuff for himself, or for the team. That has yet to be decided. For now, I’m taking the team.

But what was that whole deal in the dugout with Manny? Good God. Just because everyone else in the baseball world is feuding on the field (ARZ/PIT, BOS/TB) and in the dugout (TB, BOS, even Arizona St. – even if it was a fake) does that mean we need to as well? And how bout that non-hand shake after the game? What are we 12? Seriously, I can remember saying some bleeped out things to opponents after Little League games but, come on, let’s get grow up. Slap your manager’s hand and move on. Is this the beginning of what we saw from the Dukes in Tampa? Let’s just hope he doesn’t start swinging at randoms outside Ben’s Chili Bowl after a rough night at the plate.