Results tagged “lastingsmilledge”

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light more down the stretch. So did Omar Minaya's complete neglect of the roster's periphery. The Mets trotted out inexperienced and ineffective pitchers down the stretch, and the bullpen that Randolph had to deal with wasn't that good to begin with thanks to some questionable trades. What this means for the 2008 season remains to be seen, but it cost the Mets fans Lastings Milledge, another symbol of the collapse. He was dumped dealt to the Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.

After two seasons of constant trade speculation, the Mets finally have moved Lastings Milledge in a deal this afternoon to the division rival Washington Nationals. In return, the Mets receive Outfielder Ryan Church and Catcher Brian Schneider. Milledge was not always a model citizen as a Met, either on the field or of the field, but nonetheless had been long touted by the organization and the media by a top tier outfield prospect. While he...

• Yankees 3 Kansas City 2: It wasn’t always pretty and it was too close for comfort, but in the end the Yankees got the job done. Alex Rodriguez got things going in the second with his 49th home run of the year and Jorge Posada added his 19th to put the Yankees up 2-0. But, Ian Kennedy struggled with his command, walking three in the first and then allowing four hits in the second to tie the score, but he escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam to prevent further damage.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Outlasting the Royals"

• Mets 5 Pittsburgh 4: El Duque struck out eight, but he was also wild, walking five and allowing three runs over six innings. Moises Alou gave the Mets the lead with a two-run single in the eighth and Lastings Milledge made a great catch in the bottom of the inning to preserve the win. Billy Wagner worked a flawless ninth for his 27th save.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Beating The Bucs"

• Royals 7 Yankees 0: Kei Igawa should buy a plane ticket back to Japan. Today’s ledger of 5.2 innings, seven hits and 2 walks while allowing five runs just reinforced the fact that Igawa is nothing more than a batting practice pitcher. The Yankees could have won seven-straight, but they didn’t, at least we know that Igawa is junk and Phil Hughes will be back in the rotation soon.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: No Wins Here"

Maine improved to 11-4 Tuesday with seven solid innings of pitching and a home run while batting. Lastings Milledge went 3-for-3 with a home run as well and every Met except David Wright had a hit. (Maybe Wright was tired from filming commercials?)

• Yankees 7 Tampa Bay 3: If the Yankees are going to start winning regularly they will need more nights like this. A-Rod, Jeter and Abreu homered to pace the attack and Andy Pettitte gutted out 5 2/3 innings for the win. Before the game, A-Rod announced that he will not discuss a new conteact with the Yankees until the season is over.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Break's Over"

• As baseball takes it's yearly break to play a somewhat meaningless game, there was so much mutual respect between Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez that we almost think that Barry and A-Rod should get a room. With Bonds on the verge of Hank Aaron’s record of 755 career home runs, Bonds said that when Rodriguez breaks his in the future, he'll be there. “And when you do, you don’t have to worry about calling me. I’ll call you. If you want me there, I’ll be there. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.” Bonds, who is 42, is only four homers away from tying Aaron and Rodriguez is at 494 career home runs at the age of 31. What did A-Rod say about Barry? “I love Barry. I’m one of his biggest fans. If you think about his work on the field over the last 20 years, it’s been second to none, maybe Babe Ruth or the all-time greats."
• Speaking of A-Rod, Shaun Powell thinks that it's no longer a question of whether Rodriguez is good enough for the Yankees next year, but a question whether the Yankees are good enough for A-Rod. Rodriguez can opt-out of the final years of his contract, making him a free agent next year. Powell's reasoning? The Yankees are no longer contenders, but a team that's headed in the wrong direction. A team that has less of a chance to win a title than the Indians, Tigers, or Brewers.
• Down in the Minor Leagues, Lastings Milledge is on the mend from his strained ligaments and could return the the bigs after the All-Star break. Milledge is lighting it up with AA Binghamton, hitting .435, with three home runs, a double, a triple and eight RBI. L Millz, who last made news when rapping, is heading to the Cyclones to keep playing through the All-Star break. Milledge's recovery couldn't come sooner for the Mets, who have three outfielders on the DL.

The best rapper in the Mets organization might be Lastings Milledge, but he shouldn't be expecting a call-up because of his music anytime soon. Milledge a 22 year-old outfield prospect for the Mets who was briefly in the bigs last season. While with the Mets last year, some criticized him for his showiness at times, being late, and not running hard on the basepaths. In 166 at bats, Milledge had a .241 average. Though he's currently in the minor leagues and on the DL, it doesn't mean he can't cause controversy. Besides playing baseball, Milledge dabbles in the music business as the CEO of Soul-ja Boi records, a label he co-founded in Florida. Milledge raps as L Millz (is that for millions or Milledge - the double entendre is brilliant!) in "Bend Ya Knees," a track by Manny D, the label's "premier artist". The lyrics in the song (which you can listen to at their website) have shocked some people with lyrics that the Daily News excerpts as: "rich (N word)," "wealthy (N word)," a "top-notch ho" and having "a different bitch for every night." Gothamist could swear we heard something about getting high in the song too.

Windows of opportunity in baseball often come in small sizes. After coming within a run of the National League pennant last season, the Mets hope their chance hasn't run out yet. Make no mistake, the Mets remain a force to be reckoned with and could end up finishing with a better result than they did last season. But they shouldn't expect the regular-season cakewalk they had last season, and they can't hope to be the prohibitive favorites to win the pennant. This year's edition is a talented but flawed team.

- Rockets 97, Knicks 90: The state of the Knicks is so sad that their former coach has more wins at Madson Square Garden with his new team than the Knicks' current head coach does. Jeff Van Gundy is 7-1 against the Knicks with four consecutive wins at MSG and Isiah Thomas is 1-5 at home. Yao Ming led all scorers with 26 points and Tracy McGrady added 24. Jamal Crawford led the Knicks with 25 points off the bench while Stephon Marbury had a measly three points in less than 20 minutes of play. In unbelievable news, Nate Robinson (5'9") blocked one of Yao's (7'6") shots. Despite pulling out all the stops for the Chinese basketball fans in the area (BD Wong sang the National Anthem), The Garden was not full.

-Mets 7, Rockies 4: After honoring the 1986 championship team, the Mets relied on Lastings Milledge and other young players to win their second straight over the Rockies. The best parts of Saturday's game were Milledge's comments that he lived the '86 championship "through highlights and stuff" and the Mets' throwback uniforms. Things were simpler when the Mets wore only blue hats and had only two jerseys -- one home, one away. Do they really need the black jerseys?

Update: WFAN is reporting that the trade between the Mets and the Padres for Linebrink fell through.

-Yankees 4, Braves 3: With his team trailing by a run, Derek Jeter grounded out to start the bottom of the 12th inning. But Jason Giambi walked and Alex Rodriguez hit a game-winning, two-run homer to let the Yankees escape with a series win over the stumbling Braves. Rodriguez's hit may silence critics who say his performance has declined in critical situations. For those who aren't sure clutch hitting exists, Rodriguez's homer could mean less, but it nevertheless helped the Yankees avoid another disappointing loss.

- Red Sox 9, Mets 4: The Mets had their chances against Jon Lester, loading the bases twice, but the rookie pitcher got out of the jams and the Red Sox won their 10th straight game. Alay Soler had his worst outing of the season, aided by a Lastings Milledge misplay of a fly ball into a two-run double in the fourth inning. The biggest scare for the Mets wasn't Big Papi or Manny Ramirez, but Jose Reyes bouncing off Jason Varitek's leg in the 5th inning. Luckily for the Mets, Reyes escaped without major injury. Tonight, Pedro Martinez returns to the mound in his first game against his former team.

-Mets 5 D’Backs 0: Alay Soler had his finest outing as a Met, going the distance while only allowing two hits three walks as New York beat Arizona for the third-consecutive game. Carlos Beltran kept up his hot hitting with a RBI double to get the Mets on the board. Endy Chavez had two hits while Lastings Milledge has a hit and a stolen base.

-Ex-Yankee Grimsley set to name names: Remember Jason Grimsley? The reliever who had an effective half season with the Yankees in 1999 before reverting to mediocrity or worse? Now, his house has been raided by federal authorities in search of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He's reportedly set to name others who he knows/suspects of taking them. Given his resume, that might prove substantial. Stay tuned.

-Yankees 2 Boston 1: No Matsui, Sheffield or Jeter; no problem. You may think the Yankees’ offense isn’t what it used to be, but it still can draw a key walk or get a key hit to provide the win. Tuesday, it was Jason Giambi who walked with the bases loaded to provide the winning run.

- Aww poor James Dolan, he doesn't like it when people pick on him and make a little website asking him to sell the team. Cafe Press got a nice letter from Dolan's lawyers saying that the Selltheknicks.com store was infringing on his intellectual property, specifically his likeness and his name. Can Knick fans send a letter to Dolan's lawyers claiming infringement on their loyalties and better senses? Selltheknicks.com says they are fighting the move.

-Giants 7 Mets 6 12inn: It was a game that had a lot of familiar events. Armando Benitez blowing a save and the Mets coming back in dramatic fashion, but the ending was different. Jose Valentin and Lastings Milledge homered in the tenth off of Benitez to bring New York back from a 6-4 deficit, but Pedro Feliz knocked in the winning run in the twelfth to give the Giants a series win.

- Giants 6, Mets 4: The Giants and Mets waited out a rain delay before the first game of their single ticket doubleheader before San Francisco picked up the victory. Former Met Armando "Who Let the Dogs Out" Benitez picked up the save in a way that every Met fan can remember - walking two batters before getting the save. Of course, that's assuming he even got the save when he was with the Mets. Barry Bonds was 2-3 with 2 walks, 1 RBI and a run scored.

- Yankees 11, Tigers 6: The Yankees exploded for 5 runs in the 11th inning against the Tigers in Detroit last night. Jason Giambi got it started with a solo home run before the rest of the team got in on the action. Mariano Rivera was stellar in relief, picking up the win after pitching three innings of 1-hit ball.

- Early this morning, Xavier Nady underwent emergency appendectomy surgery and was later put on the 15-day DL by the Mets. Nady's unfortunate situation is good news for Lastings Milledge, arguably the best player in the Mets farm system. Milledge was called up from AAA and will start in tonight's game, playing right field and batting 8th. The 21 year-old Milledge was hitting .291 with 32 runs, 4 home runs, 19 RBI and 32 walks. The young outfielder also had 8 steals and 42 strikeouts in the 50 games with the Norfolk Tides.