BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: After Mets’ loss, Nelson Figueroa calls Nationals ‘bunch of softball girls’

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

After Mets’ loss, Nelson Figueroa calls Nationals ‘bunch of softball girls’

Hey...Don’t piss off Natalie Titcume!

Nelson Figueroa knows about bush league baseball. After all, he’s toured the world trying to resurrect his major league career. But not until Monday night did Figueroa witness a truly amateurish display, the Mets pitcher suggested. Incensed at the chants emanating from the Washington dugout during the Mets’ 10-4 loss Monday night at Shea, Figueroa ripped the Nationals afterward.

“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls,” Figueroa said. “I’m a professional, just like anybody else. I take huge offense to that. If that’s what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it. I think you need to show a little bit more class, a little bit more professionalism. They won tonight, but again, in the long run, they are who they are.”

Figueroa couldn’t pinpoint the culprits, but suggested the serenading peaked during the third inning, when the Nats loaded the bases and he forced in a run by walking Nick Johnson.

“Don’t care,” Figueroa said about learning the names of the perpetrators. “Truly unprofessional. “That’s why they are who they are.”

Repoz Posted: May 13, 2008 at 07:21 AM | 42 comment(s)
Related News: General, NY Mets, Washington

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1. Kurt Posted: May 13, 2008 at 07:51 AM (#2778703)

“Don’t care,” Figueroa said about learning the names of the perpetrators. “Truly unprofessional. “That’s why they are who they are.”

...said five-time Cy Young award winner Nelson Figueroa.

2. Edmundo was digging the Italian ladies Posted: May 13, 2008 at 07:55 AM (#2778705)

I’m a professional
So's your Mom.

3. andrewberg Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:03 AM (#2778709)

He sounds like a high school kid who has to justify backing down from a fight.

4. The elusive Robert Denby Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:20 AM (#2778714)

They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls

Cheerlead this retard.

5. Chris Needham Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:36 AM (#2778721)

Don't like it, don't give up 10 runs to a piece-of-crap offense, Nels.

6. The Good Face Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:45 AM (#2778724)

“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls,”

The Nats are thick legged and largely unattractive?

7. Crashburn Alley Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:53 AM (#2778729)

Figueroa should've just said, "I'm a sexist. Also, the Nationals suck."

8. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory) Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:54 AM (#2778730)

If you don't want to be called a belly-itcher, be a pitcher instead.

9. Tricky Dick Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:55 AM (#2778731)

I'll admit that I'm not happy with Figuero because he is on my fantasy team and I started him yesterday. (OK, maybe it's my fault, because I should no better.)

I wonder if he knows what the razzing was like from opposing dugouts sixty years ago? I have read that the players used every insult they could think of to try and get under the opposition's skin.

10. Sheer Tim Foli Posted: May 13, 2008 at 08:55 AM (#2778732)

Were they just cheering? I always thought the dugout's job was to shout obscenities at the opposing pitcher. Maybe I'm reading too many deadball era books but it sounds to me like the Nationals need to take it up a notch.

11. "Boys of Bummer", feat. Quilvio and the '08 Braves Posted: May 13, 2008 at 09:14 AM (#2778741)

Lastings Millege's next rap venture: "We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher"

12. Van Lingle Mungo Jerry Posted: May 13, 2008 at 09:14 AM (#2778742)

One of the culprits, perhaps the only one, was Elijah Dukes. An SNY cut to the dugout showed Dukes wearing sunglasses and with a towel wrapped around his head, chanting something in a sing-song fashion toward the field and cackling like a little kid.

13. Hubie Brooks Posted: May 13, 2008 at 09:16 AM (#2778744)

Dukes should have his children taken away.

14. bunyon Posted: May 13, 2008 at 09:31 AM (#2778753)

I think the Nats can be excused if they thought they were playing in a softball game.

15. snapper Posted: May 13, 2008 at 09:34 AM (#2778756)

If your another team and hear this ######## from Figueroa, don't you just pile abuse on him next time he pitches to see if you can rattle him? I mean, if something gets to you, don't broadcast it to the opposition.

16. "Boys of Bummer", feat. Quilvio and the '08 Braves Posted: May 13, 2008 at 09:46 AM (#2778763)

Dukes should have his children taken away.

All of them?

17. Filliam H Muffman (Charles S) Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:13 AM (#2778779)

She's safe, She's safe. She made it to the base. And you let her have it so neener, neener, neener.

Extra, extra, read all about it, Megan got a double, and we're gonna shout it. MEGAN GOT A DOUBLE!! Told we would shout it. No doubt about it.

She's a 2-strike hitter and you're never gonna get her so give up. So give up!

I think it was that last one that really got to Figueroa.

18. schuey Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:14 AM (#2778781)

Figueroa is staking his claim to be this generations version of "baseball's Grumpy Old Man" like Bob Feller or Goose Gossage. I'm betting Todd Jones wins out in the end.
Joel Sherman of the NY Post points out Figueroa may not want to know Willie Randolph did lottle last year to restrain the Mets over-the-top celebrations that inflamed many opponents.

19. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:16 AM (#2778782)

Figueroa gives up longballs like a softball pitcher, so I guess it's easy enough to understand his take on the situation.

20. Greg Maddux School of Reflexive Profanity Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:18 AM (#2778783)

Dukes ... with a towel wrapped around his head

And everyone wonders why Figueroa called him a girl.

21. Mike Hampton's #1 Fan Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:21 AM (#2778786)

“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls,” Figueroa said.

Is that even legal?

22. Royce Rings Heath's Bell Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:21 AM (#2778787)

G double-o D E-Y-E, Good eye! Good eye! Good eye!

23. Sam M. Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:26 AM (#2778791)

Dukes ... with a towel wrapped around his head

Maybe Dukes could have been one of THESE girls!

My lips are sealed . . . .

24. Van Lingle Mungo Jerry Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:29 AM (#2778796)

I'm still amused by the fact that Figueroa is a Brandeis alum. Is there a less likely institution of higher learning from which a major league player has emerged?

25. snapper Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:33 AM (#2778800)

I'm still amused by the fact that Figueroa is a Brandeis alum. Is there a less likely institution of higher learning from which a major league player has emerged?

Wellesley?

26. AJM Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:33 AM (#2778801)

Nelson Figueroa knows about bush league baseball

Yup, he's been pitching like a bush leaguer.

27. Edmundo was digging the Italian ladies Posted: May 13, 2008 at 10:35 AM (#2778804)

One softball team that I played on was sponsored by a guy who more or less looked after a low IQ kid in his late teens who lived down the street. This Bobbie kid had a certain bit of arrogance about him that was quite amusing; I really can't say it any other way, his behavior was kind of funny. Usually the other team would let him "lead off" the game (it didn't count) and fumble the ball until Bobbie circled the bases. On a couple occasions, Bobbie pointed to the other team and said "I showed you, pal". I think it was the "pal" part that put it over the top. Needless to say, "I showed you, pal" replaced "Face" as the one-upmanship expression among my friends.

Since the league was based in a small town most of the other teams knew the kid, but one time, one of the opposition outfielders didn't know what was going on and was livid and started to run in to confront Bobbie until his teammates intercepted and told him the story.

28. 1k5v3L Posted: May 13, 2008 at 11:03 AM (#2778822)

Nelson is a legal exchange student from Germany. He doesn't deserve this treatment.

29. Sean McNally Posted: May 13, 2008 at 11:08 AM (#2778829)

The Nats are thick legged and largely unattractive?

See: Estrada, Johnny; Young, Dmitri; Johnson, Nick; Perez, Odalis ... need I continue?

30. Chris Needham Posted: May 13, 2008 at 12:08 PM (#2778893)

I dunno... Johnny might be attractive to a certain segment of DC's population.

31. 1k5v3L Posted: May 13, 2008 at 12:11 PM (#2778895)

Johnny might be attractive to a certain segment of DC's population.

Buzzards?

32. Chris Needham Posted: May 13, 2008 at 12:14 PM (#2778900)

Sadly, he's not carrion yet.

33. Russ Posted: May 13, 2008 at 12:25 PM (#2778911)

Sadly, he's not carrion yet.

Dude was pretty good in Strat '89 set.

34. Chris Needham Posted: May 13, 2008 at 12:40 PM (#2778926)

His '08 Strat card set would probably make him a better catcher than Estrada, too!

35. Sane Joe Bivens, Permanent Guardian Posted: May 13, 2008 at 01:35 PM (#2779004)

We want a single, just a little single, ess eye en, gee ell eee, single single SINGLE!

(same for double and triple.)

36. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: May 13, 2008 at 01:40 PM (#2779013)

"I'm still amused by the fact that Figueroa is a Brandeis alum. Is there a less likely institution of higher learning from which a major league player has emerged?"

Lambuth University of Jackson, Tennessee, boasts much-traveled lefty reliever Ray King among its alumni. Originally founded in 1843 as the Memphis Conference Female Institute, the school and its student body of approximately 750 enjoy the cryptic motto "Whatsoever Things Are True". Lambuth's sports teams are known as the Eagles, and they are part of the TranSouth Athletic Conference, itself a part of the NAIA's Region XI.

There are lots of other good candidates, but that was the best one I spotted.

37. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory) Posted: May 13, 2008 at 01:42 PM (#2779017)

"Whatsoever Things Are True"...

...think on these things.

38. Esoteric roots for the two worst teams in baseball Posted: May 13, 2008 at 01:49 PM (#2779028)

I'm still amused by the fact that Figueroa is a Brandeis alum. Is there a less likely institution of higher learning from which a major league player has emerged?

Wellesley?

Oberlin FTW.

39. haplo53 Posted: May 13, 2008 at 01:52 PM (#2779031)

Let's face it - in the moral universe of baseball, dissing your opponent is OK as long as you win.

40. Bob Dernier Ressort Posted: May 13, 2008 at 02:02 PM (#2779040)

I was going to say Johns Hopkins, which features only Dave Leonhard in the past 100 years (Oberlin hasn't had a major-leaguer in over 100 years). But Hopkins actually has a pretty good baseball team. Dick Hall went to Swarthmore, giving the 1970 Orioles a fairly liberal-arts bullpen.

41. Chris Needham Posted: May 13, 2008 at 02:16 PM (#2779062)

Hopkins had a player drafted back in '98 or '99. Can't remember his name, but I'm pretty sure he went to the Indians.

42. Ravecc Posted: May 13, 2008 at 04:13 PM (#2779158)

So long, Figgy.

The Claudio Vargas era is upon us. Shudder.

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After Mets’ loss, Nelson Figueroa calls Nationals ‘bunch of softball girls’

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