Earlier this week, Manny Acta came to Elijah Dukes' defense when umpire Doug Eddings complained about being shown up after Dukes seemed to glare and gesture in his direction after hitting a home run. In hindsight, though, you have to wonder if Acta was actually privately annoyed because he didn't have much patience for Dukes' on-field celebration after scoring on a Lastings Milledge home run last night. From Mark Zuckerman of the Washington Times:
As Dukes and Milledge crossed the plate, Dukes looked back at Capps (who blew his first save in 16 tries this season) in a move that could have been perceived as taunting the opposing pitcher. When Dukes returned to the dugout, Acta had words for him. Dukes yelled back at his manager, prompting Acta to yell back himself and players to get between the two. [...] As the Nationals gathered in the middle of the diamond to congratulate each other at the conclusion of the game, Dukes did not offer his hand to Acta, who only smirked.If you haven't seen it yet, you have watch the video to fully appreciate how awkward it was for Dukes to leave Acta hanging. It's both immature and hilarious, but it's also a blantant sign of disrespect. Might it result in a team suspension? That seems a bit much, but I wouldn't be surprised if Dukes is fined, even if it's in the clubhouse kangaroo court and never gets reported in the papers. The Nats have enough to worry about to let silly incidents like this spoil the few nights they get to go to sleep a winner.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-11-2008 @ 9:19AM
proudamerican said...
You can take the man out of the Ghetto,but you cant take the ghetto out of the man. Why should he have any respect the manager or anyone. He is the whole team remember. Gettting paid millions fo dollars that is just not enough to give your manager or team respect. When are these teams going to start getting rid of these unappreciative thugs.
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6-11-2008 @ 10:16AM
Natsfan said...
The team management has taken a 'statue of Liberty' approach to acquiring players -- give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses. The Rays gave up on Dukes for a reason. Maybe if they would bring in some major league players instead of operating as a halfway house for trouble youth (while charging their fans outrageous prices like $35-$40 per game to park at the stadium), these things wouldn't happen. Manny Acta and the team's loyal season ticket base deserve better than this.
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11-13-2008 @ 7:26PM
bigtime780 said...
Pretty ironic that he'd taunt Capps, who has been one of the best in his class this season, when Dukes got cut from the worst team in baseball last year and is now one of the worst players on this year's worst team in baseball. Maybe instead of worrying about taunting other players that are better than him he should focus on improving that career sub .700 OPS.
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