Washington Nationals

During pre-game warm-ups Tuesday night, Lastings Milledge was a whirlwind as he prepared to show Shea Stadium that the Mets’ decision to deal him to the Washington Nationals this past offseason was a huge mistake.

He launched batting practice bombs into the left field stands, several landing in similar spots to the two home runs he hit in last season’s second-to-last game. Then he raced to the dugout, grabbed his glove, and shagged fly balls. When few fly balls came his way, he asked a Nationals coach to hit him ground balls, then pop-ups.  read more »

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.—It is said a criminal shouldn’t return to the scene of a crime. But Washington Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden was on hand Friday to see his team take on the Mets in Port St. Lucie just months after he lifted Lastings Milledge from New York for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.

And while spring training results are often skewed, the evidence so far is making the Mets look more and more like victims.

“He’s had a very good spring,” Bowden said as he made his way down the visitor’s clubhouse tunnel. “He’s impressed with small things, too—he hits the cutoff man, he runs the bases well. He’s been a good fit.”  read more »

To the Editor:

Shortly before the start of the 2005 baseball season, after the New York Mets had endured three consecutive dismal seasons, David Brooks declared his readiness to "switch my allegiance from the beloved Mets to the new team of my adopted town." He wrote, "I will become a fan of the Washington Nationals" ("Whose Team Am I On?," column, March 29, 2005).

Now that the Nationals have completed an awful season and the Mets are in the playoffs, Mr. Brooks has thrown a changeup, writing of the tortured life of an angst-ridden Mets fan.

Mr. Brooks now writes of the "true Mets fan." But he can't be "a true Mets fan." For true Mets fans, wherever we are in the world, and wherever the Mets are in the standings, during times of misery and times of euphoria, our allegiance is unconditional and eternal.

Joseph Schick Flushing, Queens, Oct. 8, 2006