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Elijah Dukes Treats Umpire Like a Bitch
By Jamie Mottram | June 7, 2008
Why would Dukes dawg treat an umpire like a bitch? Probably because an umpire is acting a like a bitch. Via Chico Harlan’s Nationals Notebook:
On Thursday night, Elijah Dukes’s mammoth home run to dead-center … triggered anger from plate umpire Doug Eddings, who, Acta said, was displeased by Dukes’s celebration.
Earlier in the at-bat, Dukes disagreed with a called strike. Acta applauded the way Dukes stepped from the batter’s box and “composed himself very well,” but five pitches later, the game ended in an instant, and Dukes knew it as he left the box. Three steps into his trot, Dukes turned — perhaps to the home dugout, perhaps to Eddings — and thrashed his right hand.
That’s a freezeframe taken from video of the walk-off homer. Whether Dukes is gesturing towards Eddings or the Nats dugout is irrelevant as, like the home run itself, it happened in an instant. A 23 year-old who had just — finally — reached glorious liftoff after a nightmare year of personal and professional turmoil may or may not have thumped his chest in the general direction of an umpire. It matters not, but here’s what Elijah said to MASN’s Debbie Taylor moments later:
Unfortunately that first pitch I got was a bad pitch. I had to just tell myself to settle down, you know? I had to talk to myself mentally a little bit. I got a little excited, you know?
Sure he did. That’s understandable. What’s not is a veteran umpire airing his displeasure with something so insignificant that no one even noticed it the first time around. Unlike, you know, that other Eddings-related incident.
Update: Chico also blogged about this, and comment No. 2 is terrific.
Topics: Douchebags, Elijah Dukes, Nationals | 3 Comments »
June 8th, 2008 at 3:14 PM
I meant to say it the other day, but I’ve been out of town: you know what shocked me the most about the Dukes homerun? How awesome Guzman was in that inning. First the clutch single to get the tying run to first with no outs, then keeping Franklin obsessed with him to the point that he was bound to make a mistake against Elijah. I don’t think I’ve ever had a non-profane word to say about the Gooz so this was pretty shocking.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:03 PM
This clown will do something soon to wear out his welcome with the Nats. Hes a piece of crap.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:59 PM
I am shocked that Guz is actually the Nats best player this season but dDo not forget that Guz actually booted a grounder that would have ended the game in the top of the 9th.