Attitude Problem?

Some veterans and observers were put off by Lastings Milledge's celebration of his first major league home run, which happened to tie the game in the bottom of the 10th.


He didn't come out for a curtain call but on his way out to right field in the 11th he slapped hands with fans seated along the first baseline like Cal Ripken did when he broke Gehrig's record.



I agree that the celebration was excessive, and if umps had flags he would have gotten the baseball equivalent of 15 yards. Hopefully, Milledge has learned his lesson about what is and is not acceptable in terms of not showing up or embarrassing the other team.
He called it "a rookie mistake because I didn't want to show anyone up."
Willie Randolph had a conversation with him, "he got a little carried away and I told him, 'Everybody will know your name soon enough.' It won't happen again."
Cliff Floyd told him that if he wants to do stuff like that he has to be prepared to have guys throwing at his head constantly.
Giants manager Felipe Alou echoed those sentiments, "No, I probably never saw that before. The kid was excited, which is understandable. But that's for them to take care of. Otherwise, the big leagues will take care of all of that."

I'm willing to chalk this up to boyish enthusiasm and hope that next time he downplays his celebration, although I'm not all that concerned with whether other teams like him or not, I do want all Mets players to conduct themselves as good sportsmen.

The problem with Milledge is, this pattern of behavior isn't new for him.
In the minor leagues he ignited a bench-clearing brawl after he slid, spikes-high, into Richmond Braves third baseman Jonathan Schuerholz. Also Milledge's "flamboyance" has made him a very unpopular guy among his International League peers.
Maybe yesterday's incident was exactly what was need to set him right, before his career even got going.