Strange enough after trading Nady they called back up Lasting Milledge. He just acted like his typical arrogant self and pushed an ump in the international league. He was just suspended 15 games for the incident there.

 

But I was told he will be able to play tonight because his actions in the minors dont matter to the majors? Is there any truth to that?

I heard it was true (Met forum). He should be suspended for that. He shouldnt get away with it.

Yeah, just like Delmon could've been called up to the Majors after being suspended from the IL for that bat-throwing incident. Although it would've been bad etiquitte by the big club, there is no rule against it.

Please let him go 0-4 tonight.

 

Please.

Looks like Lastings' 'tude showed up again when he tried to walk away from Willie Randolph in the dugout after misplaying that fly ball.

I was at the game tonight and some guys sitting next to me were saying one of the went to a Catholic school in St. Pete and they remember him getting kicked out for "doing sexual favors to a minor..."

 

Who knwos, it sounded legit, but most of all it was hilarious how they were yelling it out to him.

I couldnt stop laughing after his terrible play to start the game. A mets fan before me was talking about how great a fielder he was right before it and how terrible hermida was.

 

I leaned over and said calmly, "Looks much better to me."

I was at the game tonight and some guys sitting next to me were saying one of the went to a Catholic school in St. Pete and they remember him getting kicked out for "doing sexual favors to a minor..."

 

Who knwos, it sounded legit, but most of all it was hilarious how they were yelling it out to him.

 

Actually, I think there's truth to that. I vaguely remember reading about this some time ago.

I was at the game tonight and some guys sitting next to me were saying one of the went to a Catholic school in St. Pete and they remember him getting kicked out for "doing sexual favors to a minor..."

 

Who knwos, it sounded legit, but most of all it was hilarious how they were yelling it out to him.

 

Actually, I think there's truth to that. I vaguely remember reading about this some time ago.

 

It did happen, that's why he fell so much in the draft.

Yeah, he wasn't much older than the girl. I think he was like 17? The thing is I remember there was another questionable incident after that one.

Lastings Molestidge?

Looks like Lastings' 'tude showed up again when he tried to walk away from Willie Randolph in the dugout after misplaying that fly ball.

 

Being in the stands, I didn't see this.

 

What happened?

Lastings Molestidge?

 

:mischief2 :mischief2 :mischief2

Lastings Molestidge?

 

 

:lol

 

I laughed.

Lastings Molestidge?

 

 

:lol

 

I laughed.

 

:lol

 

They were yelling "jail bait" at him.

 

Next inning he didnt come out on the field. :mischief2

Allegations of sexual misconduct while in high school affected Milledge's nascent professional career. Prior to the 2003 amateur draft, he was expected to be among the top three selections. But as draft day approached, press reports from 2002 [1] resurfaced regarding Milledge's expulsion from Northside Christian High School after his junior year for "inappropriate behavior". Milledge, who was 17 at the time of his explusion, admitted to having sexual relations with his 15-year-old girlfriend and agreed to enter a juvenille arbitration program to avoid prosecution. He subsequently transferred to Lakewood Ranch High School where he finished his education and amateur baseball career.

 

As a result of his misconduct issues, Milledge was passed over in the 2003 amateur draft until the Mets selected him as the twelfth overall pick in the first round. The Mets began contract negotiations with Milledge, but the talks were interrupted in early August, 2003, when the Mets learned of allegations of additional sexual misconduct against Milledge during his time at Northside. [2] The Mets completed a private investigation of the matter and, satisified with the results, signed Milledge to a contract with a $1.9 million bonus

 

Okayy could've been much worse.

 

Second thoughts

 

First-round Mets' pick Lastings Milledge

is dogged by sexual allegations

 

By T.J. QUINN

 

 

Lastings Milledge, projected as a top-3 pick, fell to the Mets at No. 12.

 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - To this day they have never seen the letter.

The Milledge family only has an idea what is on the sheet of paper that has put their son's life on hold, more than a year after it was discovered.

 

It said something about how Lastings - named because he was to be "the last" of the seven Milledge children - had been leaving the campus of his small Baptist private school with younger girls. The letter said the school should look into how Lastings - 16 at the time and a popular athlete in the school - had been getting sexual favors from willing girls as young as 12 and 13. The letter was not signed.

 

The Milledges also have never seen the reports that the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department compiled when it investigated the accusations. They have not seen the paperwork the state's attorney's office compiled when it took over his case.

 

But sitting in the conference room of their lawyer's office yesterday, they still feel the weight of each hidden word.

 

"It's been almost two years," says Tony Milledge, a Florida state trooper and Lastings' father. "I just want my son to be able to move on."

 

For more than half of his 18 years, Lastings Milledge and those around him have been waiting for the day he would begin life as a professional baseball player, destined to do great things. He was projected as one of the top three picks in this year's draft, but when word got out that he had been expelled from Northside Christian School as a junior because of sexual conduct with a younger girl - Milledge admits to having had sexual relations with his then-15-year-old girlfriend - he fell to No. 12, where the Mets picked him.

 

If all had gone according to plan, he would have signed a contract by now, making him a professional the way his father and two brothers were.

 

But the Milledges are still waiting for the Mets and the team's private investigator to complete their search for the truth. No one had asked the sheriff's office until last week exactly what its investigators had found, but when contacted by the Daily News, a spokeswoman said there was more to Milledge's troubles at school than sexual relations with his girlfriend, as had been reported since last year and was widely believed around baseball.

 

According to spokeswoman Marianne Pasha, Milledge completed a juvenile arbitration program at least in part because of the alleged sexual contact with the young girls first mentioned in the anonymous letter.

 

The Mets said the claims were news to them, and the team abruptly shut down negotiations Friday while it started its own investigation.

 

The Milledges are adamant that the accusations are not true, and offer a flood of circumstantial evidence to support their case. Yesterday, Tony Milledge, his wife Linda, their son Tony Jr., Lastings and several representatives discussed the claims and the investigation with a reporter from The News.

 

Lastings did not have sexual conduct with girls as young as 12 and 13, they say. He did go through a juvenile program, they admit, but voluntarily and only because he could have been prosecuted for the sexual contact he admitted having with his girlfriend. The one agency that could say for sure what the investigation uncovered is the state's attorney's office, which declined to comment because of Florida's laws protecting juveniles.

 

But if Lastings had really been with 12-year-old girls, his family asked, wouldn't he have gone to jail? Wouldn't he at least have been arrested and charged? Would the school really have kept him there during the months he was under investigation, only to expel him two days after Northside's baseball team lost in the state championship? Would the school have said publicly that he was welcome to return for his senior season?

 

"And let me tell you something," his father says, pointing next to the badge on his thick chest. "If Lastings had done something like that, he would have had to deal with me."

 

 

* * *

 

Every scout in Florida, every agent looking for fresh clients, was at the Florida Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal in May when Lastings Milledge's new high school, Lakewood Ranch in Bradenton, was losing to the weaker Naples Gulf Coast High.

 

He was 1-for-3, furious at himself for not doing more. "In every game, I want to be the hero," he says, smiling and tapping the large conference table with his wide hands. "I needed to do something for my team."

 

His family, camped past the outfield fence as usual on that day, was starting to pack up when he got to third base. For the entire game Lastings had been watching the other pitcher, and he felt sure that he could time his delivery perfectly.

 

With no signal from the dugout, he took off.

 

"It was so fast," his mother Linda says. "It was like - 'He's trying to . . . he's safe!' I said, 'Oh my God! He stole home!' I was halfway up the fence. I didn't even know I could climb the fence but I had climbed halfway up the fence."

 

Milledge's team came back and won.

 

The feat was unique, but just one of many accomplishments in Milledge's storied career. At the age of 10 he was already one of the best young players in the state. At 11, he was the hero on a team that went to the Little League national finals. By the time he reached his teens, high schools were recruiting him and scouts were watching his games.

 

As a junior at Northside he batted .571 and drove in a state-record 77 runs. As a senior at Lakewood Ranch, he stole 44 straight bases and committed only one error in center field.

 

"I was the No. 1 player in the country," he says, before stopping himself. "Baseball America said that, not me."

 

What galls the Milledges is the timing of what happened to their son. The investigation began before his junior season, but he and another athlete were not expelled until two days after the school lost in the state finals.

 

Northside was already under investigation for having a number of students - Lastings included - attending the school on improper scholarships, and eventually the school was put on probation.

 

The Milledges said they could not afford to pay the $6,000-a-year tuition on their own. Keith LeClerc, the owner of a diamond company who had been Lastings' AAU coach and the father of one of Lastings' closest friends, paid for his tuition. The school was required to put any scholarship money into a fund and then disperse it to students, but LeClerc and others had paid for the students directly.

 

And while LeClerc does not know exactly what happened with Lastings, he does not want to see him punished more than he was. "He's a great kid; he's got a sweet heart. Does he make some bad decisions? Yeah, we all do," LeClerc said. "A lot was made of this. I'm a parent and I have a daughter, but sooner or later you have to let these children heal and move on with life."

 

Northside officials did not return phone calls, and school headmaster Rick Newberry said through his secretary that he would not comment.

 

Milledge might have been drafted among the top three picks in the country, even though the market has turned toward college athletes and away from youngsters like him.

 

He ended up dropping to No.12, where the Mets grabbed him as their first overall pick. They checked out the allegations about the 15-year-old, they said, and were satisfied that he was not guilty of criminal activity. Scouting director Gary LaRocque announced his selection by telling reporters the team was "really confident of his makeup and character."

 

But over the past week, the anonymous letter and the investigation it spurred have come back with a vengeance.

 

"Our crimes against children detectives unit was very serious about pursuing this case, and they referred charges to the state's attorney's office," said Pasha, the sheriff's spokeswoman. "They felt strongly there was some victimization involved."

 

Because of "lewd and lascivious" behavior with minors, as well as "molestation" - Pasha's words - Milledge was required to go through a juvenile arbitration program. He performed community service, wrote an essay about responsibility, had a "scared straight" tour of a jail, and when that program was over he was free and clear.

 

Agent Tommy Tanzer, who has served as an "adviser" to the Milledges since before Lastings' expulsion, said the Mets knew about the allegations involving the younger girls, but had checked it out.

 

"The Mets were close to the situation because they had a (scout) right there, so they were there all the time, and they did all their checking, they checked it out well beforehand," Tanzer said.

 

Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and interim GM Jim Duquette did not return calls for comment, though senior VP for business and legal affairs David Howard said the team certainly did not know about those allegations. He referred to a statement the team issued last week after a Daily News inquiry, as read by team spokesman Jay Horwitz:

 

"These allegations are not at all consistent with what we understood to be the case when we drafted Lastings Milledge. These new allegations are far more serious and warrant further investigation to assess their validity. Until we know what the facts are, we will reserve judgment and any further comment."

 

The Mets were in a flurry to find out how they had missed something so potentially damaging, especially coming just a few years after owner Fred Wilpon's declaration that good character would be a necessary component in any Met.

 

Several major league executives, however, said they had never heard of those allegations, as did several competing agents who had pursued Milledge as a client.

 

"Hey, if he had been around for us, we would have grabbed him in a second," one rival general manager said. "The kid has everything."

 

 

* * *

 

If Milledge were from another state, it's possible the allegations about the young girls never would have been known, or at least they wouldn't have come from an official source like the spokesperson for a county sheriff.

 

Florida's liberal open records laws allow law enforcement agencies to release information about juveniles who are involved in certain crimes. In most states any juvenile record is sealed, but the sheriff's office willingly provided extensive information about the accusations.

 

When Milledge's attorney, former prosecutor Robert Heyman, heard about the allegations, he moved immediately to prevent the sheriff's office from providing copies of the criminal investigation report. Both The News and the Mets had asked for copies, and the office was in the laborious effort of removing any information about the alleged victims when it received a letter from Heyman yesterday morning demanding it not release the report.

 

"He was never arrested, never charged, never appeared before a judge," Heyman said.

 

The sheriff's office reviewed Heyman's argument and agreed, and Pasha said later that "after further review" she would no longer be able to discuss the case.

 

Lastings' parents seem much more affected by his ordeal than he is. He still has the charm that made him one of the most popular students in either of his schools. Sitting in Heyman's office, wearing a tie and long-sleeved shirt, he said he doesn't mind waiting for the Mets to conclude their investigation.

 

"That's out of my hands," he says.

 

He has been busy coaching in youth baseball camps in the afternoons, still assumes he will be wearing No. 27 for the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones before long, and says he does not mind when someone asks him what exactly happened back at Northside.

 

"No, it doesn't bother me," he says. "Because I know what I did and didn't do."

 

 

eeeh

 

btw, that was from the Daily News... and the previous post was from wikipedia.

Lastings Molestidge?

 

 

:lol

 

I laughed.

 

:lol

 

They were yelling "jail bait" at him.

 

Next inning he didnt come out on the field. :mischief2

 

He turned an ankle at 3B is why. Not sure if it was shown on tv and all.

Lastings Molestidge?

 

 

:lol

 

I laughed.

 

:lol

 

They were yelling "jail bait" at him.

 

Next inning he didnt come out on the field. :mischief2

 

He turned an ankle at 3B is why. Not sure if it was shown on tv and all.

I thought it was because he sliced is fingers up when he got spiked trying to break up a double play...

Lastings Molestidge?

 

 

That is a classic

Looks like Lastings' 'tude showed up again when he tried to walk away from Willie Randolph in the dugout after misplaying that fly ball.

 

Being in the stands, I didn't see this.

 

What happened?

From what I can remember, Willie was sitting on the bench as Lastings was walking by, and Willie started talking to him. Lastings stopped for a moment, replied, then started walking away as Willie started talking again. At this point, Willie looked agitated, got up, and walked a few steps over to Lastings and continued talking to him.

A)Lastings Molestidge?

 

High-Larious

 

B) Where does this snot-nosed rookie get off wearing body armor like he's some power-hitting veteran or something? Take that crap off, and earn it.

Looks like Lastings' 'tude showed up again when he tried to walk away from Willie Randolph in the dugout after misplaying that fly ball.

 

Being in the stands, I didn't see this.

 

What happened?

 

ditto, I couldnt see either, I heard an arguement or something?

Looks like Lastings' 'tude showed up again when he tried to walk away from Willie Randolph in the dugout after misplaying that fly ball.

 

Being in the stands, I didn't see this.

 

What happened?

 

ditto, I couldnt see either, I heard an arguement or something?

See my post, two up from yours.