It’s Time For The Duda To Abide

The 2012 New York Mets have looked like an old car the last few games, sputtering as they come to the intersection. Lucas Duda has especially slowed it down, going on a stretch that mirrors the putrid start to his Major League career in September 2010. Between last year and parts of this year, we all know what The Duda is capable of. He can be much more than the Major League power hitter everyone raves he can be. It is time for The Duda to Abide, and that has to start soon.

Lucas must channel the man he gets his nickname from.  The Duda looks anything but at the plate, swinging at low breaking pitch after low breaking pitch with the biggest frown on his face. They said he has problems with his confidence, and boy, they aren’t kidding. In some made-up hybrid baseball movie world, where “The Big Lebowski” were for some reason an unemployed,easy goin’, middle-aged, barnstormin’ independent-league baseball hippie, he’d be slappin’ base hit after base hit all over the place (in no world would The Dude be anything close to an athlete…but you get my drift….he’d probably be a crafty pitcher, though…sorry, I digress.) Lucas must focus to not let his underwhelming confidence get the best of him. Last year, after a slow start, he was very consistent through the rest of the season, shortening his swing when he needed to, crushing it when the time was right. He was an outstanding hitter. The Duda must find that center once again and take the next step in his career. Smile, Lucas! You’re playing baseball for a living!

While we cannot have an albatross like his current state in the middle of our lineup, The Duda is a long-term solution to the fate of the Mets and they don’t want to have to bench him. But #21’s fate is in his own hands. The Duda must Abide.

‘Cause when he does…

It’s a hulluva lot more fun.

“…I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Duda, takin’ her easy for all us sinners. Shoosh. I sure hope he makes The finals. Well, that about does her, wraps her all up…….and it was a pretty good story, don’t ya think?……Parts, anyway……. I guess that’s the way the whole darned human comedy keeps perpetuatin’ it-self, down through the generations, westward the wagons, across the sands a time until we– Aw, look at me, I’m ramblin’ again. Wel, uh hope you folks enjoyed yourselves. Catch ya later on down the trail.

…Say friend, ya got any more of that good sarsaparilla?…”

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