Milledge ejected from Triple A game

Playing for the Triple AAA Charlotte Knights, Lastings Milledge was ejected from a game last week after he was involved in a fight with Toledo catcher Max St. Pierre.

Both benches emptied after the brawl started, but only Milledge was ejected from the International League contest. He was hit by a pitch and then got into a confrontation with St. Pierre that escalated reports said.

Unfortunately it was the third ejection for the Lakewood Ranch graduate going back to 2007 with the New York Mets and second since December when he was involved in a bench clearing brawl while playing in the Venezuelan Winter League.

In 30 games with Charlotte (a Chicago White Sox farm team), Milledge has compiled a .222 batting average with 24 hits in 108 at-bats. The right handed hitting outfielder is batting .270 against lefties, but only .197 (14-71) against right handers.

Milledge played with Pittsburgh last season and batted .277 in 379 at-bats, but the Pirates released him after the season. He appeared in two games for the White Sox this season before they designated him for assignment.

Milledge was the 12^th overall pick in the 2003 MLB Draft and signed with the New York Mets. He had a very good spring with the White Sox, who awarded him with a roster spot. However they were forced to change plans after some pitching problems ensued.

At the time White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he was very upset about having to let go of Milledge because he had played so well during the spring and deserved to be on the parent club, but circumstances dictated the team go in another direction.

Could Milledge be done in Pittsburgh

A strained oblique muscle appears to have shut Lastings Milledge down for the rest of the season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. But things could get even worse next year for the Lakewood Ranch High product and it would have nothing to do with an injury.

The Pirates have seemingly given up on Milledge during the last month of the season while using everybody but your grandmother in right field where he came into the season as a starter.

The 25 year-old has a respectable .277 batting average and is hitting over .300 with runners in scoring position, but with only four homers that is not enough, Pirates GM Neal Huntington says.

Huntington told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Milledge needs to hit for more power, become a better base runner and improve his defense in the outfield.

“Lastings has got to get the ability to drive the ball more consistently. The batting average is nice, but it’s also about how much he can get on base, how much can he drive the ball, how much power is there?” Huntington told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Russell's use of Milledge baffling

Can’t help but wonder what Pirates manager John Russell is thinking these days when it comes to Lastings Milledge.

First Russell platooned Milledge with Ryan Church, though he was hitting under .200 against right-handers while Milledge was hitting over .250 against them and over .300 against lefties.

The Pirates got rid of Church in a trade and now Russell is trying to convert catcher Ryan Doumit into a right fielder and has him taking a lot of Milledge’s playing time away.

But you have to give credit to the Palmetto native, who led Lakewood Ranch to its only state baseball championship his senior year. Milledge has handled the situation without moaning or protesting and has adopted a positive attitude.

He even maintained that demeanor when the switch hitting Doumit started against a lefty though he is batting under .200 against southpaws, more than 100 points less than Milledge.

“I just feel like, when I get my opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it, whether it’s two times a week or three times a week,” Milledge told the Post-Gazette.com this week.

Milledge has hit .276 in his last 10 games, getting at least one hit in all but two games where he only had three combined at-bats. For the season, he is hitting .316 against lefties and .251 against right handers.

With runners in scoring position for the season, Milledge is batting .393 against lefties and .327 against righties. Doumit is a switch hitter, but is batting an anemic .179 against lefties striking 20 times in 112 at-bats and .280 against righthanders. With RISP, Doumit is batting .240 from the right side and .250 from the left.

Milledge finally gets homer

And on the 55th game of the 2010 season on his 220th at bat, Lastings Milledge finally hit his first homer.

Before naysayers start screaming it’s about time, let’s remember the Pittsburgh Pirates don’t have many things to feel good about these days and Milledge brings a smidgen of hope.

The Pirates head into the week with six straight losses, including 17 straight on the road with only two wins in their last 20 games.

In their 3-2 loss to Oakland on Sunday, the Pirates looked like the Keystone Cops with four errors and Milledge did go to 2 for 4 with his homer to raise his batting average to .279.

Milledge is hitting .313 against lefties and .265 against right handers. The best part is that with runners in scoring position, the Lakewood Ranch High graduate is hitting .471 against lefties and .353 against right handers.

Perfect timing for Milledge

The timing couldn’t have been better for our own Lastings Milledge.

With his team mired in a 12 game losing streak and the Pittsburgh Pirates outfield getting a little crowded with the recent call up Jose Tabata, Milledge needed to do something to assure his spot in the Pirates lineup.

The Lakewood Ranch product did just that Saturday when he drove in four runs and just missed hitting for the cycle with a triple, double and single in sparking the Bucs to a 6-4 victory over Cleveland.

He also boosted his season batting average to .276, which is the third highest on the team among those with at least 100 at-bats and one point behind Garrett Jones.

Milledge has raised his batting average 30 points in the last two weeks and in the last seven games has 11 hits in 20 at-bats, getting multiple hits in four of those games. He is hitting .381 in the month of June.

Perhaps the best part about Milledge is that he is hitting a torrid .408 with runners in scoring position.

The Pirates have given Milledge’s left field spot to Tabata and it was reported that he would be splitting the right field job with Ryan Church and Delwyn Young. Pittsburgh manager John Russell said he didn’t want to make Milledge a bench player.

The Palmetto native didn’t waste any time providing energy for his teammates and the crowd to soak up when he dove head first into first base in the first inning to get an infield single.