Lucas Duda was not the best player on my favorite team. He wasn’t the second best player on the team, or the third best, or the fourth best…. But he was one of my favorite players on the team. He was a quiet guy who never seemed to complain. Duda was never too high or too low. All he did was #dudasmash.
My Duda Face, My D-D-D Duda Face
My brother and I have this ritual of giving all the players on the team a nickname or a chant or something. Sometimes they have several, but I’m sure besides us, people would agree they are all stupid. Lucas first received the nickname Doo Dah (emphasis on the Dah instead of the Doo), but that was too easy. But it’s great because when The 7 Line Army is in town, it brings out the Doo Dah chant where one side of the fans chant Doo and the other chant Dah.
We live in Virginia so we get to see the Mets when they come to town to face the Nats. One of the first times we see Duda is on the scoreboard. In his picture he had this great smile with a kind of hair lip (like Elvis). That started the Duda Face name. But how could we stop there. Duda needed a song. So we broke out the old Lady Gaga and put “My Duda Face, My D-D-D Duda Face” to the music of “Poker Face”.
A Class Act
Last night Gary and Ron (Cohen and Darling in the booth) were talking about Lucas heading to Tampa Bay and by all accounts he was amazing about it. The guy is in the top 10 (7th I think) on the all time Mets homer leaderboard and he’s got the most homers hit at Citi Field. One of the most satisfying things to see is to watch Lucas turn on an a ball inside and #dudasmash it over the right field fence.
The Mets are having a tough season, Lucas will be a free agent at the end of the season and Dominic Smith is raking is Vegas (like you do). All that factored in to the trade. But when asked about it I believe his quote was that he hopes Dominic Smith makes it to 10 All-Star Games. He’s a quiet guy, but he says what needs to be said and he does it with class. Tampa you are getting a good guy.
@wefollowlucasduda
If you are on Instagram you should give @wefollowlucasduda a look. I hope the guys down there keep it going. It’s something Curtis Granderson and the guys started where they follow Duda around and film him. HE HATES IT! But its so great. He always wants to knock the phone out of Curtis’ hands. And the last video I saw was Curtis’ holding on the Duda’s ankle to try to stop him leaving. Maybe even take a look at some old homers from Lucas. When he comes back in the dugout sometime Grandy has a big tablet and records him. Sometimes the tablet doesn’t make it.
Good luck Lucas! I’ll always be a fan!
