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Just when you thought your 1-9 Washington Nationals couldn't grow any more absurd comes some news that goes beyond the ridiculous and into the territory of the just plain laughable.

On Saturday, Washington outfielder Elijah Dukes was benched, fined $500 and threatened with a demotion to the minor leagues after he showed up to the park a mere five minutes after the team's usual reporting time.

OK, so rules are rules, but sometimes there are exceptions that should be made and Dukes' excuse would seem to qualify him for one — he was doing charity work for the Nats at a local Little League.

Here's Manny Acta's explanation for the punishment, via the WaPo's Nationals Journal:

"He was late for work, he broke a team rule, and we are going to change the culture here — regardless of how well a guy is playing," Acta said. "And it was a bizarre situation, because he was doing something that we encourage our players to do: He was out in the community doing something for some Little League program and just showed up late to work. He was very remorseful about it. He felt bad, but we have to lay the law on whoever." http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_le ... mlb,157410

Bleeding Green wrote:Strasburg is getting another 500 bucks I guess.

Parents pay ballplayer's fine

• This Elijah Dukes fined for charity work story keeps getting better and better.

As reported by the Washington Post today, the local Little League the Nationals outfielder visited has raised enough money to cover the cost of the fine that Dukes received from manager Manny Acta after showing up to Nationals Park five minutes late last Saturday.

Link

HCYanks wrote:I usually like Acta, but this is noticeably (Please Use More Appropriate Word). If he gets in a fender bender on the way to the ballpark next week, should he steal the next car to come by to make sure he gets there on time? Rules are rules, after all.