Dukes fallout

Plenty of reaction from Elijah Dukes’ eventful night at Shea Stadium. Here are a few snippets: Manny Acta: “He had a very good game. I think everybody knows that he has worked very hard this year, and the Nationals have worked very hard with him to work on his temper. He has been great the whole season. It’s unfortunate what happened tonight, but he’s human.” Ryan Zimmerman: “He’s an emotional player, but I don’t know if there’s really a place for that in this kind of game. He’s a great player. He’s got a lot to learn, but I think he showed what kind of talent he has tonight.” Lastings Milledge: “Don’t make him out to be a bad guy. The guy loves the game. The guy plays the game hard. I don’t think he did anything wrong.” Also from Milledge: “You’ve got to stand for what you know out there. You can’t let them rag you out and get you uncomfortable. He made a statement tonight, and that’s that.” And a couple from Mets starter Mike Pelfrey: “I was just trying to get the ball in on him, trying to jam him. I figured he would be swinging, and it kind of got away from me. “I have to pitch inside. The umpire came out. He said, ‘I have to give you a warning,’ and I said, ‘I wasn’t throwing at him,’ and he said, ‘I know. I just have to do it.’ I just hope if I hit somebody and they give me a warning, they know, hey, that wasn’t intentional, there’s no need to throw me out of the game. “He told me to bring it on, and (said), ‘Let’s go,’ and I was thinking, ‘Hey man, I didn’t do that on purpose.’ I was kind of shocked it escalated like that. I just said, ‘Hey, why would I hit you?’ That’s what I kept on saying to him. He obviously wasn’t very happy.” Dukes, as you’ll gather, didn’t have anything to say about his antics. Through a team spokesman, he declined multiple requests to discuss his actions. He did, however, ask, “What the (expletive) is there to talk about?” Plenty, apparently.