Nelson Figueroa’s spot in the rotation may be on life support, but not for lack of competitive fire. The Figman allowed 6 runs in 5 innings of work last night and has raised his ERA from a mediocre 4.08 to a hideous 5.12 in the course of two starts. After the game, however, Nelson was less concerned with his pitching line than with the impromptu pep rally that Nats’ outfielder Elijah Dukes staged from the Washington dugout during the third inning. Said Figueroa:

“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls. I’m a professional, just like anybody else. I take huge offense to that. If that’s what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it. I think you need to show a little bit more class, a little bit more professionalism. They won tonight, but again, in the long run, they are who they are…Even for the manager and the coaching staff to let that stuff carry on, it’s truly unprofessional. That’s why they are who they are.”

Countered one of the offending girls, Felipe Lopez:

“If he’s worried about the dugout, he should be worried about the catcher. We won because we got in his head.”

I would venture that they won because Figueroa issued five walks and threw just 62 of his 108 pitches for strikes, but let’s not split hairs.

As the Daily News’ Adam Rubin put it, Nelson “knows about bush league baseball. After all, he’s toured the world trying to resurrect his major league career.”

If I were Nelson, I’d focus less on the professionals in the other dugout and more on remaining a professional yourself.