Second Thoughts

Difo feeling the love with walk-up tunes

Washington Nationals infielder Wilmer Difo has used the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” as his walk-up music at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Difo has also added The Temptations’ “My Girl” to his walk-up rotation.
Washington Nationals infielder Wilmer Difo has used the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” as his walk-up music at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Difo has also added The Temptations’ “My Girl” to his walk-up rotation.

Wilmer Difo loves romantic songs. The Washington Nationals infielder usually listens to them in Spanish, and they're usually bachata or salsa, which makes sense considering he's from the Dominican Republic and Spanish is his native language.

But occasionally a romantic song in English catches Difo's attention. He then finds the name of it, searches for it on YouTube, and pulls up the lyrics to sing along.

"I can practice my English, too," he said in Spanish to Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. "I try to figure out what they're saying and understand it."

That's what happened last week when Difo heard "Unchained Melody," the Righteous Brothers' 1965 No. 1, for the first time. He was instantly entranced and looked it up to play over and over .... and over and over again.

"I had never heard it before, and I repeated it like 80,000 times," Difo said.

Two days later, Difo, 25, requested the song as his primary walk-up music. He also added "My Girl" by The Temptations to the walk-up rotation.

The changes sparked confusion when they were unveiled May 25 against the Seattle Mariners. Teammate Jayson Werth called the switch "extremely unorthodox." Other teammates thought someone was pulling a prank.

"They thought they were joking with me," Difo said. "But, no, I put them on. I love those songs."

Fans apparently did too, because they were singing along each time Difo went to the plate, which was more often than usual last weekend as he replaced Daniel Murphy for three consecutive games. Difo, who said he still doesn't know all the words to "Unchained Melody," noticed.

"I was laughing when I heard people singing," he said. "I like it like that."

While Washington won't play again at Nationals Park until June 8, Difo said he'll keep the songs as long as he gets hits with them.

Bad form

The New York Mets apologized Wednesday night after their mascot, Mr. Met, made an obscene gesture at fans at Citi Field during the team's 7-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Video on social media showed Mr. Met walking down a tunnel at the ballpark, turning around and flipping the middle finger at the fans. It was unclear what, if anything, the fans said to the mascot before he made the gesture.

"We apologize for the inappropriate action of this employee," the Mets later said in a statement posted to their Twitter account. "We do not condone this type of behavior. We are dealing with this matter internally."

A Mets official told The Associated Press more than one person wears the Mr. Met costume during each season, and the person who wore it Wednesday night will not work in the costume again.

Mr. Met, known for an oversize head with baseball seams, is among the sport's most recognized mascots. Technically, he has only four digits on his hand -- three fingers and a thumb.

Mr. Met has been the Mets' live mascot since 1964. It has an official Twitter account, with almost 50,000 followers. And it was in the headlines previously this season, with a friendly, online back-and-forth with Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard.

Sports quiz

How did the Washington Nationals acquire infielder Wilmer Difo?

Answer

Difo was signed as an international free agent on June 3, 2010.

Sports on 06/02/2017

Upcoming Events