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Paul Lo Duca has been on the DL most of the season with a broken wrist, and isn't going to be back until close to the all-star break. That's too bad, because it means we're not going to hear nearly as many great quotes out of Lo Duca as we normally would. Thank goodness that the Nationals let Lo Duca travel on the road trip to New York (the Nats don't usually let injured players travel, but gave Lo Duca a pass because he lives in NY), or else we probably wouldn't have heard Paul's take on "Cheer-gate" and Nelson Figueroa, courtesy of his appearance on WFAN (through Adam Rubin's Mets blog at the Daily News):

"I don't know. I'm not a big fan of it to be honest with you. I'll be honest with you. You know, we're struggling. Guys are just trying to have a little fun. I think they saw Figueroa getting a little upset, so they amped it up a couple of notches. I do think it's a little bush league. At first it started off as a little fun, until he got mad. I don't agree with it. But, also, Nelson Figueroa has nine wins in the big leagues and he needs to keep his mouth shut."

So I'm confused, it was all right until Figueroa got mad ... but Figueroa shouldn't actually tell anybody he's mad? I see. Sounds like Lo Duca didn't want to take sides and just hate each side of the argument equally.

Speaking of hate, some who formally loved Lo Duca now may hate him because of his appearance in The Mitchell Report, which was more than a mere cameo. Until now, all we've heard from Lo Duca was the prepared apology. While on WFAN, he went into it in a little more detail.

"I apologized. It's something I did a long time ago. The perception, and people think that, hey, he did it last year. No. I did it a long time ago. And it was a mistake I did. I wish it would have never happened. It's something I'll have to deal with. But, you know, I'm sort of glad. I think it was a monkey that's been on my back for a long time that finally flew off. It was something that I'm not proud of, obviously.

"I don't view myself as a cheater. Obviously it's something I did. And obviously it's something that helped me. But, you know, a lot of people don't realize I got into a bad collision and got run over at home plate one year, in '95 in Double-A. And I got it prescribed to me by a doctor. A lot of guys did it. There's a lot of guys in front of me that did it. Like I said, I'm not making excuses. It was part of survival. You want to be at home or you want to be playing? That's the way it was. I apologized for what I did, but that's plenty true."

It's too bad that Lo Duca waited this long for that. He's been candid on most subjects most of his career, especially in his time here in New York. People probably would have wanted to hear this sooner instead of the canned apology, or the almost apology where he was almost run down on the road. But, better late than never. Here's hoping the second half of the season produces not only a healthy Lo Duca, but a chatty Lo Duca.

And keep your eyes on the road, buddy.