Hurt so good

Longtime Oakland Athletic Eric Chavez has finally come to the realization that his career could be over. Saturday, Eric went on the 15-day disabled list and acknowledged that it could his final trip to the list and that his whole career may be done for. Chavez was hitting .234 with 1 home run and 10 RBI this year as the team's part time DH and first baseman. He is suffering from bulging discs in his neck and has had spasms in his back because of them.

The 32 year old is no stranger to the DL and spent most of the past three seasons going on and coming off of it due to back and forearm related injuries and has had five surgeries since 2007.

I am not one of Chavez's biggest fans regardless of his success or failure. He was one of the least clutch players I have ever seen and never came up with the big hit. Instead he quietly averaged 28 home runs and 94 runs batted in between 2000 and 2006 while earning 6 gold gloves during that span. Chavez was awarded a six-year 66 million dollar contract extension in 2004 despite his failures as a clutch player. Granted, he never had to be the prime producer or superstar on teams that featured stars such as Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, and Barry Zito, but Chavez accumulated horrid postseason stats. His .222 batting average, 3 home runs and 12 RBI in 27 career playoff games are nothing to get excited about considering the team he played on has never advanced past the AL championship series before.

It is safe to say that Chavez's glory days in Oakland are over. I'm not happy that a once great power hitter is having to end his career due to health issues, but I am happy that because of his injury he will stop taking roster space and manager Bob Geren no longer has to use the unproductive broken down slugger.

The A's have two huge prospects and superstars in the making waiting down in AAA Sacramento to get a chance to hit in the big leagues. First base prospect Chris Carter has shown major power in the minor leagues by slugging 39 home runs in single A in 2008 and 29 in AA and AAA combined last season.

The A's traded 1B/3B super-prospect Brett Wallace for another top hitting prospect this off-season. Michael Taylor is a big, powerful, and fast outfielder who has potential to hit for a very high average, good power, and steal some bases as well.

both have the opportunity soon to enter the A's starting lineup and provide some much needed pop into the heart of their batting order.

Another bright spot about Chavez's possible retirement is the fact that the A's will no longer have to pay him 11 million dollars after the season ends. They can instead use that money to sign both Carter and Taylor to long-term contracts and bring some star power to Oakland or Fremont or San Jose or Sacramento or Las Vegas depending on where the A's end up....

-by J.DeClercq

(Grand)Mother's Day Miracle

Flash back to Thursday April 22 when Dallas Braden of the Oakland A's took the mound against the reigning world champion New York Yankees. Braden who is 14-22 in his career with a 4.62 ERA has never beaten the Yankees before and has been up until this point a nobody pitcher. Not making many headlines, last season Braden put together a nice season before it was cut short due to injury but this day was about to change all of that. In the sixth inning of the A's 4-2 win and Braden's first against the Yankees, New York third baseman Alex Rodriguez was returning from third base back to first after a foul ball and the trip took him across the top of the pitching mound.

This rubbed the A's lefty the wrong way and according to him broke an unwritten code of baseball etiquette. A double play ended the inning and on Rodriguez's way back to his dugout Braden shouted something at him. Braden was making sure that Rodriguez knew exactly whose house he was in, Braden's words rang something to the tune of "Get the f*** of my mound". Seemingly no big deal just like A-rod would later admit, but not to Dallas Braden. The pitcher used this moment to get fired up as he threw his glove into the wall of the dugout after the inning and perhaps motivated his teammates.

After the game Rodriguez played it off as if he didn't know the rule and that he has done such an act countless times in his future HOF career and that it is not Braden's place as an unproven player to tell himself what to do. Braden on the other hand looked at it differently. He suggested that Rodriguez take a note of his captain and teammate Derek Jeter's book on classy play because someone of A-rod's status shouldn't be breaking such sacred rules.

Take a look at Friday May 7th when Dallas Braden, still a little licked off at A-rod, makes some comments hinting that further action must be taken to resolved the issue. Braden didn't specify whether the conflict would get physical, but he said "(A-rod has a) lack of respect for the game or those playing it.....he's just an individualistic player."

Today, May 9th, Mother's Day. Across baseball players are playing with pink bats and other pink apparel to celebrate their mother's and for breast cancer awareness. Braden was getting ready to take the mound against the top team in the MLB, the Tampa Bay Rays. Braden, grew up in Stockton, CA, had a troubled young life. His mother died while he still in high school and he ran with the wrong crowd. He would spend nights and days living with friends and visiting local colleges without his family knowing where he was or where he would be next but baseball kept him somewhat on the right track. He graduated high school and was drafted in the 24th round out of Texas Tech by the A's. He was basically raised by his grandmother and he sees her as his mother figure. She was the closest family he had and she never gave up on him and supported him completely.

It was only fitting that Braden would pitch in front of his home crowd and his grandmother on Mother's Day. Braden has had a solid start to the year posting a 3-2 record and solid ERA but nothing he has done before would match what he did today. Braden became the 19th pitcher in Major League history to throw a perfect game when he did today against the Tampa Bay Rays.

A perfect game is perhaps the greatest thing a pitcher can accomplish and for him to do it before his grandmother on Mother's Day only made it that much better. "It hasn't been a joyous day for me in a while," Braden said. He added, "with my grandma in the stands, it makes it a lot better."

Now back to A-rod....again. Rodriguez was asked about it when Braden had only gone six perfect so far and he deferred all questions to a later time. Rodriguez eventually opened up about it after it was official, "I've learned in my career that its always better to be remembered for some of the good things you do on the field, and good for him." Hopefully this will be the end of the A-rod vs. Braden incident because I am sick of hearing about Rodriguez.

Some including Braden's Grandmother Peggy Lindsay believe that this was Dallas' way of sticking it to A-rod who has made comments about Braden's on-field accomplishments. Well, Alex, this was a great one. Perhaps the greatest of all the individual feats a player could reach, so we'll let Dallas savor this and save the fight for another time.

-J. DeClercq