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
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