The “Susan G. Komen for the Cure” breast cancer awareness organization condemned Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden for his perfect game in a press release issued Sunday night.
Continuing a tradition begun last year, Major League Baseball celebrated Mother’s Day by teaming up with the Komen Foundation for its “Going to Bat Against Cancer” Initiative, according to an article on MLB.com.
“When we said we were ‘going to bat against cancer,’ we wanted to step up to the plate and hit a home run,” said Komen spokeswoman, Laurie Jupiter, “or at least work the count and take a walk. What kind of cold-hearted scoundrel does it take to throw a perfect game?”
“What kind of message does that send?”
The press release emphasized the imagery of the Tampa Bay Rays’ special pink bats flail helplessly against Braden’s unhittable offerings, and their “pinkified” uniforms walking dejectedly back to the dugout after each and every at-bat.
“He should be ashamed of himself,” Jupiter said, “We will not strike out against cancer.”
Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig was quick to respond to the controversy.
“Braden’s actions were indefensible,” he said, “His malevolence is nauseating, and he ought to be ashamed of himself.”
Selig added that he would begin to plan disciplinary action against Braden Monday morning. When asked to speculate about the severity of the punishment or whether it would come in the form a fine or a suspension, Selig was noncommittal, saying only, “there’s gonna be trouble.”
“What is [Braden] trying to prove?” Jupiter asked, “What a despicable human being.”
Braden declined to comment.
In other news, a Cleveland, Ohio, teenager who took Braden out of his fantasy baseball team’s starting lineup for this week’s scoring period suffered a massive heart attack upon hearing about Braden’s accomplishment.
I heard it best on the A’s post-game show with Chris Townsend: You could not have asked for a better script. Dallas Braden, surrounded by friends, family and his community of Stockton, Calif., pitched MLB’s 19th perfect game ever on Sunday, May 9, 2010.
As the last out was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum, the stadium erupted. The bench rushed Braden on the mound. Braden had bear hugs for his teammates. As he proceeded from the pitchers’ mound towards the dugout, he had bear hugs for his coaches. Most importantly, Braden had a giant bear hug for his grandmother who met him by the A’s dugout.
Braden and his grandmother have always been extremely close, and losing his mom to cancer while he was in high school only made them stronger. There were tears in Braden’s eyes, his grandmother’s and mine as I watched the two embrace.
The 19th perfect games in the Major League Baseball history belongs to you, Dallas Braden.
Braden won’t forget his roots either.
It had to be fate that today was Braden’s “209” promotion. Fans sitting in section 209 hailed from Stockton his hometown whose area code is also 209. Braden could be heard screaming “209, 209” while pointing at his hometown fans as he left the pitchers mound.
On a team facing dismal attendance this year, this is the shot in the arm that the fan base needed.
The A’s are good.
They’re competing for first place in a wide open AL West. And, oh yeah, they have the latest perfect game.
So much hype was going into the A’s season about their starting pitching. Former All-Stars Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer, outstanding sophomore pitcher Brett Anderson and promising Gio Gonzalez, and of course, Dallas Braden. Who would have guessed that Braden would be the man attached to the phrase “perfect game?”
Braden, after having a great start to the season, struggled in his last two starts. Reporters were still asking him about that and his remarks to Alex Rodriguez. He replied he just wanted to move on.
I believe he did.
Alex Rodriguez laughed off Braden’s rant about him, citing that it didn’t matter especially coming from a nobody like Braden. Mr. Rodriguez, he’s not a nobody any more.
Not that he ever was a nobody.
If the A’s have but one All-Star representative again this year, give the honors to Braden.
The city of Stockton and its community could not be prouder of their representative in Oakland. Braden is a shining example that good things can come from anywhere. Even Stockton.
Hats off to you, area code 209. And hats off to you, Dallas Braden. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Couldn’t have asked for a better script.
Well, Alex Rodriguez, it’s time to remember the name of Dallas “Instant Hero” Braden, because in a few years, he might be on your team.
The Oakland Athletics pitcher tossed a 4-0 perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays, marking the first perfect game in Oakland in 42 years when Catfish Hunter achieved the feat. Hunter would eventually sign a free-agent contract with the New York Yankees.
This is one of those moments that every true sports fan salivates over. More than stats, we want to see athletes put more stock in their game than just money. Braden has done just that.
To quote Braden’s grandmother, “Stick it, A-Rod!”
After the controversial confrontation between Oakland Athletics pitcher Braden and New York Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez on April 22, in which Braden exploded at Rodriguez for walking across the mound, Braden has truly established himself as a force to be reckoned with. Braden put himself on the line against A-Rod and then raised his game.
More importantly though, Braden would accredit the team for the effort in this sparkling performance.
“It’s without a doubt a team effort,” Braden said. “You got eight guys out there chasing balls and knocking balls down for me. So this is ours, not just mine, this is ours.”
The sad part of this story is that this performance by Braden, however, should underline the dire need for Major League Baseball to terminate the territorial rights of the San Francisco Giants in San Jose, so that the A’s can build a stadium there.
Why do I say that?
Braden pitched the A’s first perfect game since Hall of Famer Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s gem on May 8, 1968, against the Minnesota Twins. Only 6,298 were there to witness it. Sunday’s crowd at the Coliseum wasn’t much better: 12,228.
Give us credit. If you followed Man Cave Sports on Facebook or Twitter, you would have already known about Dallas Braden.
We wrote a feature article this week on Braden and how he could break out at any moment. I suggest you get on the ball if you haven’t heard about Man Cave Sports yet.
For just the nineteenth time in MLB history, a perfect game was thrown Sunday, or better known as Mother’s Day.
Dallas Braden , you know that pitcher on the A’s with a handful of wins ? Well, he just threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the team with the best record, not bad for just his eighteenth win in the majors.
If you’re like me, and the rest of Man Cave Sports , Braden became a hero after his run-in with Alex Rodriguez , who as far as I can tell, isn’t liked by anyone outside of the Pin Stripe faithful.
When A-Rod was notified about the feat he said, ”I’ve learned in my career, it is much better to be recognized for all the great things you do on the field,” Rodriguez said. “Good for him, he threw a perfect game. And better yet, he beat the Rays, but no more about him, please.”
No more about him, please? It sounds like Rodriguez may soon have nightmares about Braden.
It was impressive that a guy with just “a handful of wins” believes in himself, and the unwritten rules of baseball enough to exchange words with one of the game’s best.
Braden’s grandmother was quoted as saying “Stick it, A-Rod.” Happy Mother’s Day to her too!
If his continued rants about the issue have showed us anything, it is that Braden is an extremely confident pitcher, but he’s confident not the same way that A-rod is, where it comes off as smug. He believes in himself, and more than anything wants to see his team succeed before he does.
While some may find his confidence annoying, and ask why he continues to talk about the A-rod fiasco, maybe it will make more sense when you see that ESPN doesn’t mention his chance at a perfect game until the 8th inning had rolled around. If that was a pitcher on the Yankees or Red Sox, ESPN would have that as front page news after the 5th inning.
What’s more surprising is that Braden still hasn’t earned recognition amongst the media. Fox Sports’ website ran this headline “A-Rod’s nemesis has perfect game through seven-innings.” It just shows that a small-market team like the A’s doesn’t get as much respect as the Yankees or Sox do.
And the poor Rays, perfect gamed twice in less than a year’s time . They really do not like left-handed pitchers who work fast. What’s more surprising is that both Buehrle’s and Braden’s perfect games happened with back-up catchers, as Kurt Suzuki is on the DL for the A’s.
Although, Landon Powell and Braden have a strong history together. “We were drafted the same year, he was one of the first guys I caught in pro-ball,” Powell said after the game.
In order for a perfect game to be even remotely possible, the pitcher and catcher must be working in unison, and both players need to completely believe in each other. “He was putting the right fingers down every time, ” Braden said of Powell. “It’s not like we’re strangers.”
Still, what is so surprising is that this happened to the Rays, again. The Rays have scored 174 runs this season, the second-best mark in the majors. Their line-up comes at opposing pitchers with speed and power throughout, putting a lot of pressure on opposing defenses. “None of those guys over there are easy outs,” Braden said of the Rays.
After a long hug with his grandmother by the dug-out, Braden did an interview with the A’s television broadcasters saying, “You ain’t got nothing to say, it was perfect,” while smiling. Those that follow the A’s love Braden’s personality and the fire he brings to the clubhouse.
Most importantly, in a moment that is mostly about Braden, he put the spot light on those around him. “It feels pretty cool, this is without a doubt a team effort,” Braden said. “This is ours, not mine, this ours.”
This sums up everything there is to love about Braden. This is about you Braden, whether you know it or not. You are the 19th person in Major League history to accomplish what you just accomplished. Not even Nolan Ryan threw a perfect game. You’re the first A’s player since the great Catfish Hunter in 1968. These things do not happen often.
This was his first promotion of “209″ day for his hometown of Stockton, Calif., it was mother’s day, it was Braden’s day. He worked inside with his fastball, he worked outside with his change-up, and he never let a single Rays’ player get on base.
It’s weird how rare feats like this work out, where people often say that “the stars aligned,” because there is no feasible explanation as to why something so unfeasible could occur.
This is a moment that I will remember watching for the rest of my life. And I can imagine that it’s a moment A-Rod may wish never happened, because he will forever be linked to Dallas Braden. Maybe next time, A-Rod will think before stepping into Bradenia.
Braden may go on to have just an average season, maybe even a career, but the legend that is Dallas Braden will become a hero to many children in the Bay Area, and to the many “Davids” of the world who want to find the strength to slay Goliath.
Last month, Dallas Braden was the subject of headlines after calling out Alex Rodriguez for taking a shortcut, and that path led right through the pitching mound. Apparently, the feud is still going.
On the May 8 episode of “Pardon the Interruption,” Braden continued to bait A-Rod, because he felt slighted after the New York Yankees slugger tried to play down comments he made about the Oakland A’s starter having not done much as a major leaguer yet.
Braden then went on to say, “There’s two ways that I can comment on that, and I’ll give you both of them. One, I was always told if you give a fool enough rope, he’ll hang himself, and with those comments, he had all the rope he needed. No. 2, I didn’t know there was a criteria in order to compete against A-Rod.”
True, Braden isn’t going to blow any team away with his fastball, which is in the high 80s, but it can get up to 90 mph at times. Braden also has an outstanding changeup, and will throw a curveball on occasion.
But on the mound, Braden doesn’t back down from hitters — he goes after them. The 26-year-old lefty is a young, confident pitcher, and if he remains healthy, he could pitch for many years.
But, what makes A’s fans love Braden is that he just doesn’t back down, and claims that, “Rodriguez also is a selfish player. He plays for the name on the back of the jersey, not the front. I don’t know if he’s noticed, but he doesn’t have a name on the back over there so he should play for the name on the front.”
There are many people who despise Rodriguez, and Braden worded it perfectly of A-Rod’s demeanor.
But on Sunday, Braden proved to MLB, specifically A-Rod, on just how good he can be by tossing the game’s first perfect game in 42 years, a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Oakland.
Braden became the 19th hurler in MLB history to complete pitching’s ultimate feat, effectively dismissing and discrediting A-Rod’s assertion that Braden hasn’t done much.
Against the best team in baseball, Braden had everything going for him —h is changeup was outstanding, his fastball was located perfectly, and his curveball was spot-on.
His pitching line: nine innings, six strikeouts, 109 pitches, and most importantly, 27 up, 27 down.
There was some nervousness for A’s fans in the ninth inning, though.
After getting the first out of the inning on a soft liner to Daric Barton, the Rays’ Dioner Navarro hit a hard line drive, but it was right at Eric Patterson, who made the catch.
The last batter of the game, Gabe Kapler, came to the plate and worked a 3-1 count on Braden. But Kapler swung at the next pitch before grounding out to Cliff Pennington at shortstop to end the game.
Oakland Athletics pitcher lefty Dallas Braden threw the 17th ever perfect game (in the Modern Era) today against the Tampa Bay Rays, and the first one on Mother’s Day.
It was the 2nd time the Rays had been thrown against a perfect game in less than a year.
Braden, 26, was recently known for his comments on Yankee Alex Rodriguez stepping over the mound to get over to 1st base during a game.
Not anymore, as this game is added to history forever.
The 27th out came as Gabe Kapler hit the ball, then scooped into Shortstop Cliff Pennington’s glove, and it was thrown over to 1st base.
His catcher was Landon Powell, who replaced the injured Kurt Suzuki. Powell said in an interview that he and Braden had talked with each other in the tunnel before the game.
As it became official, the first person Braden looked to was his Grandmother, who was very emotional as she was hugging him.
This year will be his first full season as a starter.
The last time a perfect game was pitched was when Mark Buehrle did it last year at Chicago.
A perfect game thrown by Dallas Braden: Do I really need to say more?
Editor’s Note: A few hours after this article was published, Dallas Braden threw a perfect game, the 19th in Major League Baseball history. You can read the “The Legend of Dallas Braden here here
Give Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden and his seventeen career MLB wins credit for standing up to Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees.
Prior to a late April afternoon game between the Yankees and Athletics, only a few people outside of Oakland had ever heard of Braden and only a few people that live under a rock had ever NOT heard of A-Rod.
Braden is from Stockton, California (or what he calls the “209″) and played his collegiate ball at Texas Tech before being drafted in 2004 by the Oakland Athletics as a 24th round selection.
His 2010 salary is $420,000, or roughly what A Rod spent on his previous steroid injections per year.
Most of you know the story on Rodriguez and his $33,000,000 salary.
The 12 All-Star selections, the three MVPs, 585 career Home Runs, 2009 World Series Champion, etc.
Braden, Rodriguez and their polar opposite baseball resumes and social statuses collided incredulously on April 22, 2010.
With A-Rod at first, Robinson Cano fouled off a Braden pitch that set Rodriguez in motion on the base path towards second base.
On his way back to first, a self-described “tired” Rodriguez took the shortest path available, across the pitcher’s mound. The 27-year-old pitcher ended the inning and his evening by pitching into a double play, but not leaving the field until he made one final statement.
As Braden made his way toward the showers, he angrily threw his glove toward the dug out and began yelling at a smirking Rodriguez. At the time, most of the fans and announcers were unsure of the hostility shown by the departing pitcher.
Only during a post-game interview would it be clear why Braden was upset with Rodriguez.
“The Yankees are an extremely classy organization with guys who always tend to do the right thing every time; it’s kind of disheartening to see that not show through or be reflected by somebody of (Rodriguez’s) status,” Braden said after the game.
“He’s a tremendous player and a tremendous talent, and I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on a roster; if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m out there on that mound, that’s not your mound. You want to run across the mound? Go run laps in the bullpen. That’s my mound,” Braden added.
“We’re not the doormat (Athletics) anymore. Maybe it doesn’t come across his mind to do that to the Oakland A’s, but maybe it does enter his mind to not do it against the Boston Red Sox or to not do it against another team. It didn’t even enter his mind, so I aided him with that,” he concluded.
“I didn’t know he was talking to me, to be honest with you,” Rodriguez said.
“I thought it was pretty funny, actually. He told me to get off his mound, I didn’t know what he was talking about. I thought it was kind of funny, actually. I had never quite heard that before, especially from a guy who has a handful of wins in his career,” he added.
Braden warned there would be “repercussions” during the next meeting between the Yankees and Athletics beginning July 5.
The baseball media enjoyed the sound bites for a few days, but as most stories that involve verbal altercations go, it quickly lost steam as the A’s were not deemed a suitable foe for the Yanks.
Had the on-field altercation taken place between the Red Sox and Yankees, you can bet this would have been a running theme for the 2010 American League season.
Unable to control himself until a post fourth of July firework show, Braden once again spouted off this week with his displeasure for Rodriguez.
“There are things that are going to have to happen,” Braden told CSN Bay Area on Wednesday.
“Out of respect to my teammates, out of respect to the game. I think he’s probably garnered a new respect for the unwritten rules and the people who hold them close to their game. But I think you’re right, we don’t do much talking in the 209,” he said.
“I was always told if you give a fool enough rope, he’ll hang himself, and with those comments, he had all the rope he needed. I didn’t know there was a criteria in order to compete against A-Rod.”
Rodriguez also is a selfish player, Braden added.
“He’s an individualistic player,” Braden told CSN Bay Area. “He plays for the name on the back of the jersey, not the front. I don’t know if he’s noticed, but he doesn’t have a name on the back over there so he should play for the name on the front.”
Rodriguez attempted to refrain from answering more questions regarding Braden’s recent rant, but he was unable to completely hold back and offered a few jabs of his own.
“I think Major League Baseball reads the same articles as we do,” Rodriguez said. “Now, look, I really don’t want to extend his extra 15 minutes of fame.”
“Look, it is tempting to sit back here and go back and forth with the media for the next three months, but I’m not going to do that,” he concluded.
Like good teammates should, other Yankees stepped up to the plate in Rodriguez’s defense.
“He’s a clown,” CC Sabathia said of Braden. “Guy says he’s from the 209, what the [bleep] is that? That’s where I’m from and I don’t know what he’s talking about. Two-oh-nine. He needs to just calm down—put that in the paper. That’s just tired.”
“I don’t know why he keeps bringing it up,” said Derek Jeter . “Go ask him, because I have no idea why he’s talking about it again.”
“Braden is wrong and Alex is right,” said general manager Brian Cashman . “The more Dallas talks about it, the sillier he looks.”
In most circumstances it is understandable for a GM to defend his players, but for Cashman to say “Alex is right” is a misinformed statement.
Let’s say Mr. Yankee, Derek Jeter had been the one to cut across the pitcher’s mound on his way back to first base. I guarantee he would not have received the same ire from Braden. The pitcher may have given No. 2 a noticeable glance, but he would have never caused the scene that followed during or after the game.
Based off Jeter’s reputation as a good guy, his action would have been viewed as the exception rather than the rule.
However in Rodriguez’s case, this isn’t the first time he has disgraced the game of baseball or it’s written and unwritten code.
The definition of “bush league.”
In 2004, “Umpires called Yankees star Alex Rodriguez out for interference after he swatted Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove while running out a grounder in game six of the AL Championship Series. If allowed to stand, the play would have meant the Yankees had cut the Red Sox lead to 4-3 with one out in the eighth inning and A-Rod on second base,” according to the USA Today .
During a May, 2007 game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Rodriguez was running past third baseman Howie Clark during a routine infield pop-up and called out “mine!” as he was preparing to make the catch. The distraction caused Clark to bobble the ball and was once again viewed as a “bush league” play by A-Rod.
In February of 2009, Rodriguez finally came clean and admitted to using Performance Enhancing Drugs during his time with the Texas Rangers.
Those were just a few of the incidents with Rodriguez over the years, not to mention the divorce from his wife for allegedly having repeated extra-marital affairs.
Give Braden props for finally saying what many fans and other players around the league have wanted to say for years. He was able to take advantage of his fifteen minutes of fame to blast someone who has little respect for the game of baseball.
Even pitchers who did not pitch at the major league level have an opinion on the matter.
“To be perfectly honest, if I were pitching and a hitter ran over the mound after a foul ball, I would have thrown at him next at bat. That’s how I would have handled it,” said former Butler Bulldogs pitcher Jon Dages.
Perhaps the latest rant by Braden was to get back in the newspapers before the early July series against the Yankees, but I at least found it mildly entertaining.
I haven’t seen a rant like this in Oakland since Thomas Bruso or better known to the viral community “Epic Beard Man.”
Now if we could just get Braden to use some of those “Tommy Slick” quotes before the next Yankees/Athletics showdown, we will have a highly anticipated series:
“All this attention is a little overwhelming, I was just doing whats right”
“It’s better to be pissed off than pissed on!”
“You better be pissed off, cuz you ain’t scared of this white boy.”
“Those brothers tried to rob me three times already in Oakland”
“I was happy to ride in the front of the squad car, rather than the back!”
Braden is a talented pitcher that is just now entering his prime with the A’s. Last year he posted an acceptable 3.89 ERA, but with low win totals playing in Oakland.
Braden is one of those fun pitchers to watch because he has the ability to throw a complete game shutout and you never know what he will do or say in the process.
If Braden were playing on a big market team, he would be the promotional fan package to fans on every fifth day. As it stands now, his sound bytes far exceed his MLB resume.
For his sake and the sake of argument, let’s hope this man puts together some great outings before July 5th to make the Oakland and New York series that much more intriguing.
Plus, Braden has the potential to be a great pitcher and an Ozzie Guillen type sound byte.
And watching Alex Rodriguez put his foot in his mouth again wouldn’t be such a crying shame either.
