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In front of dozens of Oakland Athletics fans at the Coliseum, Dallas Braden threw the 19th perfect game in MLB history and second in team history Sunday.

Afterward, Braden was a little annoyed when his teammates ran across the mound to celebrate with him. He attempted to put a velvet rope around the mound before celebrating but was unable to stop his teammates from getting through.

“Stay the f$%k off my mound!” Braden yelled. “Go around and come hug me.”

Thankfully, Braden was able to put his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, in a hold before she was able to step on the mound, avoiding what could have been a disaster.

“I’m glad I was able to bear-hug her before she stepped on my mound,” Braden said. “I’m not sure I would have been able to forgive her if she did that. Things could have gotten ugly.”

Athletics catcher Kurt Suzuki refuses to even step on the dirt when coming to talk to Braden.

“The last time I did that…well, let’s just say this may or may not have been from Braden spearing me,” Suzuki said, motioning to the bandages around his midsection while sitting in front of his locker.

Suzuki has missed the last two weeks with a “ribcage strain.”

Braden is pushing for any mound he pitches from to be removed after each inning he pitches. This would make it so opposing pitchers, catchers, and managers couldn’t step on the mound he was pitching from.

“It’s my mound, dammit,” Braden said. “No one else’s; mine, mine, mine.”

Braden has refused to allow the mound from his perfect game to be sent to Cooperstown to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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We knew Dallas Braden was good. We knew he was tough. We knew he had a bit of fight in him. But just how good he could be was simply astonishing. Who knew he could be perfect?

27 up, and 27 down.

On a perfect Mother’s Day, you really couldn’t ask for more. Sure Braden got some really good help from Kevin Kouzmanoff, and the rest of the Oakland A’s defense, but as Dallas said after the A-Rod debacle “I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or if I’m the 25th man on the roster, if I’ve got that ball in my hand and I’m out there on that mound, that’s not your mound. If you want to run across the mound, go run laps in the bullpen. That’s my mound.”

It certainly was his mound Sunday. As if every pink bat, arm band, and ribbon fired him up; Braden retired batter after batter with spot-on location on each and every throw. Dallas, for the day, was simply un-hittable.

The team refused to let him down too. Kevin Kouzmanoff made several great plays: he snagged a slicer at the third-base line, followed a foul ball into the dugout, and hit a splitting Daric Barton on first after scooping up an exceptionally tough grounder.

Barton would also quickly glove a potential hit in the ninth.  Rajai Davis, Ryan Sweeney, and Eric Patterson devoured everything that came their way in the out field. Cliff Pennington and Adam Rosales walled off the middle infield. And, of course, catcher Landon Powell called an exceptional game.

A whopping 12,228 fans showed up to witness the historic Mother’s Day marvel.

I sense more fan attendance in the A’s future, especially when Braden pitches. I sense jersey sales increasing. I sense a contract extension for a future franchise player.

This guy’s for real, and these A’s are for real.

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OAKLAND, Calif. Sometimes, things have a way of working out perfectly.

The often-overlooked Oakland Athletics took on the Tampa Bay Rays, the team with the best record in baseball, in the rubber match of the three-game series. Dallas Braden was Oakland’s starting pitcher, it was Mother’s Day, it was the first game of the Dallas Braden 209 promotion, and Braden’s grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, sat in attendance along with 30 of his closest childhood friends.

As if it was not by chance, but by fate, Dallas Braden threw the 19th perfect game in MLB history in the A’s 4-0 victory over the Rays.

“It’s pretty special. I don’t really know what to think of it yet. It’s still very fresh to me,” Braden said. “It’s some very select company and also if you look at those guys, the body of work that those other 18 individuals put together is something I probably would like to have—a little more than just this one day. There’s definitely more to do.”

(continue)

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In “The 209” they call that pitchin’.

The days leading up to Oakland A’s pitcher Dallas Braden’s perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday—the 19th in MLB history and the first for Oakland since Catfish’s 42 years ago—sure had its fair share of talkin’.

The New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez said he didn’t want to extend Braden’s “15 minutes” after continued questions and jawing about the controversy regarding the two players’ baseball etiquette dust-up (mound dirt-up?) last month.

ESPN columnist J.A. Adande essentially called him a nobody on the World Wide Leader’s flagship yammering sports columnist show, “Pardon The Interruption.”

In his interview with Comcast Sports Bay Area’s Mychael Urban four days ago, which re-ignited the A-Rod controversy, Braden said, “We don’t do much talking in the 209.”

Well, today the 26-year-old Stockton native indeed did some walkin’. The best team in baseball, meanwhile, did no walkin’ or hittin’ whatsoever.

In a scenario that would be sappier than a Sandra Bullock movie if it were indeed scripted, Braden accomplished that rarest of baseball feats in front of his grandmother and other family and friends, who were, of course, sitting in Section 209.

The same grandmother who raised Braden after Braden’s mother died of skin cancer while he was still in high school.

Major League Baseball annually raises awareness and money for breast cancer.

Oh yeah, it was also Mother’s Day.

Is it getting dusty yet?

When such moments happen in sports—in real life—they are transcendent. For all those athletes who either disappoint us on the field, or worse, off of it (*cough*Lawrence Taylor*cough*), a story like Braden’s come along to redeem your faith in the enterprise of being a fan.

Hell, maybe it even redeems your faith in humanity and its ability to not only endure, but prevail.

You sit through all those days at the ballpark or arena, watching a disheartening product on the field or court (and, trust me, the A’s have had many of those days the last few years), waiting for a day just like today, one that so overpowers your heart that the long, numbing days you put in to get to that moment fade away and become a distant, irrelevant memory. 

Even putting aside the compelling emotional element of Braden’s accomplishment, his perfecto couldn’t come at a better time. It might be the most important moment for the Oakland Athletics in the Billy Beane Era, bigger even than the record 20-game winning streak in 2002.

A dramatic, top-of-the fold baseball story is just what the Oakland ballclub needs right now. Attendance has petered out to pathetic lows (12,228 was the announced attendance for what would was a lovely day to take mom to the ballpark and, without knowing it, watch history unfold before your eyes).

The A’s are overshadowed by the more successful team across the Bay and winning playoff puck in San Jose. Speaking of San Jose, the Silicon Valley, a Web 2.0 cash-flush suitor, is getting ready to swipe the local professional baseball team away from working-class Oakland, and ownership appears more than happy to give it to them.

In a way, Braden’s comments, perhaps provoked by headline-hungry media, have been valuable in bringing back the rivalry the Yankees and Athletics began to enjoy early last decade. As the A’s playoff appearances dwindled in the latter part of the decade, it was left to teams like the Minnesota Twins and those very same Rays to be the standard bearers for small-market baseball.

Today, though, Braden won another one for the little guy. Maybe, just maybe, that’s enough to develop some momentum that will somehow keep the team in Oakland. Even if that’s a Bay Bridge too far, Braden gave the 510 a late, great memory to take away, courtesy of the 209.

The 12,228 fans at the Coliseum and countless more watching and listening to the game at home can tell their children and grandchildren about the one Mother’s Day when they saw Dallas Braden shut up, put up and simply be perfect. Stockton’s young Dallas showed his arm was equal to the task of his mouth.

27 pinks bats came up. 27 pink bats went down.

Wouldn’t mama be proud?

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Mothers Day was truly happy for A’s SP Dallas Braden.  In his seventh start of the season Braden threw an impressive Perfect Game. What makes his Perfect Game even more spectacular was that he threw it against one of the best hitting teams in the MLB, the Tampa Bay Rays.

In the game against the Rays, Braden completely shut them down. He retired all 27 batters very quickly and rarely had any threats to stopping his perfect game. The only out that was close to a hit was Jason Bartlett’s liner that started the game off for the Rays. Braden than completely closed the door on the game and finished off with six strikeouts and 77 strikes, throughout the game. To end the game, Rays OF Gabe Kapler grounded out to SS Cliff Pennington.

For Braden, this game meant more to him than the Perfect Game he is now known for. Braden was more joyous for the fact that he threw the Perfect Game on Mothers Day. Braden threw this game in honor of his late mother, Jodie Atwood, who died of Cancer when Braden was a high school senior. Jodie Atwood was also the person who Braden pointed up to the sky for, after the game.  

This was also a great family moment for Braden because his grandmother was on-hand to celebrate and watch her grandson throw perfection. His grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, was the woman who raised Braden after his mothers passing away and always has been there to help Braden throughout his life. She was also the first person who Braden looked for after celebrating the historic feat with his teammates.

Before he threw the Perfect Game, Braden was not too well known among baseball fans, but was known for the incident between himself and Alex Rodriguez. On April 22nd, Braden and Rodriguez got into a heated argument when Rodriguez cut across the mound, to get back to first base after making it to third base on the play before. Braden and Rodriguez then went at each other by screaming and Braden eventually got his temper back together and finished off the game with a 4-2 win.

To Read the Whole Article & The writers other works, Visit: The Sports Dish (http://www.thesportsdish.com )

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Written by Max Lush and Hunter McDowell

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.

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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.

Take that, A-Rod!

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