Who's the bigger baby Dallas Braden or A-rod

[nolemmings]

Braden may have overreacted in today's kinder gentler game, but I gotta believe had Arod done that with Nolan Ryan on the mound, Ryan would have plucked him right at first base on a pickoff and maybe again next AB. Drysdale would have tackled ARod before he made it back to first, and I don't want to think of what Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal would have done.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Braden may have overreacted in today's kinder gentler game, but I gotta believe had Arod done that with Nolan Ryan on the mound, Ryan would have plucked him right at first base on a pickoff and maybe again next AB. Drysdale would have tackled ARod before he made it back to first, and I don't want to think of what Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal would have done.

You are probably right, but that would be the only thing Braden has in common with any of the above mentioned.

[dani0100]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Braden may have overreacted in today's kinder gentler game, but I gotta believe had Arod done that with Nolan Ryan on the mound, Ryan would have plucked him right at first base on a pickoff and maybe again next AB. Drysdale would have tackled ARod before he made it back to first, and I don't want to think of what Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal would have done.

This assumes that Ryan, Drysdale, or Gibson would have cared that a baserunner touched two inches of the pitching mounds on their way back to first base. I have not heard a single baseball person supporting Braden's contention that it's some kind of unwritten rule of baseball that you don't touch the mound. I've certainly never heard that, and when the likes of Joe Girardi and Derek Jeter have never heard of it either, I'm inclined to say that this is one of those strange things that a young person has picked up from some localized place and then amplified in his head to be a universal rule that everybody knows.

Bottom line: A-Rod is right in this case until you find a person who's got more baseball experience than Joe Girardi and has heard of this crazy notion that Braden has state is an unwritten rule of baseball.

[nolemmings]

Maybe you have not, but I have. Even throwing in little league 40 years ago, we were told never to run over the mound. And remember, those aforementioned pitchers would toss the ball at your head just for digging in the box or, in some cases, trying to bunt on them. Thinking you were strutting on their turf, um, no, I don't think so.

[nolemmings]

Former Mets pitcher and current analyst Ron Darling said "absolutely hitters are not supposed to run over the mound, you stay off it," and that the mound is "the pitcher's place."

But Darling seemed to indicate the fraternization of the game now made Braden's outburst somewhat inconsistent.

"The game's changed," Darling said. "These guys are hugging and kissing each other before the game, they share the same agents, everyone's so happy. It's the country club fraternity of baseball now. They've decided to make this a genteel game. For A-Rod not to know that that's inappropriate, though ... everyone knows that. It's just that all these lines have been blurred. It's a country club game."

Braden said it was part of how he was brought up in the game.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, as old school as managers come, told AOLFanhouse that "a lot of guys" in the game don't know about the stay-off-the-mound code and was in Braden's corner.

"He's been taught right," La Russa said, according to Fanhouse.

Former catcher and FOX analyst Tim McCarver recalled Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, a legendary intimidator, and his viewpoint on hitters coming near the mound, which Gibson called his "office."

"You never come into my office unless you're invited," McCarver said. "And you'll never be invited."

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/04/25...#ixzz0m5MZ9HwN

I suspect others will chime in as well.

[nolemmings]

Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton, now an Atlanta Braves announcer, took Braden's side Friday.

"No, you don't do it. It's like stealing a base when you're ahead by nine runs in the eighth inning," Sutton said in New York. "It's just common sense and common courtesy. If Bob Gibson or Don Drysdale had been on the mound, it would've been over in 15 seconds."

Braves right-hander Tim Hudson (FSY) said it's not an unwritten rule, just something you know not to do.

"It'd be like going in the other team's dugout," he said. "You have to respect that it's the pitcher's place."

from http://content.usatoday.net/dist/cus...38311656.story

[nolemmings]

[QUOTE]"A-Rod is full of [bleep], that he never heard of that," Wells told The Post from San Diego yesterday. "He has been around the game long enough to know that."
...
Wells watched Braden snap at Rodriguez, was aware what the lefty said after the game and agreed with Braden.

"I hated it when runners did that. I yelled at plenty of them," Wells said. "It's one thing to cross in the front of the mound before it goes up, but on top of it, that's wrong. The cleats [mess] up the mound. Pitchers don't go in front of fielders and put their spikes in the dirt.

"I totally agree [with Braden] 'Get off my mound.' I would have done the same thing with A-Rod, or anybody else. [Bleep] it."
...
Wells said he would even call out Jeter, but explained there is a difference between what somebody like Jeter or Bernie Williams would hear than what would pierce Rodriguez's ears.

"I would yell at Jeter. There are certain guys you would mother [bleep] and certain guys you would give a little more courtesy to, guys like Jeter and Bernie. A-Rod is not a well-liked guy," Wells said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yanke...#ixzz0m5V1wvR7

[D. Bergin]

I'm a Yankee fan but I've got to side with Braden on this..........especially with what A-Rod said about Braden afterwards.

A-Rod doesn't get to disrespect him just because he's not a superstar.

Roger Clemens might have stabbed him with a broken bat.