Braden Scores Perfect A

It’s funny how baseball keeps producing stories with a Hollywood like quality. Dallas Braden a left handed pitcher for the Oakland A’s woke up on Sunday as a slightly obscure but entertaining young man who came to national prominence not for his pitching but his confrontation of Alex Rodriguez after the Yankee star ran across his mound in a recent game at the Oakland Coliseum. Braden went to bed last night as the first Athletic since ‘Catfish’ Hunter in 1968 to throw a perfect game.

Flashback to the A’s game with the Yankees the day that Braden chewed out A-Rod and the signs of something good are all over the game. In six illness ridden innings he held the sports best offense to two solo home runs and displayed all the competitiveness and toughness often shown by his opponent that day, Cy Young winner CC Sabathia. Against the Yankees he could only throw eighty one pitches and had to take an IV shot after the game to counter the sickness that had put him on an inning-to-inning basis. After that victory why would Braden be concerned about facing any team, especially an AL East power like the Rays who, by the way, wouldn’t run across the mound.

Few people outside of Stockton, California really knew who Dallas Braden was before this year; even those in Oakland seemed somewhat dismissive of him. After all he’s a 24th round draft pick, yes round 24 not 24th overall, from Texas Tech whose fastball struggles to reach 89 miles per hour. To the people of Stockton however he is the star of this team. If you doubt this watch the game footage and look at the shots of section 209, the Stockton area code. It was packed more than any other section of the Coliseum with people wanting to watch Braden, a native who has never left his roots behind. Even at the completion of his historic feat he was more concerned with representing his city than hugging team mates; it was a desperate fight through grinning guys in green to point at section 209.

One person from Stockton watching the game was more important than any other to the 26 year old pitcher. Peggy Lindsey is the lady who has looked after Braden since his mother, Jodie Atwood, died of Melanoma whilst Dallas was still a senior in High School. All the more fitting then that the nineteenth perfect game in major league history should happen on Mother’s Day. After the final groundout Braden pointed to the sky and shared an emotional embrace with his grandmothers in front of the Athletics dugout. It was an intensely personal moment in the middle of a world wide event that should remind everybody of the beautifully human element that only sports can genuinely deliver.

On a larger scale the Oakland Athletics finally have something to show for the Billy Beane rebuilding job as he the franchise tries to become competitive again. Of the players the GM has bought in to turn the A’s around Braden is not the one who should have thrown a perfect game. Having spent an uncharacteristic amount of money on Ben Sheets as a free agent and groomed Brett Anderson the last two years to be his ace the Athletics are beginning to look stacked on the mound, especially with Justin Duchscherer on the disabled list and closer Andrew Bailey there is suddenly an abundance of pitching talent in the Bay area that has the ability to make this franchise very, very good. Braden was not expected to be the brightest to burn but this could be the event that makes Oakland significant again.

There was one perfect game in 2009 and now we have one in 2010 and both were great events to see for almost everyone in baseball, except the Tampa Bay Rays. This was the third time in their history Tampa Bay has been no-hit and the second time in two seasons after Mark Buehrle did it in Chicago last year. Most surprising is that both the 2009 and 2010 Rays are and were outstanding offensive clubs, this is not the floundering Devil Rays of pre-2008, this is a new breed of elite hitters who rank third overall and second in the AL in runs scored. So why has it happened to this team twice in twelve months? Because Dallas Braden and Mark Beuhrle each possess a fastball that tops out in the high 80’s and work on guile and deception. Tampa Bay is conditioned on the power pitchers of the AL East, the Josh Beckett’s and CC Sabathia’s of this world who have an extra 10 mph on their heaters. Both Beuhrle and Braden struck out 6 batters, not the kind of number you’d expect from a no-hitter, but one that tells the story of the guy they faced. Because of the drop in speed the Rays were unable to adjust their approach for the single game and were swinging early at almost everything they saw, inducing more groundouts and leaving the perfecto as much in the defences hands as the pitchers. It is not surprising that the iconic final out of both games were grounders to shortstop for the simple 6-3 force.

Regardless of how Dallas Braden’s 2010 season turns out, and that might yet include a impromptu boxing match with A-Rod, he has firmly cemented himself a place in Oakland A’s history. He has done it with the kind of personality and character distinctly lacking on the big teams from the east that he repeatedly upsets. He is regarded as a unique individual in the organisation, displaying the intangibles not often displayed by major leaguers, especially ones in only their fourth major league season. He will undoubtedly continue ruffling the glamorous feathers of the other American League birds that land in his coup at the Coliseum this year and will be the abrasive kind of guy that television networks love. For Oakland he will simply be the blue collar guy playing green collar baseball, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Building for Yesterday and Tomorrow

What began as a team built to win now has quickly become one built to win yesterday and tomorrow, just not today. While dinosaurs like Troy Glaus and Chipper Jones (yes a Chiposauraus) have ensured the middle of the line-up has exactly zero production something strange has been happening elsewhere; the Braves have got younger and better. Over the first 6 weeks of the season there have been four young men making debuts, to make that even better is the fact that 3 of those actually project to be long term members of the team. It is very difficult to have any discussion about the new breed of baby Braves without starting by talking about the Kid, Jason Heyward.

Nothing in my limited lexicon can explain the impact that the 20 year-old from Henry County has had not just on this team but on the city of Atlanta. Watching Opening Day at the usually cavernous Turner Field was an experience usually reserved for cities like New York and Boston, the Ted was filled by a loud crowd filled with hope and expectation. And Heyward delivered. Since his first major league swing demolished a Carlos Zambrano fastball J-Hey has kept delivering for a team that so far hasn't delivered. As well as his raw talent he has shown an incredible ability to adjust to the highest level of competition. In his last ten games he has improved his batting average from .234 to .291; he has also hit 4 homers in that same period. Without any doubt Heyward is the present and future of this Atlanta team desperately in search of an identity.

Heyward will need some help to fashion this new Braves ball era and there is plenty coming through the organisation. As has become the Braves trademark the majority of their young talent sits on the mound and not at the plate. The most talented of this year’s debutants is highly touted reliever Craig Kimbrel. The flame thrower out of Huntsville, Alabama has been described as many things, most impressively “the right handed Billy Wagner”. With a fastball that sits in the mid to upper 90’s he has the kind of stuff that gives hitters fits and has done so in his 1.1 innings so far this season. Beyond his ability Kimbrel has the attitude to be successful for many years at the major league level. Backed by his heater and despite his somewhat diminutive stature he has shown an ability to be aggressive to even the best hitters. Hopefully he can spend the 2010 season shadowing the veteran Virginian, Wagner, and learn how elite closers get to be elite.

Kimbrel was preceded in the Atlanta bullpen by 25-year-old rookie Jonny Venters who joined the Braves ‘pen as the final nail in Jo-Jo Reyes’ major league career, and quickly showed he was a much sharper nail. So far he has completed 11 innings in eight games and compiled a 1.69 ERA and looked every bit a big leaguer. Regardless of whether or not Kimbrel becomes a dominant closer he will be no use if the team can’t get him leads and that will increasingly become Venters job. He kind of came out of nowhere but has now become a central piece of the over burdened relief corps and been as quietly effective as anyone could have imagined.

The least heralded and least used of the debutants so far has been shortstop Brandon Hicks. A gold glove in waiting Hicks has never really adjusted to the wood bats of pro ball having hit just .179 at triple-A Gwinnett this year. Hicks is the least likely to succeed especially given the relative solidity of Yunel Escobar as the Braves long term short, but that doesn’t mean he should be counted out. There is always the possibility that Hicks is just one adjustment away from being a solid hitter but projects much better as a career pinch runner. Although we do keep playing Brooks Conrad so anything is possible.

When you add the likes of Heyward and Kimbrel to the young players who made their debuts last year we suddenly have a core of all-star potential players. Those from last year include Cy Young in waiting Tommy Hanson, who has already confirmed himself as the Braves staff ace, and future starter Kris Medlen. The two Californians have shown the ability to be true quality pitchers, despite Medlen working primarily as a reliever for his first two big league years. However with the over-priced Kenshin Kawakami’s contract finally ending at the end of the year the Braves will have a spot free in the rotation and, in my opinion, the team is better off inserting Medlen as the fifth starter and spending the KK money on a genuine hitter. The world has seen what Phil Hughes has achieved for the New York Yankees this year with the prior knowledge that he would be a starter and, even if he is not as talented, Medlen could be equally as effective with the correct preparation. While Tommy hasn’t been great this year he has still compiled a 2.83 ERA while struggling to find the consistency he displayed last year. Hanson is much more than simple statistics, there are times watching Hanson when he just over matches professional hitters, his curveball has an embarrassment inducing quality that only elite pitchers possess. My praise for Hanson and Medlen is without once mentioning that last year’s standout Jair Jurrjens is himself only 24 and has just as much chance as Hanson to win a Cy. The most successful years in the organisations history was behind three great pitchers, the question is are these three great?

It is also worth remembering two of the Braves best current players are both 26-years-old. Second Baseman Martin Prado and Catcher Brian McCann should be solid .300 hitters for at least the next five years or so. The good news for all Braves fans is that Atlanta seem to have loaded up for years of success in the near future, the bad news is it is not near enough for 2010, sorry Bobby.

The Usual Suspects?

The SEC is annually the strongest conference in college baseball and 2010 is proving to be no different. Just when there seemed to be some separation last week the waters became more muddied this past weekend with almost every series being a big one. With various RPI and polls there are only two irrelevant teams left in the conference in the two Bulldogs of Georgia and Mississippi State, who could have predicted those two schools would be the also ran’s? Most people seem to think that the SEC will get 9 schools to regional’s this year, that’s one more than will compete in the conference tournament at the end of the month. With Hoover so close I wanted to try and break down who will go and who might win.

Fourteen days ago the obvious choice was the LSU Tigers, the defending national champions who are loaded with Juniors and Seniors who have done all this before. Players like Matt Gaudet, Blake Dean and Micah Gibbs carried the team in hitting while the pitching staff, including top 5 draft prospect Anthony Ranaudo, were projecting to at least compete with Texas to be the best in the country. The last two weeks has seen that all unravel with the Bayou Bengals dropping seven in a row and being swept in two consecutive SEC series. The first to Ole Miss was seen more as a blip than a problem, all good teams lose series and Oxford is a very difficult place to go in any sport but being swept by Florida in Gainesville this weekend has really set the alarm bells ringing for Paul Manieri’s side. What has let the Tigers down is the pitching that they had so much faith in and especially their ace Ranaudo. After sitting the first month of the season with a stress reaction in his shoulder he was expected to come back and carry this team to their second consecutive national title, instead in his seven games back he has gone 2-2 with a 7.30 ERA. More worrying than that have been his performances in big games, first in one of the most hyped NCAA pitching match-ups in recent memory Ranaudo faced Ole Miss stud Drew Pomeranz on national television and got lit up lasting only 1.2 innings and giving up 9 runs on 9 hits. One week later trying to right the ship against the Gators he went only 2 innings giving up 4 runs on 6 hits. I honestly don’t think this team is good enough to win the SEC this year for the simple fact they have no clutch pitching behind Matty Ott (who himself got lit up Sunday) and Georgia has proven this year you don’t win much without pitching.

So if not LSU who? Friday I would have said without hesitation Arkansas was not only the best team in the conference but in the country. They were riding the hot hand pitcher on Fridays in Drew Smyly and have the most explosive offensive many of who have experience of the College World Series last year. Auburn, a really strong team themselves, made all those things look very difficult to justify this weekend. The Razorbacks headed home looking to bounce back after last weekend’s 2-1 series loss to Florida and promptly dropped two games again, even being out-slugged by a powerful Tiger team in the rubber match Sunday. I still think the Hogs are the strongest team in the SEC but they really need a good run down the stretch to get the crucial national seed. If they slip up the team most likely to take advantage are the Ole Miss Rebels who have been quietly taking care of business this year. In Drew Pomeranz they have a pitcher that Keith Law of ESPN thinks is a top 5 draft pick and are beginning to build consistency hitting the ball, their 10 game winning streak reflects this. The winner of this weekend’s series in Oxford could very well have the inside track to winning the SEC West and securing a national seed, but it has far more short-term implications. Friday night could decide who the best pitcher in the West is, Pomeranz or fellow Drew Smyly, and the rest of the weekend will be all about who swings the bats best. The winners of this series I predict will win the College World Series in Omaha, but not the SEC championship.

The two favourites right now have to be the leading teams in the East, those being Florida and the incredibly impressive Gamecocks of South Carolina. These two don’t have the super stud pitching possessed by teams in the West by they both have very solid rotations with USC posting the second best mark in the conference at 3.64 and Florida fourth best with a 4.06 ERA. What is key to the offenses is not their explosiveness, like the Razorbacks, but their timeliness and clutch hitting. With the combined pitching and timely hit the Eastern powers have put together SEC best records of 16-5 and 15-6 respectively, best of all they face each other in the final series of the regular season in Columbia, a series shaping up to be a three game play-off for the SEC regular season crown. If they continue to take care of business in the conference tournament it could be a dress rehearsal for the championship game at the end of the month.