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.
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.
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