In addition to starting a triple play last week A-Rod added Dallas Branden to his
ever growing fan club.
from Dom's Dugout
Controversy Finds A-Rod
Alex Rodriguez's latest controversy came from an old source: running afoul of unwritten baseball codes. A's pitcher Dallas Braden, who was pitching a gem and feeling good about himself, called out Rodriguez for crossing the diamond and stepping over the mound while returning to first after a foul ball.
Rodriguez said he had never heard of that being out of line; that's probably because nobody ever does it.
Rodriguez's most famous faux pas include trying to slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove in the ALCS, and yelling as Toronto infielders settled under a popup in 2007. In those cases he was clearly out of line.
In Joe Torre's book, Rodriguez was chided for putting his hands together and measuring off the outfielders from second base, as if to show the whole stadium how smart he is. In this latest incident, A-Rod did something he often does — which also annoys other players — he overran a foul ball so the whole stadium could see what a hustler he is and watch him run back.
However, many of these things are overblown, petty grievances, more a case of A-Rod being hokey than arrogant, and occasionally it should be noted that not every player who calls Rodriguez out is right, nor is Rodriguez automatically wrong.
Rodriguez's response was actually sound. Braden hasn't been in the big leagues long enough or done enough to call out a veteran. Braden's act, too, could be considered grandstanding, piling on an easy target to get attention for himself. He should leave it to the Josh Becketts, CC Sabathias and Roy Halladays to say "stay off my mound."
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