We thought the war of words from Dallas Braden and Alex Rodriguez was a one-time deal. It took a place when that game at Oakland in a few weeks ago ended.
The day after that game, the Yankees carried it on by ripping Braden. Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and CC Sabathia called Braden out for being a whiner and a journeyman.
That inspired Braden to call out Rodriguez in an interview on CSN California.com last Thursday.
Rodriguez and Sabathia kept it going by insulting Braden for doing nothing in the majors. Rodriguez talked about not prolonging Braden’s 15 minutes of fame while Sabathia called him stupid basically.
Braden responded by throwing a perfect game Sunday afternoon against the Rays. It was the biggest moment of his career. This was in honor of his late mother on Mother’s Day.
Several Yankees privately mocked Braden for his accomplishment. Most of the Yankees that spoke was disingenuous at best.
Meanwhile, Braden’s grandmother told Rodriguez to go stick it.
From what we learned out of this, it’s stupid to see both parties carry on.
It’s easy to go rip Braden. He deserves it. He shouldn’t have talked the second time around, and he was better off taking care of matters the next time he faced Rodriguez instead of rambling on.
With that said, let’s not make the Yankees look professional in this. They’re not.
It’s funny people use the Yankees for being the voice of reason. How are they any different as Braden? Why is it okay for the Yankees to mouth off while Braden needs to keep his mouth shut?
The double standard is amusing, yet pathetic.
The Yankees are a veteran team. Their players don’t need to respond to a young player losing his self-control. They should be laughing at him privately.
There’s no need to worry about him. That team has other issues to worry about. They can start by praying there’s no more injuries. They also have to hope the Rays don’t continue to win every series.
The A’s are not going to be a factor this season. They will finish the season in last place.
This comes down to the Yankees displaying arrogance. They need to show people that they are above anyone else, and they can talk whenever they want being the World Series champions they are.
This team rubbed this critc the wrong way going back to last year. They whine about everything whether it’s getting hit by pitch or someone demeaning them. It starts with their manager, and it rubs off on every player.
It’s hard to believe Girardi meant well when he praised Braden. It came off disingenuous. From listening to him talk about it to the media, it sounded forced at best.
He did not seem comfortable talking about it. He should have spared people, and not even comment.
This is a manager that did not even bother watching the game. He was watching the Celtics play the Cavaliers at the time that game was on.
Girardi likes to talk about how he has no hard feelings. That’s brunch of crock.
This know-it-all manager acts like he invents the game. He takes things too personally. He voices his opinion about what the other teams should do. He creates feuds with other managers.
This is a guy that talks about protecting his team. He believes in taking care of unfinished business if some player plays the game dirty.
Girardi thought Teixeira knocking down Bobby Wilson was a good thing. This was in response to his hitter being plunked by Ervin Santana few weeks ago.
He should stop making all of us laugh when he says there’s no hard feelings, especially when a manager likes to use bulletin board material to get his team fired up.
Rodriguez continues to not keep his mouth shut. He took a shot at Braden again on Sunday. He mentioned how a player should be recognized for what he did on the field.
Why the Yankees star brought that statement up? We rip Braden for carrying on, but Rodriguez comes off as a chump.
It wasn’t just Rodriguez and Girardi that look bad. A.J. Burnett’s comments about Braden’s grandmother being on the mound came off petty at best.
An unnamed Yankee mocked Braden about good things happening to good people. It’s a good bet that Sabathia was the unnamed Yankee. That’s a guy that loves the sound of his voice.
Based on reading how the Yankees conducted themselves in the paper, they’re no better than Braden.
It’s funny the Mike Vaccaroes of the world pontificate Braden for being a nuisance, yet he paints the Yankees in a different light.
Then again, the press corps here tend to admire the Yankees. It shouldn’t be surprising to see Yankee propaganda in our dallies during the baseball season.
For this gentlemen, he is tired and fed up with this.
It would be nice if a sportswriter actually had the courage to call out the Yankees for this.
After all, they are being paid to be objective not to be cheerleaders.
The Yankees are a great ballclub that use their money well to buy players. Give them credit for that.
Just don’t say that team approach themselves in a professional manner.
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