The whole thing started when Rodriguez went from first to third on a foul ball by Robinson Cano. On his way back to first, Rodriguez ran across the pitcher’s mound, which Braden saw as a sign of disrespect.
“I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on the roster, if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m on that mound, that’s my mound,” Braden said. “… He ran across the pitcher’s mound foot on my rubber. No, not happening. We’re not the door mat anymore.”
Rodriguez said he had never heard the unwritten rule that a player shouldn’t run across the mound. When Braden started yelling at him, Rodriguez didn’t know what it was about. “I thought it was pretty funny, actually,” Rodriguez said.
– Chad Jennings, LoHud Yankees Blog.
Probably worth checking out the video of the incident. Dallas Braden really loses it. Dude freaks out.
For the most part, I think the unwritten rules of baseball are dumb. If it absolutely needs to be a rule, write it down, and don’t get all bent out of shape if a guy bunts to break up a no-hitter or whatever. As far as I’m concerned — and I know Leo Durocher is with me on this one — a baseball player should do everything he can to win, letting sportsmanship and respect and all the vague and illusory ethics of the game fall to the wayside. Sure, it wasn’t particularly nice of A-Rod to yell, “Ha!” in Toronto, but it worked, and so good for him.
In this particular instance, though, I kind of understand where Braden is coming from. Granted, he probably overreacted a bit, but Rodriguez running over the mound and stepping on the rubber offered the Yankees no actual advantage in the game, and likely felt to Braden like a violation of his personal space. That’s how all his quotes made it sound, for sure.
I wasn’t watching the game and I haven’t seen a whole lot of Braden, but pitching in a Major League Baseball game requires a whole lot of focus and, for most guys, a great deal of intensity. Think of Johan Santana and his whole “I’m a man” thing. Smart money says Braden was in that type of zone (albeit a less effective one), A-Rod interrupted it, and he flipped.
Understandable, and not really a story in the grand scheme of things. Just another reason for opposing players to dislike A-Rod, beyond the whole “awesome hitter who punishes us at every opportunity” thing.
Tedquarters 
Link courtesy of TheBigLead: Pedro – “who are you Karim Garcia?”
I just have to question why he did it? What was the point? If it is an unwritten rule, whether you ebliev in them or not, Arod surely knows this. I dont buy for a second that he had no idea that he shouldnt have done that. Arod was basically just being a d-bag.
And like you said, I think things like this are what rub people the wrong way about the guy. Dumb little unwritten rule or not, if it could potentially rub people the wrong way, and offers no advantage to helping theteam win, run 2 feet to the left on your way back to first base, its simple.
I thought Ron Darlings take on the game was telling. Gary asked him if he would be upset if a player did that and Ron just said, I think I had enough respect from the players that no one would ever do that to me. Basically saying Arod is a douche.
Well, no, what Darling is saying is that Braden apparently commands so little respect that other players walk all over him. He says, it wouldn’t have happened to me, it did happen to this pitcher, so what does that tell us about this pitcher?
I thought it was a silly response, by the way, because you can be the most respected person on the planet and some dillwad will still feel free to treat you poorly. It’s about who they are, not who you are. So, logic fail, unless Darling was wanting to inconspicuously slam the pitcher.
I watched the post-game interviews, and A-Rod just comes off as an arrogant ass. Braden may have over-reacted a tad, but at least he provides a level-headed rationale for what he did. A-Rod’s whole “what did I do?” schtick, on the other hand, was incredibly grating. I’m not even someone who is an A-Rod hater, but he does seem to go out of his way sometimes to be unlikeable.
I’m not an Arod hater either, I actually like the guy. I think what made him come off as even more of and ass that his fake “what did I do” claims was his dismissal of it because Braden is not an established picther.
When he said, “especially from a guy with 3 wins” or whatever he said, that just comes off as him being a J-off. Its comes off as arrogant because Arod is always just atlking about being a normal guy and being one of the guys, like hes nothing special, then he goes out and tries to big time the other teams picther.
often we say about people, “he is the kind of guy I would like to have a beer with.”
Given the opportunity, I would prob pass at hanging out with ARod. OR, I would do it… and would walk away saying… “what a douch” and ignore his calls from then on.
I might tolerate ARod for a drink or two if he picked up the tab. I’m kind of a slut in that way.
Wrong wrong wrong! There is no such ‘unwritten rule’. Braden got his panties in a bunch over a percieved disrespect that just didn’t happen. Sorry fellas, you can’t just decide, when you don’t like something, for whatever delusional reason pops into your mind, that its now an ‘unwritten rule’ that you’re not supposed to do that and the other guy should have known better. Anyone criticizing A-Rod AT ALL for this is in denial about whatever the real reasons are that they don’t like him.
You are joking right. If the rule is ‘unwriten’ in Major League Baseball, how can you confirm that it doesnt exist? If it is ‘unwritten’ in the first place, how prove or disprove that it exists without spending time in the major leagues?
And since I doubt you spent any time in the major leagues, why should I listen to what you say?
I’ll instead take the word of Ron Daling, who was asked about it on last nights Mets broadcast. When asked if anyone ever did that to him, he said, in a serious tone, that no one would ever do that to him, as the players had more respect for him than to do something like that.
So lets see, who do I beleive, guy on the interent, or Ron Darling. I’m going to have to go with Ronnie D on this one.
No, not kidding and I don’t care what Ron Darling said. I’ve been following baseball for over 30yrs. If there was such an ‘unwritten rule’ I’d have heard of it. This was just an excuse to criticize Arod, the ‘unwritten rule’ thing being made up after the fact. If you watch the actual video of Arod running across the mound he made no effort to run across the mound that’s just where his momentum took him after the foul ball, but whatever, there’s no reasoning with Arod hater’s and the church of Ron Darling and other sanctimonious ex-ballplayers.
The “fellas” here didn’t make any decisions. Dallas Braden did, and he seems to have the support of the ex-players in the media. And I am very happy to have him on my fantasy team in light of yesterday’s behavior.
I had never heard of this unwritten rule before, but I don’t recall seeing a player run across the mound while the pitcher was standing there, and I can see how that it could be considered a slight.
That video did show the incident. it happened on a foul ball then they hit into a dp and ended the inning and then Braden let him have it.
the problem I have is that if it’s that big a deal don’t wait between innings say something when it happens so you don’t look so passive aggressive.
I’m sort of amazed how many people reported how this went down wrong because the video didn’t show it happening. Just shows our reliance on video to report anything accurately these days.