As much as they try, the New York Yankees will never truly be boring as long as they have Alex Rodriguez.
ARod managed to get himself into another controversy yesterday by stepping on the pitcher's mound and rubber, which infuriated Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden. The lefty yelled at ARod twice, then proceeded to rip ARod's behavior in media interviews after the game.
In terms of ARod controversies, this incident doesn't even rank in the top five. As WFAN's Sweeney Murti said today, "it's not high on the list of stupid things ARod has done." But it is a gift to a Yankees media continent starved for fresh confrontations in what has been a serene Yankees clubhouse.
Braden clearly overreacted to ARod's perceived disrespect. Or did he? He could just be a really savvy guy. If you want to draw attention to yourself in baseball, pick a fight with ARod. If you want to really get your hooks into the media, talk about ARod's lack of class compared to Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
ARod seemed amused by the incident. But he did take a cheap shot at Braden in talking about the 26-year old pitcher's lack of victories, which only serves the prove the lefty's point about ARod's lack of class. Braden is absolutely right in the sense that ARod would have been well served following Jeter's lead in handling such situations. Captain Jeter would have found a way to deflect Braden’s condemnation without directly criticizing the kid and letting it degenerate into a media firestorm.
But this is what life is like for the Yankees with ARod. Never a dull moment.
Thanks to Gimpy56 via en.Wikipedia for the photo.
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