After yesterday’s whole A-Rod to-do, I tweeted Bay Area writer Jeff Fletcher, after the AOL Fanhouse writer wrote about the feud, noting my point about the “unwritten rule about nobody pitchers not getting to call out superstars.” Jeff followed up by asking “Baseball Codes” co-author Jason Turbow about the “hierarchy of unwritten rules,” specifically that one.
Turbow seemed to think that what Braden did was fine, saying on Fletcher’s Bay Area Baseball site that “I might have a problem with a young hothead trying to intimidate a star, but that isn’t this. Braden wants only what’s rightfully his, and he has every right to do so.”
I disagreed, of course, comparing A-Rod’s dismissive reaction to Pedro Martinez’s takedown of Karim Garcia with the “Who is Karim Garcia” line.
And while I may be biased towards A-Rod, I also believe that nobodies shouldn’t lecture superstars on baseball etiquette. Which is why I supported Francisco Rodriguez in his argument with Brian Bruney last year, even though K-Rod gets on my last nerve, and even though Bruney was a Yankee then.
You may remember that feud. After Bruney called Rodriguez a “tired act” last year, the closer responded several times, first saying:
“He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job,” Rodriguez said. “If he was a big guy, I’d probably pay attention. If he was somebody big like Mariano, I’d respect that. But if I don’t know who he is, I just don’t listen.”
Then later on responding:
“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”
See, I don’t remember any handwringing in the media about how K-Rod should have just kept his mouth shut, stayed classy, and let what Bruney said go, the way people are saying today that A-Rod should have done with Braden.
In fact, pretty much everybody back then – including myself – thought the Met was completely justified in saying what he did. As I wrote, “Even though he’s my least favorite Met, I gotta give Rodriguez credit here. Both quotes are classic. He was able to make Bruney look dopey just with these rejoinders.”
The only thing K-Rod erred in was in having to be restrained from physically attacking Bruney when they saw each other before a game. Rodriguez already won the argument with those lines; he didn’t need to take it any further and threaten a physical fight.
Speaking of the Mets, Squawker Jon and I are showing up at Shea…err, I mean Citi Field! tonight. I’m wearing one of my 2009 World Series shirts and rooting for Eric Hinske and the Melky Way! I fully expect boos – from Squawker Jon!
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
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