Lightning Rod

It seems that wherever New York Yankees third baseman steps, controversy follows. And now, it turns out, there are places on the baseball diamond he's not even allowed to tread.

In Thursday afternoon's game against the Oakland A's, A-rod was rounding the bases when teammate Robinson Cano hit a foul ball off A's pitcher Dallas Braden. Rodriguez then stepped on the pitchers mound on his way back to first base. This did not sit well with Braden, who proceeded to scream at A-rod on the field, as well as slam A-rod to reporters after the game.

"If I've got the ball in my hand, and I'm out there on that mound, that's not your mound. You want to run across the mound? Go run laps in the bullpen. That's my mound", said Braden.

"That was a little surprising", said Rodriguez. "I've never quite heard that, especially from a guy who has a handful of wins in his career."

Braden later went on the praise the Yankee organization, and single out Derek Jeter as a possible role model for A-rod. Braden also brought up the incident A-rod had with Bronson Arroyo in the 2004 ALCS, when he slapped the ball away from Arroyo intentionally on a play at first base (probably what Arroyo is best known for, unfortunately, even though he's had a decent career).

Should A-rod have stepped on the mound? Probably not. But he's such a space cadet that I'm betting he didn't do it on purpose. And even if he did, he certainly wasn't trying to show up Braden.

Did Braden overreact here? Absolutely. He easily could have asked A-rod nicely not to step on the mound when he's pitching, A-rod would have apologized, and that would have been that. In fact, if Derek Jeter had been the one who stepped on the mound, I'll bet Braden would have given him a high five on the way by.

I'm not defending A-rod here, believe me. He's as phony as they come, and never seems to think before he does or says anything. But I think opposing players are looking real hard for reasons to dislike the guy, ready to snap at him for any "unwritten rule" he inadvertently breaks.

And now, it will probably get even worse, as A-rod's "bush league" resume expands. First there was the "Arroyo slap" against Boston. Then there was the time he supposedly yelled "HA!" while Toronto third baseman Howie Clark (who's definitely only known for this bit of A-rod trivia) tried to catch a pop-up back in May 2007. And now this. Add the 25 million dollar salary, and the Centaur painting in his bedroom, and you've got a recipe for unadulterated A-rod hate.

One thing's for sure. All of a sudden, everyone knows who Dallas Braden is. And who does he have to thank for his new-found fame? The "Lightning Rod", Alex Rodriguez.

My advice to Braden? Add a few hundred wins to that "handful" (17 actually) you have, so you can avoid only being the answer to this trivia question: "What was the name of the pitcher who freaked out when baseball home run king, Alex Rodriguez stepped on the pitchers mound in 2010?"