Dallas Braden, best known for inciting a verbal war of words with Alex Rodriguez that the New York Yankees superstar predicted would only “extend his 15 minutes of fame,” instead ensured his place in baseball history Sunday afternoon.
Braden, pitching on Mother’s Day in front of the grandmother who raised him after his own mother died, pitched the 19th perfect game in baseball history. The Oakland Athletics left-hander set down all 27 Tampa Bay Rays he faced in a 4-0 victory at Oakland Coliseum.
Though the holiday crowd numbered just 12,228, the emotion in the stadium, and one section in particular, was palpable as Braden began the ninth. He lives with his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, in Stockton, Calif., about an hour east of Oakland. She raised him from high school on after Braden’s mother, Jodie Atwood, died during his senior year of high school. Atwood suffered from melanoma. Braden’s fans sit in Section 209 at the Coliseum; that’s the area code for Stockton.
After Braden retired Gabe Kapler on a ground out to shortstop Cliff Pennington to end it, he was mobbed by catcher Landon Powell and his teammates. Soon enough, the mob made its way to the Oakland dugout, where Braden pointed to his grandmother; Lindsey came down from the stands and, wearing a pink A’s hat in honor of Mother’s Day, engulfed her grandson in a lengthy embrace.
Rodriguez came under fire from Braden when he crossed over the pitching mound during an A’s-Yankees game last month. The kerfuffle provoked a debate within the game about its unwritten rules.
Last week, Braden suggested their tiff may get violent, to which Rodriguez replied: “I really don’t want to extend the 15 minutes of fame he already has.”
After Sunday’s game, Braden’s grandmother, according to the Twitter account of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, said: “Stick it, A-Rod.”
Braden’s hometown, Stockton, ranked near the top of Forbes’ list of least desirable towns to live in. Braden credits the women in his life for keeping him on the straight and narrow.
“My grandmother and my mom were my saviors, my guiding lights, and baseball was my sanctuary,” Braden told reporters Sunday afternoon. “It was that or jail.”
While A-Rod’s ill-timed trash talk may forever haunt him, he certainly was playing the odds in figuring Braden would wallow in obscurity. He entered Sunday’s game just 17-23 lifetime. Of the 17 pitchers to throw a perfect game since 1900, only one — the White Sox’s Charlie Robertson — had fewer career victories at the time than Braden.
The Rays, meanwhile, became the first major league team to be on the losing end of perfect games in consecutive seasons. In July 2009, the Chicago White Sox’s Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against them.
EARLIER:
UPDATE, 6:36 p.m.: .Perhaps some day, hundreds of thousands of fans will claim they were there. But in reality, today’s attendance in Oakland: 12,228. It was the second perfect game in Oakland history; Catfish Hunter threw one in 1968.
UPDATE, 6:19 p.m.: Braden staged an interview with CSN Bay Area’s broadcast team: “I’ve got nothing to say; It was perfect. Pretty good. She (his grandmother) deserves that. Without a doubt, she deserves that. I knew I was getting ahead (of hitters). I never could’ve imagined all those goose eggs.
On facing Kapler, who staged a gritty 12-pitch at-bat in the sixth: “I was thinking it was either gonna be a knuckleball, a gyro ball, maybe underhanded, just to get him out.”
On ninth-inning nerves: “If this was the worst point in my life I’ve got to be nervous about, I’ll be OK.”
UPDATE, 6:17 p.m.: As the celebration spills from the mound to the Oakland dugout, Braden hugs his grandmother, wearing a pink A’s cap on Mother’s Day. Braden lives in Stockton, about an hour’s drive from Oakland, with his grandmother; Braden’s mother died while he was in high school. A banner in the outfield reads “Braden 209,” an ode to Stockton’s area code, and they sit in Section 209.
UPDATE, 6:15 p.m.: Dallas Braden has done it. A ground ball from Gabe Kapler to shortstop Cliff Pennington was the 27th and final out and Braden has thrown the major leagues’ 19th perfect game.
UPDATE, 6:14 p.m.: Navarro lines out to left fielder Eric Patterson. Gabe Kapler will be the only man between Braden and perfection.
UPDATE, 6:13 p.m.: Willy Aybar pops out to first base to start the ninth inning. One out away. The Rays will stick with Dioner Navarro in the ninth.
UPDATE, 6:10 p.m.: A few thoughts before the top of the ninth. Braden has 97 pitches through eight innings. He has just six strikeouts; of the 16 perfect games since 1920, only one pitcher has had fewer strikeouts (Dennis Martinez, five in 1991 against the Dodgers).
UPDATE, 6:01 p.m.: Braden strikes out B.J. Upton to finish the eighth inning. Twenty-four up, 24 down. He’s scheduled to face Willy Aybar, Dioner Navarro and Gabe Kapler in the ninth. We’ll project a pinch-hitter (Pat Burrell? Sean Rodriguez?) for Navarro. That’s all that stands in the way of the first perfect game since Mark Buehrle in July 2009. That also came against the Rays.
UPDATE, 6 p.m.: Kevin Kouzmanoff takes advantage of Oakland’s vast foul ground to haul in a long pop foul from Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena. He snares it and hops into the A’s dugout. Four outs away.
UPDATE, 5:59 p.m.: Braden retires Evan Longoria on a fly ball to center field. Just five outs away.
UPDATE, 5:44 p.m.: Braden is through seven innings with his perfect game, getting an extremely efficient inning. Jason Bartlett lined out to left field, Carl Crawford grounded to second and Ben Zobrist flew out to right. He needed just seven pitches. Due up in the eighth: Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton.
Earlier:
Perhaps Dallas Braden is the type of guy who just needs to rile himself up in order to succeed.
The Oakland A’s left-hander gained a degree of notoriety for ripping Alex Rodriguez when the All-Star crossed the mound in his path, then all but threatened violence the next time the teams met.
So far Sunday, he’s been a perfect picture of control.
Braden has a perfect game through six innings against the best team in baseball. He’s gone 18 up, 18 down against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland Coliseum, and the A’s have taken a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. We’ll keep an eye on this one.
By Gabe Lacques
U.S.A. Today
October 8th, 2008 
Spooky
