Rubber game

Pity the poor New York sportswriter. After a few years of having plenty of on- and off-field Alex Rodriguez "antics" to write about, they spent the last year with nothing whatsoever to write about. Rodriquez kept his mouth shut, overcame major surgery to play superlative baseball, and was robbed of at least one post-season MVP award in October/November.

So there is a lot of pent-up demand to dump on A-Rod and yesterday's ridiculous moment between him and the Athletics pitcher predictably unleashed a years worth of shrill.

By now we’ve all heard about it, A’s starter Dallas Braden threw a fit yesterday after Alex Rodriguez walked across the mound while going back to first base after a juuust foul ball. Braden went on an all-time rant, basically ripping Alex to pieces for jogging across what the Oakland lefty called “the center of the universe when I’m on it” on Baseball Tonight later in the evening. He also declared the issue over, saying that he hopes he left an impression with the Yanks’ third baseman.

But of course, this is New York, and it’ll never be a dead issue. There’s been more attention paid to this than there was when Alex saved that kid’s life a few years ago. In addition to the usual pieces declaring A-Rod in the wrong this morning, Joel Sherman went a little off the deep end when he dropped this gem on us…

Look, at this point, I want to see Alex Rodriguez combine his greatest hits and really show us something. Next time he is on base and there is a pop up around the mound, why doesn’t A-Rod cut across the field, step on the rubber, scream at the opponent trying to catch the popup and – if that doesn’t work – slap at the glove. No wait, don’t scream, belt out a Madonna tune.

What the hell is that about? I mean … sheesh. He walked across the mound. The nerve!

And sure enough, Axisa's prediction that McCarver would weigh in with a story about Bob Gibson came true.