Consider that even those of us who drafted Dallas Braden for their fantasy teams could not have predicted this. This afternoon's perfect game answers the question: Why is baseball so awesome? And the answer is not a math formula.
After a decade of trying to kill the magic out of the sport with friggin' numbers, it just takes one very special game to flood the whole sport with mojo.
No stat, no analysis, no opinion, no predictive method... nothing compares to the human narrative that is woven throughout the game of baseball. Example:
The timing was incredible. Braden, 26, made baseball history on Mother's Day, which has always been a difficult time for him. His mother, Jodie Atwood, died of cancer when he was in high school, and he was raised by his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey.
"With my grandma in the stands - to give her this, together, is perfect." said Braden. That was the right word for Sunday, and Lindsey was on hand for her grandson's extraordinary accomplishment. Afterward, Braden gave her a huge hug.
All research, quantification and numbers crunching over this game just crumbles into dust in the face of this sort of palpable magic.
One paragraph is a movie, one game is a totem for an interconnected consciousness impossible to articulate anywhere outside of the white lines and yet tangible so far beyond them.
2 recs | 53 comments
On the one hand I dont normally approve anything positive happening for a division rival...
but on the other hand, it’s such a goddamn compelling story.
teopeht - May 9, 2010
Cool shit
Good for him, even if he thinks he’s “hard”. F an arod
Quinlan's Goofy Swing - May 9, 2010
Classy Mother's Day Story
Our turn next time
Raaddad - May 9, 2010
It seems punking out A-Fraud is good for one's career
I hope this is discussed at the next team meeting.
Commander_Nate - May 9, 2010
Great story.
Good for him. Also,
“Consider that even those of us who drafted Dallas Braden for their fantasy teams could not have predicted this”
I picked him up this morning. I feel like I’ve had something to do with it.
Figgi4life - May 9, 2010 via mobile
He plays for chokeland, who really cares
They’ll be in last place within 10 days and all this be irrelevant. A fluke game for a fluke pitcher who got destroyed by the same lineup a week ago. Nice back story on his family but as most news in sports it’ll be forgotten soon with some other moment
MagicMike23 - May 9, 2010
They also had 12,000 fans at the game...terrible lol
Selig needs to contract them ASAP. They cant even out draw their AAA team in Suckramento
MagicMike23 - May 9, 2010
As an A's fan I agree
I’m glad that there are Angel’s fans out there who also feel that Selig needs to do something about the A’s attendance so they can have a higher payroll and be more competitive against the Angels year in and out.
Threepwood XX - May 10, 2010
ObtuseMike23
fixed your user name, did not have to futz with the i.q. number, dolt.
Rev Halofan - May 9, 2010
It was a perfect game, brother
It won’t be “forgotten soon.”
Raaddad - May 10, 2010
A perfect game is baseball history
I will make it a point to forget you in the next 60 seconds.
George Kaplan - May 10, 2010
Perfect opportunity for the A's to erect their first player statue in front of the stadium.
44FAN - May 9, 2010
I called my A's friend as soon as it hit the 7th
And just said “turn on your game. Seriously.” Something like this transcends rivalry, I’d cheered every out on MLB network.
101halo - May 9, 2010
Well written Rev
This feat should have no mention of a rod. Baseball is awesome because of performances like this on days like this.
Big Perm - May 9, 2010
The Halos 'Mom's day'
is set for May 29th. Every team had an honorary bat-girl picked from applicants through the Susan G Komen organization. Since the Angels were on the road on Mom’s day, they get a make-up.Perhaps we’ll have something special that day.
ineptituderunsamok - May 9, 2010
thanks for the info
did not know that.
Rev Halofan - May 10, 2010
That's my Birthday!
What a sweet gift a perfect game would be!
angelskid2210 - May 10, 2010
As an A's fan who infrequently drops by to see what's going on
you put in very strong and succinct terms. This game which people attempt to dissect with numbers has moments which become memories which have strong emotions attached to them and that cannot be quantified whatsoever. Go A’s and Go Rev Halofan!!!!!!!!
greenbean - May 10, 2010
Dallas Braden is a badass
for calling out A Rod, and for not slinking down when A Rod basically said he didnt care because whoever said that is a nothing.
All he did was step up and show he belongs. Now the next time he faces A Rod he can plunk him in the face, look at him, and know that he did that few others have done in the bigs.
Rivalry or not, good for him. I loudly cheered every pitch like it was an Angels.
PhiSlamma - May 10, 2010
+1
Nailed it.
Teixeira Who? - May 10, 2010
IN THE FACE! INN THHE FAAACE!!!
AlohaHalofan - May 10, 2010 via mobile
That would almost
almost get me to root for the A’s. In that game, I mean.
Le Comte - May 10, 2010
Rec'd
red floyd - May 10, 2010
+1
Well said.
Downing Rules - May 10, 2010
After hearing Braden's Grandma tell A-Rod to "stick it" after the game...
I know where he inherited his cojones from.
hbhalofan - May 10, 2010
Isn't the perfect game itself predicated on a fascination with numbers?
In this case, it’s fascination with the number zero: zero base runners. The fact that allowing zero base runners is very improbable makes a perfect game a “magic” event. Every other magical event—batting .400, hitting for the cycle, the unassisted triple play, etc.—is based on some numerical curiosity. Baseball has always been consumed by numbers and the things it gets emotional about, like perfect games and home-run records, wouldn’t even exist without associated statistics. Some are just a lot cooler than others. No one cares who holds the single-season record for highest WARP.
I’m not trying to be obtuse. I thought this was as cool as anything I’ve seen at least since the last perfect game (which was pitched less than a year ago against 7/9 of the same lineup, how crazy is that?), but I’ve never bought the overwrought “numbers are killing the human element” narrative. The philosophical argument over whether statistics say anything about the real world is hundreds of years old now, and the world has gone on anyways. It always gets shoehorned into simple dichotomies like progressivism vs. traditionalism or rationalism vs. romanticism. Why is it so hard to add another dimension and acknowledge that it’s possible to be emotional and analytic about something at the same time?
I can guarantee that even Dave Cameron gets worked up about the game on the field. I mean, I certainly do, and if academic credentialing is any indicator then I should be even further along in the process of having all of my organic components replaced by more computationally efficient cybernetic equivalents. I have to wonder how much of the stat abhorrence around here is just a division rivalry thing. First there was the A’s and Moneyball, now it’s the Mariners and Fangraphs. If that’s the case, why not be forthright about it? I would appreciate that more than being told that I don’t actually enjoy the game of baseball just because I know how a wOBA is calculated.
Suboptimal - May 10, 2010
it is not that numbers are of no significance
it is that sabremetric discussions get so buried in jargon – and so arrogant in us-v-them attitude (despite shitty track records like the Beane ‘02 draft and Zdurniack’s current abortion) that in their quest to slay Goliath they rid the discussion of all non-quantifiable aspects (i.e. the human narratives accompanying great “numbers”). Give the aspberger casualties a month and they will dismiss this game as an “outlier” eventually to rationalize some reason Braden did not do something or the other.
They can’t have it both it ways – they can’t play that “many attend but few understand” card to establish an elite presence against the “fan who likes the human element” and then when the human element dominates act like they own a part of it.
Rev Halofan - May 10, 2010
agree
very well articulated
Brody - May 10, 2010
The "mom died, grandma raised him, mother's day is hard for him" deal is above all numbers...
that’s PURE EMOTION and cannot be quantified. I think Rev was accurate in his assessment of the situation.
I was nearly in tears watching him hugging “Gram-gram” last night. I miss my Granny.
Downing Rules - May 10, 2010
Rec'd
Flipped over to MLB to see the last inning. Division rival or not, there is not denying the exuberance that shone threw his face and the shear emotions shared by Braden, his teammates, and his grandmother following the last out. Congrats to him and the A’s on this day, but lets run them over next week.
neochoa - May 10, 2010
The only thing I know
Is Braden averages about a baserunner per inning. So counting this and his next start, let’s get him back to his average – 18 Halo baserunners next Friday! Maybe some of them will even score.
RallyMonkey5 - May 10, 2010
What? Score?
Unless we’re talking about Naps gettin’ laid you are asking for WAY too much.
halofan4life - May 10, 2010
He may have given this as a gift to his grandma ...
but he really gave it to the Rays. No freaking hits, and he has been nothing but mediocre this year. It’s one thing to take a no-no when your team faces Randy Johnson, or even Mark Buehrle or Mike Witt, but Braden? Good for Braden but Joe Maddon has to be pissed.
A couple of things. First, it was 209 day at the park. People from the 209 area code [where Stockton, Braden’s hometown is located] got steeply reduced ticket prices if they sat in Section 209. Stockton, a central valley town is about 72 miles away. I doubt many folks from that highly depressed area made the drive. Typical Oakland A’s dumbass promotion.
Secondly, the A’s announcer Ken Korach had no “game” as it were during the events. No “in a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.” Nothing interesting. And after the game, when Ken was trying to put the game in historical perspective, he repeatedly said that there had been “19 no hitters” in the history of baseball, instead of 19 perfect games. Dude is not the sharpest announcer out there. Made me glad we have Terry Smith.
Kudos to Braden. Aside from the foolish A-Rod incident, he seems like a class guy. He’s had a tough life, and it’s nice to see him have a moment in the sun.
LazorkoRules - May 10, 2010
Yeah the announcer blew it.
“He did it, He did it”… wtf?
AlohaHalofan - May 10, 2010 via mobile
The Good:
“Kudos to Braden. Aside from the foolish A-Rod incident, he seems like a class guy. He’s had a tough life, and it’s nice to see him have a moment in the sun.”
The rest is just plain old jibberish and rubbish.
Colorado Fan - May 10, 2010
I don't like the guy...
I acknowledge the accomplishment. I don’t want anything good to happen to a divisional rival. Plus I still think his “my mound” hissy fit was ridiculous.
waters96 - May 10, 2010
The 209
where people from the 209 have to tell other people from the 209 that they’re from the 209 by wearing 209 shirts.
Sorry, can’t cheer for anybody named “Dallas.”
clover_black - May 10, 2010
Stockton = Shit hole
DAD OF VLAD - May 10, 2010
Thanks Dallas
How do i top that for my mom and wife. this is unfair. I guess flowers will have to do
DAD OF VLAD - May 10, 2010
Where were yoou
when this one needed jinxing?
Rev Halofan - May 10, 2010
IT WAS MOTHERS DAY
I was treating the wife to her gift, ME. and taking day naps
DAD OF VLAD - May 10, 2010
Well put
TheAngelsAngels - May 10, 2010
I'm still trying to translate that last sentence.
Fred Fredrix - May 10, 2010
Translation: Numbers mean nothing on the field.
Downing Rules - May 10, 2010
kinda but more
it means that with the simple structure of the rules of the game, greater truths about what it means to be human and experience life can be revealed in ways that would be impossible to verbalize or illustrate of the game did not exist and yet their truest significance is to add meaning to OUR lives, the ones who are not even playing under those structured rules.
^but i did not want to use that many words to say it^
Rev Halofan - May 10, 2010
Its great for baseball........good for me as a fan of baseball......
especially great for Dallas Braden….and the A’s……I dont even care that he plays for the A’s
There’s no doubt that the team and Braden played a helluva game……congrats to them and to him. Simply amazing.
norcaliangelsfan - May 10, 2010
Rev's last line:
WOW Rev, that was deep, where did that come from?
MattSwift - May 10, 2010
geneticicall inherited from...
the blarney stone
Rev Halofan - May 10, 2010
I've actually kissed that chunk of bacteria
didn’t help me squat
Moondoggy - May 10, 2010
Do you think A-Fraud knows who Braden is now?
red floyd - May 10, 2010
Calling out Abitch
and pitching a perfect game. I’d say it’s been a pretty good 17 day stretch for Bradon.
Moondoggy - May 10, 2010
Yep. Points just for calling out the douche.
red floyd - May 10, 2010
must earn ya
good karma
Rev Halofan - May 10, 2010
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