Oakland Loses Braden

Braden a name for himself last
Mother's Day.

Nearly a year to the day after he tossed the 19th perfect game in major league history on Mother's Day with his grandmother in attendance, Dallas Braden might be lost for the season. The Oakland Athletic left-hander, who has been on the disabled list since April 18th with a stiff shoulder, will undergo surgery to repair a torn capsule in left shoulder on Monday.

    Braden was removed from his start on the 16th of April after tossing five shutout innings with the injury and since has been seeking different opinions hoping to avoid surgery. The southpaw was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in his three starts for the Athletics this season. The loss does not hurt Oakland has much as intital thought, thanks to the emergence of rookie right-hander Tyson Ross. Ross is a former second-round pick of the A's back in 2008 and has filled in nicely for Braden.

    In four starts Ross is 2-2 with 2.51 ERA, but has struggled with his command walking 12 batters in only 28.2 innings. His best start came in Anaheim on the 27th April when he threw seven shutout innings on 76 pitches. He received a no-decision after the bullpen could not hold a 1-0.

    Oakland's pitching has not missed a beat after leading the majors in earned run average a year ago, doing much of the same in '11. The Athletics are currently leading the majors in ERA posting a 2.75 and find themselves third in quality starts with 24. Opening Day starter and '10 All-Star Trevor Cahill has been at the fore front starting the season undefeated at 6-0 in his first eight starts.

    Oakland will miss Braden for the simple fact he has become a workhorse for manager Bob Geren. Braden has increased his innings total every season since '08, throwing a career high 192.2 innings last season. Prior to his perfect game Braden was not known by many in the baseball world except for his controversial encounter with New York Yankees third basemen Alex Rodriguez. In game at the Coliseum back on April 22nd of last year, Rodriguez was going first to third on a foul ball hit my second basemen Robinson Cano. On his way back to first, the third basemen ran across the mound rubbing Braden the wrong way.

    After the final out was recorded of the sixth inning, Braden seemingly yelled at Rodriguez for breaking an unwritten rule. Rodriguez was shocked and began a war of words between the two over the next couple of weeks. "He just told me to get off his mound. I was a little surprised. I'd never quite heard that. Especially from a guy that has a handful on wins in his career...I thought it was pretty funny actually," Rodriguez said in a post game interview. Not even a month later Braden would cement his name in the baseball record books forever, throwing the first perfect since White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle did so in July of '09.

    Although Braden's recovery time will not be determined until after he undergoes the surgery, he is more than likely lost for the season. The procedure is a similar operation former Cy Young award winner and New York Mets left-hander Johan Santana underwent in September of '10 and still has yet to make his return to the mound for New York.

    Oakland is already without 2009 Rookie of the Year closer, Andrew Bailey and will need to overcome another injury to their young and impressive pitching staff. The Athletics are currently trailing the division leading Angels by two games.