“If I was a musician, I’d be Kanye West. If I was in the NBA, I’d be Ron Artest,” the 31-year-old former Expo, Indian, Dodger, Athletic, Padre, Ranger and Cub said this week. “In baseball, they’ve got Milton Bradley. I’m that guy. You need people like me, so you can point your finger and go, ‘There goes the bad guy.”
From his latest little interview w/ the media.
I do like the clever little diss of the umpire who tossed him from the second Spring Training affair. Asked if Milton had ever had an incident w/ the guy before:
“I mean, I haven’t been in Triple A, so how could I have an incident?” he said with a grin.
Keep the gold rain coming, Milton!
Wow, not sure what happened here, but Mr. Milton Bradley was just tossed from a Spring Training affair against the Texas Rangers. He struck out on a called strike three, and perhaps thinking he was the third out – hey, it’s happened before – he laid his bat down and took off his helmet. He then walked from the playing field towards the Seattle dugout. Immediately after, Mariner manager Don Wakamatsu ran out to the plate and engaged in a pretty heated conversation with the home plate umpire.
I mean, Walamatsu heated. The guy keeps it cool. You could tell, though, that this was a little much.
The announcers were unable to figure it out- Niehaus mentioned the scenario where Mr. Bradley might have thought he was the third out – and the replay did not seem to indicate that he said anything to the umpire.
CLEARLY what we have here is the opening 2010 salvo in the ongoing battle between the umpires and Mr. Bradley. It’s obvious to ANYONE who watches baseball that the umpires are CONSPIRING against Mr. Bradley, so this is really nothing new.
Interesting. I’ll be scouring the webs tomorrow to see if there’s any story around what happened, but for now we should assume that this another chapter in the ongoing effort to keep Milton Bradley down.
UPDATE!
The fine folks at SB Nation have provided us with an animated GIF of the ridiculous ejection:
Seriously, I thought I might have to wait until at least the regular season to kick this little series off, but the baseball gods give and the baseball gods giveth again. Ever since my favorite club decided to trade for Milton Bradley (not a bad trade, really, as it allowed them to flush the contract and BMI of Carlos Silva), I figured I would keep watch and follow his routine blow-ups throughout the season. I expect the Ms to do well and to be competitive in their West, but even if they fall on their collective face, well, there will always be the Milton Bradley Watch.
Bradley was interviewed by the New York Times – who were no doubt simply angling to antagonize the misunderstood outfielder and cajole him into a money quote or two – and asked about his troubles during his Cubs stint. Did Milton try to simply move on and allow the water under the bridge by letting bygones to be just that? Why no, he did not:
Two years ago, I played, and I was good. I go to Chicago, not good. I’ve been good my whole career. So, obviously, it was something with Chicago, not me.
Yes! The man’s been good his whole career. For the one year where he was not good, it was “something” with the city. “Something” with the fans, Wrigley, Lou Pinella, the traffic- whatever. Bradley claims the Cubs expected him to be a 30 HR guy despite never hitting more than 20 before his 2008 stint with Texas. Chicago manager Lou Pinella disagreed with the assessment.
Ah, Milton. It’s only March 4. The Ms have yet to play their second game of Spring Training. Already, the quotes are rolling in. It’s certainly some kind of divine intervention that the Mariners play the Cubs this year in interleague play; if only the game were at Wrigley.