"They’re an extremely classy organization with guys who always tend to do the right thing every time. It’s kind of disheartening to see that not show through or be reflected by somebody of his status. He’s a tremendous player and a tremendous talent, and I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on a roster; if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m out there on that mound, that’s not your mound. You want to run across the mound? Go run laps in the bullpen. That’s my mound. That’s the bottom line."And some more via Rob Neyer and Bryan Hoch:
Braden said no runner had ever done it before. "Never one time. Not one time. I’ve been throwing baseballs for quite a while, and not one time."
"I don’t go over there and run laps at third base. I don’t spit over there. I stay away. You guys ever see anybody run across the mound like that? He ran across the pitcher’s mound, foot on my rubber. No, that’s not flying. We’re not the doormat anymore. ... Maybe it doesn’t come across his mind to do that to the Oakland A’s, but maybe it does enter his mind to not do it against the Boston Red Sox or to not do it against another team. It didn’t even enter his mind, so I aided him with that."
"I don’t throw 95, so the point might not get across from me. But any kind of disrespect like that, it’s got to be handled. We’ve got to talk about it at least, so I felt that’s what we did. We talked about it."
"It’s over and done with as far as I’m concerned. The guy is a first ballot Hall of Famer and I’m sure he’s moved on already. But I’d like to think that an impression was made and that he can honor and respect the game, our team, our club and what we’re trying to do a little more next time."
"From top to bottom, it’s a classy organization. Top to bottom, they do it right the first time. He should maybe watch his captain a little more often. It doesn’t start and end with him over there at third."
...
"If my grandmother ran across the mound, she would have heard the same thing he heard. Period. That’s the way I handle the game and the way I handle myself on my workday. That’s just the way it is. I would never disrespect anybody like that. I’m not going to throw at a guy or throw behind a guy to get my point across. That’s not me and that’s not who I am. I would rather get you out than get you on base."
"It's unfortunate he has to play that way, because the guy has a great talent,'' Braden said.
"He should probably take a note from his captain over there and realize you don't cross the pitcher's mound in between an inning or during the game. I was just dumbfounded that he would let that slip his mind -- being someone of such status."Here's A-Rod's response via Chad Jennings:
I'm not debating whether this is an actually unwritten rule or not, but it's really stupid if you ask me.... "Stay of my mound!!!"..... Are you freaking serious? He sounds like a 5-year-old who got angry with another kid for playing with his toy. Get over it and move on. Next time these two teams play I hope the entire Yankees team stands, spits, does jumping jacks and cartwheels on his mound before his first inning of work, and then continues to do so throughout the game. See how he feels after that.“He just told me to get off his mound,” Rodriguez said. “I was a little surprised. I’d never quite heard that. Especially from a guy that has a handful of wins in his career.”
...Rodriguez said he had never heard the unwritten rule that a player shouldn’t run across the mound. When Braden started yelling at him, Rodriguez didn’t know what it was about. “I thought it was pretty funny, actually,” Rodriguez said.
