Braden, Rodriguez spice up the day in Oakland

A’s starter Dallas Braden and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez exchanged words (well, yells) in the sixth inning of Thursday’s 4-2 Oakland victory. It wasn’t immediately clear what the two were jawing about, but MLB.com’s Jane Lee got to the bottom of the story during a round of post-game interviews.

It turns out Braden was upset that A-Rod crossed the Oakland Coliseum’s pitching mound while running off the field, an apparent no-no in the baseball world.

“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,” said Braden. “I was just dumbfounded that he would let that slip his mind -- being someone of such status. ... The guy was tasting himself too long to apologize. It’s a shame.”

While we’re not exaclty sure what “tasting himself” means, it sure does sound cool. And, well, it’s probably fitting too. Braden is off to a 3-0 start this year with a 2.77 ERA and 0.85 WHIP through four starts. Rodriguez, meanwhile, is batting .304/.448/.587 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 46 at-bats. Let’s hope the two meet again soon.