BRIAN BRUNEY SAID WHAT?

Greetings,

I'm sure we've all reached the point of no return with athletes breaking out into their own personal victory dances for just doing their jobs.

Yet, there's a part of me that understands that the beauty of sports is that the eventual winner earns the right to celebrate (however sophomoric), and if as the loser, you don't like it, you can get them back, between the lines of competition, next time. 

I've also realized that those after game celebrations are much different from whooping it up after a matter of fact play when one's team is getting clobbered.

So, I was taken back a bit with the recent comments from New York Yankees reliever Brian Bruney about the actions of New York Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez after the latter "blew" his first save in 17 chances this season when Luis Castillo dropped a routine fly ball.

"Unbelievable. I've never seen anything like that. I have, but in high school," Bruney said. "It couldn't happen to a better guy on the mound, either. He's got a tired act." 

For the uninitiated, K-Rod (the nickname given for his early career strikeout success) is known to pound his chest, point to the sky and let out a loud roar after a save.

"I just don't like watching the guy pitch," Bruney said. "I think it's embarrassing."

By now, we know that Rodriguez rhetorically asked who was the 27-year old right-hander and then confronted him before a game to perhaps introduce himself.

For comparison sake, in five-plus seasons Bruney has won 13 of 23 decisions with 13 saves and an ERA of 4.28.  This season, before a stint on the disabled list, he showed signs of being a key contributor to the Yankees bullpen situation with two wins and 13 strikeouts in nine innings pitched.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez, who was a major free agent signing by the Mets after six-plus seasons in the American League with the Angels, is arguably one of the best closers in the game with 224 career saves, including a record-setting 62 last season and a 2002 World Series ring.

Again, for clarity let me say that I would prefer to see less of the "look at me" posturing, however I do understand that in this age of high stakes competition as well as sports talk radio hosts, bloggers and columnists throwing out choke labels incessantly it is part of human nature to celebrate a personal victory, and emotions can take over.

Yet, I do detect a great deal of hypocrisy in the Yankee reliever's remarks.

For example, if Bruney was really so irritated with Rodriguez's actions then I'm sure he's spoken to teammate Joba Chamberlain for his gyrations after strikeouts and other mid game celebratory expressions.

Furthermore, the Yankees have staged several last at-bat wins this season and on numerous occasions the hero has been doused with shaving cream on the field as the team celebrates.

Sadly, the Oregon native did not hold court with the press to express how embarrassing he thought it was for the most successful franchise in professional sports to carry on in such a manner after early season wins.

For his part Rodriguez has been doing the gesticulating throughout his career - much less after losing four straight postseason games.  Meanwhile, Brian Bruney can only wish for such a pivotal role in the playoffs.

Nevertheless, with the way things have been going for the defensively challenged Mets one could argue that K-Rod is genuinely thanking a higher power when all actually goes well.