The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser is on the scene with Oakland’s master of restraint, Milton Bradley.
“The only thing people know about me is I get p — off, so the only thing they try to do is p — me off,” the right fielder said a week ago. “Now all the little things people do to p — me off doesn’t work.”
Case in point: A few innings into Tuesday’s game, a fan down the right-field line began to yell racial slurs at Bradley. Bradley simply informed the umpiring crew and second-base umpire Ted Barrett had security remove the fan after the inning was over. There was so little fuss, many in the stadium didn’t even notice.
Bradley went 0-for-3 in Tuesday’s 8-3 victory over the Rangers and he is batting .200 for the spring, but he is not remotely troubled by that.
“I’ve been trying to work out some kinks in my swing, and it feels good,” he said Tuesday morning. “That’s my main concern. I can’t put much stock in spring training (numbers). One year, I hit .360 with six home runs, the next year, I had seven hits all spring. When the season starts, I’ll be fine. When it’s game time, there’s just a different focus. And I’m looking forward to having a good year.”
The AP is reporting Cleveland CF Grady Sizemore has signed a 6 year, $23.5 million contract extension, a pact described as the largest ever signed by a player with less than two years major league service time.
The agreement includes an $8.5 million club option for 2012 with a $500,000 buyout. If the option is exercised, the deal would total $31.45 million over seven seasons, and the option price could increase to $10.5 million depending on whether Sizemore is an All-Star, Gold Glove or Silver Slugger or does well in MVP voting.
I was at the game on Tuesday. I was right next to the fan that was removed from the stadium. That fan did not yell racial slurs to Milton. Milton simply did not tell the umpiring crew, he had to be held back by 2 of his team mates, even after Milton threw his glove down. That fan was not drunk, he was just harassing the baseball player. The same harassing that goes on in other stadiums. Milton needs to calm down, we thought Milton went too far. That fan left peacefully and left his friends behind. Milton should have been the big ballplayer that he is and ignored the fan just like the real ball players do.