On the way to Dulles Airport yesterday, Dan Meyer’s cell phone kept buzzing with text messages. The first one he saw, from a friend in California, said: “Did you see Dallas Braden?’’
“I was thinking it was something with A-Rod,” Meyer said, refering to Braden’s clash with the Yankees slugger over baseball etiquette, “so I was like, ‘Oh, no, what did he do now?”
Meyer, who is close friends with Braden from their days together in the Oakland A’s system, read a few more texts and learned his old minor league roommate was in the ninth inning with a perfect game.
Meyer called up the game on his cell phone and ran over to Marlins catcher John Baker, another product of the A’s system who caught Braden years ago. “I said, ‘Bake, look at this line score!”’
The Marlins had just lost a tough game the Nationals and were on their way to the airport to fly to Chicago. But Meyer and Baker celebrated together when Braden finished off his perfect game.
“Of course, the coaches’ bus had TV so they watched it. Our bus didn’t have television so Dan was following along his cell phone,” Baker said.
Baker sent Braden a text message that said simply: “Wow!”
Meyer’s text read: “You’ve come a long way since we played together!”
Meyer said, “We played together a few years in Triple-A and in Oakland. We roomed together on the road in the minor leagues. We were pretty close, so for me it’s surreal to see.
“It’s amazing, for a guy I’ve been so close with. Lived with me him, played golf with him. I used to stay at his grandmother’s house with him on off days.”
Meyer said he threw a no-hitter in the minor leagues for seven innings “but I had a pitch count because I was coming off surgery so I couldn’t go back out.”
Baker said he caught a no-hitter in his first full minor league season, thrown by Bill Murphy.
“He had a perfect game for 8 2/3 innings and walked the (No.) 9 hitter,” he said. “Then struck out the lead-off man. He still has home plate. It was a really cool experience.”
The lineups
The Marlins
LF Chris Coghlan
1B Gaby Sanchez
SS Hanley Ramirez
3B Jorge Cantu
2B Dan Uggla
C Ronny Paulino
CF Cody Ross
RF Brett Carroll
LHP Nate Robertson
The Cubs
2B Ryan Theriot
CF Marlon Byrd
1B Derrek Lee
RF Xavier Nady
3B Aramis Ramirez
LF Alfonso Soriano
C Geovany Soto
SS Starlin Casteo
LHP Ted Lilly