Yep, I stated it, proper there on nationwide TV.
Throughout Fox Sports activities’ Sunday night time broadcast of Recreation 2 of the Division Collection, I spoke about an emotional assembly Manny Machado led within the San Diego Padres’ dugout. The huddle adopted a tumultuous seventh inning wherein followers at Dodger Stadium threw baseballs and beer cans onto the sphere.
“Manny Machado has taken lots of criticism in his profession,” I stated. “For being too laid-back. For sometimes enjoying soiled. For being the type of participant you don’t wish to construct round. Nicely, what we noticed in that dugout tonight, in that assembly, that was probably the most seen and highly effective act of management in his profession. He’s 32 now. Clearly a distinct man.”
Ah, if I solely knew then what we realized after the sport and through Monday’s exercise at Petco Park. That Machado threw a ball towards the Dodgers dugout. That it struck the netting in entrance of Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. That the throw was forceful sufficient for the carom to hold out towards house plate.
Two issues could be true. Machado certainly confirmed management within the dugout, draping his arm round catcher Kyle Higashioka and imploring his teammates to keep up their focus. However his punkish response to Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty hitting Fernando Tatis Jr. with a 91.7 mph sinker, effectively, that was Manny being Manny. Once more.
Manny Machado talks with the umpires in the course of the sixth inning of Sunday’s contentious Recreation 2 of the NLDS between the Padres and Dodgers. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions through Getty Pictures)
Flaherty nearly definitely didn’t hit Tatis deliberately main off the sixth inning, not with the Dodgers trailing, 3-1. But, Machado all however volunteered after the sport that his act was retaliatory. When knowledgeable that the Dodgers thought he threw the ball laborious, he instructed The Athletic, “Did Flaherty throw the ball laborious at our man?”
Maybe solely Machado might clarify how the 2 acts equate. But, furious because the Dodgers had been — and are — not even they consider Machado was truly attempting to hit Roberts. Whereas Roberts referred to as the third baseman’s act “unsettling and disrespectful,” a number of Dodgers individuals stated they thought Machado was attempting to ship their staff a message, not trigger damage.
Nonetheless, Machado’s stunt was inappropriate, and never notably sensible. The Athletic considered video of the incident that’s clearer and separate from what’s at the moment within the public realm. Third base umpire Tripp Gibson approached Machado moments after his Sinister Sling. If Gibson had ejected Machado, it might have been an overreaction. But when the benches had cleared, Machado nearly definitely would have been tossed for being an instigator. Tossed from a postseason sport together with his staff main by three runs however trailing within the collection.
The Dodgers submitted video for Main League Baseball to evaluation, however nobody ought to maintain their breath ready for disciplinary motion. Machado’s throw didn’t hit anybody, giving him believable deniability. The larger query, maybe, is whether or not the Dodgers will retaliate in opposition to Machado in Recreation 3 on Tuesday night time. On the Padres’ house park. The place followers agitated by the indefensible conduct of a few of their Dodgers counterparts Sunday night time are sure to be in a frenzy. Good luck with that.
In the intervening time, one factor appears clear: The Padres aren’t only a heck of a staff. They’re additionally contained in the Dodgers’ heads. Groups usually tackle the personalities of their leaders. Because the Padres’ chief, Machado is solely keen to have interaction in conduct some would possibly take into account unbecoming, and he’s unapologetic about it. The easiest way for the Dodgers to cope with him is to beat him. And that shall be simpler stated than achieved.
Machado is much from the Padres’ solely irritant. Fernando Tatis Jr. is a smiling, dancing peacock. Jurickson Profar is the child who pulls the hearth alarm in school after which asks, “Who, me?”
But it is a way more cohesive group than it was final season, a totally purposeful unit as a substitute of a mere assortment of stars. And Machado, troublesome as this is perhaps for some to consider, has demonstrated progress from the participant he as soon as was.
It is a participant who in 2014 triggered a benches-clearing incident when he objected to a tough tag by Josh Donaldson. It is a participant who in 2016 charged the mound and threw punches on the Royals’ Yordano Ventura. It is a participant who in 2017 prompted the damage that introduced on the top of Dustin Pedroia’s profession with a tough slide that some perceived as soiled.
And let’s not overlook Machado’s heel flip with the Dodgers within the 2018 Nationwide League Championship Collection, when he twice slid questionably into Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia in Recreation 3 and clipped first baseman Jesús Aguilar working out a grounder in Recreation 4. He additionally generated controversy throughout that collection for explaining his failure to expire a grounder by telling me in an interview on FS1, “Clearly, I’m not going to alter, I’m not the kind of participant that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle’ and run down the road and slide to first base … that’s simply not my character, that’s not my cup of tea, that’s not who I’m.”
I wrote a column for The Athletic the night time earlier than the interview, together with Machado’s full feedback, wherein he took duty for his inconsistent effort and vowed to enhance. None of his shenanigans damage him when he grew to become a free agent that offseason. The Padres signed him to a 10-year, $300 million contract. In Feb. 2023, they awarded him an 11-year, $350 million extension, changing the ultimate six seasons of his earlier deal.
In my column on the “Johnny Hustle” interview, I concluded by saying of Machado, “If he desires the noise to cease, he wants to provide individuals much less motive to query him. If he desires true appreciation for his greatness, he ought to create consideration solely together with his efficiency.”
Six years later, these phrases nonetheless ring true. Machado in some methods is extra mature. Padres right-hander Yu Darvish singles out Machado and Joe Musgrove for being particularly supportive whereas he missed practically two months this season attending to a private matter. Even Sunday night time, Machado barely reacted when Flaherty cursed him after placing him out with two on within the sixth, and later praised Flaherty for profitable the battle. The outdated Machado may need charged the mound.
All that constitutes progress, even when the preliminary bar was low. The staff assembly within the dugout provided additional testomony that Machado is the emotional middle of the staff. However the Sinister Sling demonstrated once more that Machado stays all too desperate to play the villain.
It was Manny being Manny. Once more.
(High picture of Manny Machado giving his dugout speech on Sunday: Daniel Shirey / MLB Images through Getty Pictures)
