Yep, I mentioned it, correct there on nationwide TV.
All the way through Fox Sports activities’ Sunday evening broadcast of Recreation 2 of the Section Form, I spoke about an emotional assembly Manny Machado led within the San Diego Padres’ dugout. The huddle adopted a tumultuous 7th inning by which fanatics at Dodger Stadium threw baseballs and beer cans onto the farmland.
“Manny Machado has taken a lot of criticism in his career,” I mentioned. “For being too laid-back. For occasionally playing dirty. For being the kind of player you don’t want to build around. Well, what we saw in that dugout tonight, in that meeting, that was the most visible and powerful act of leadership in his career. He’s 32 now. Clearly a different guy.”
Ah, if I most effective knew nearest what we discovered upcoming the sport and all through Monday’s exercise at Petco Ground. That Machado threw a ball towards the Dodgers dugout. That it struck the netting in entrance of Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. That the throw used to be forceful plenty for the carom to hold out towards house plate.
Two issues may also be true. Machado certainly confirmed management within the dugout, draping his arm round catcher Kyle Higashioka and imploring his teammates to uphold their center of attention. However his punkish reaction to Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty hitting Fernando Tatis Jr. with a 91.7 mph sinker, smartly, that used to be Manny being Manny. Once more.
Manny Machado talks with the umpires all through the 6th inning of Sunday’s contentious Recreation 2 of the NLDS between the Padres and Dodgers. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions by means of Getty Photographs)
Flaherty virtually for sure didn’t strike Tatis deliberately off the 6th inning, now not with the Dodgers trailing, 3-1. But, Machado all however volunteered upcoming the sport that his function used to be retaliatory. When knowledgeable that the Dodgers concept he threw the ball dehydrated, he instructed The Athletic, “Did Flaherty throw the ball hard at our guy?”
Possibly most effective Machado may just provide an explanation for how the 2 acts equate. But, furious because the Dodgers have been — and are — now not even they imagine Machado used to be if truth be told looking to strike Roberts. Month Roberts known as the 3rd baseman’s function “unsettling and disrespectful,” a number of Dodgers public mentioned they concept Machado used to be looking to ship their group a message, now not reason trauma.
Nonetheless, Machado’s stunt used to be beside the point, and now not specifically ingenious. The Athletic considered video of the incident this is clearer and isolated from what’s these days within the community realm. 3rd bottom umpire Tripp Gibson approached Machado moments upcoming his Malicious Sling. If Gibson had ejected Machado, it will had been an overreaction. But when the benches had cleared, Machado virtually for sure would had been tossed for being an instigator. Tossed from a postseason sport along with his group by way of 3 runs however trailing within the layout.
The Dodgers submitted video for Primary League Baseball to study, however no person will have to book their breath looking ahead to disciplinary motion. Machado’s throw didn’t strike someone, giving him believable deniability. The larger query, possibly, is whether or not the Dodgers will retaliate in opposition to Machado in Recreation 3 on Tuesday evening. On the Padres’ house ground. The place fanatics agitated by way of the indefensible behavior of a few in their Dodgers opposite numbers Sunday evening are positive to be in a frenzy. Just right success with that.
On the pace, something turns out sunny: The Padres aren’t only a heck of a group. They’re additionally throughout the Dodgers’ heads. Groups continuously pull at the personalities in their leaders. Because the Padres’ chief, Machado is totally prepared to interact in behavior some may believe unbecoming, and he’s unapologetic about it. One of the simplest ways for the Dodgers to trade in with him is to overcome him. And that will probably be more straightforward mentioned than executed.
Machado is a ways from the Padres’ most effective irritant. Fernando Tatis Jr. is a smiling, dancing peacock. Jurickson Profar is the child who pulls the fireplace alarm in class and nearest asks, “Who, me?”
But it is a way more cohesive staff than it used to be closing season, an absolutely useful unit in lieu of an insignificant number of stars. And Machado, tricky as this may well be for some to imagine, has demonstrated enlargement from the participant he as soon as used to be.
It is a participant who in 2014 brought about a benches-clearing incident when he objected to a dehydrated tag by way of 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 led to the trauma that introduced at the finish of Dustin Pedroia’s occupation with a dehydrated slide that some perceived as dirty.
And let’s now not disregard Machado’s heel flip with the Dodgers within the 2018 Nationwide League Championship Form, when he two times slid questionably into Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia in Recreation 3 and clipped first baseman Jesús Aguilar operating out a grounder in Recreation 4. He additionally generated controversy all through that layout for explaining his failure to expire a grounder by way of telling me in an interview on FS1, “Obviously, I’m not going to change, I’m not the type of player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle’ and run down the line and slide to first base … that’s just not my personality, that’s not my cup of tea, that’s not who I am.”
I wrote a column for The Athletic the evening prior to the interview, together with Machado’s complete feedback, by which he took duty for his inconsistent attempt and vowed to toughen. None of his shenanigans harm him when he changed into a sovereign agent that offseason. The Padres signed him to a 10-year, $300 million guarantee. In Feb. 2023, they awarded him an 11-year, $350 million extension, changing the general six seasons of his earlier trade in.
In my column at the “Johnny Hustle” interview, I concluded by way of pronouncing of Machado, “If he wants the noise to stop, he needs to give people less reason to question him. If he wants true appreciation for his greatness, he should create attention only with his performance.”
Six years nearest, the ones phrases nonetheless ring true. Machado in many ways is extra mature. Padres right-hander Yu Darvish singles out Machado and Joe Musgrove for being particularly supportive past he ignored just about two months this season getting to a non-public subject. Even Sunday evening, Machado slightly reacted when Flaherty cursed him upcoming placing him out with two on within the 6th, and nearest praised Flaherty for profitable the fight. The used Machado may have charged the mound.
All that constitutes advance, although the preliminary bar used to be low. The group assembly within the dugout introduced additional testomony that Machado is the emotional middle of the group. However the Malicious Sling demonstrated once more that Machado remainder all too desperate to play games the villain.
It used to be Manny being Manny. Once more.
(Govern photograph of Manny Machado giving his dugout accent on Sunday: Daniel Shirey / MLB Footage by means of Getty Photographs)
