Quit Your Whining, Machado

Quit Your Whining, Machado

It all started on the 21st evening of April 2017. Baltimore Orioles third baseman was charging hard towards second base to avoid a double play.

Red Sox shortstop, Xander Bogaerts, gave second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, an iffy feed towards the outfield instead of towards first base, yet that still does not free Machado of any wrongdoing.

Machado slid late into second, brought his right cleat well off the ground and spiked Pedroia in the back of his left leg, clearly a dirty slide. Whether Machado did it intentionally or not, the fact that he was not disciplined was fairly controversial.

Red Sox pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Barnes and Chris Sale have all had their turn now to throw at Orioles batters, mostly at Machado himself.

Machado said after the game Tuesday night, “I mean if you’re going to f*****g hit me, hit me. Go ahead. F*****g hit me. Don’t let this s**t keep lingering, f*****g around and keep trying to hit people. It’s f****g bullsh*t.”

Clearly upset, Machado also ranted about how he has lost all respect for the Red Sox organization for going after him. That’s odd though. Since Orioles pitcher, Dylan Bundy plunked Mookie Betts with a pitch of his own, a 94 mph fastball straight at his hips.

Please do not attempt to argue that Bundy unintentionally hit Betts with that pitch, because then I could argue the same with Barnes, Eddy Rodriguez and Chris Sale. And yet, we all know all pitches by both sides were intentional.

Does that mean Machado has lost respect for his organization since Bundy threw at Betts?

How about another incident? Red Sox outfielder, Andrew Benintendi, was thrown at, specifically his head, Tuesday night by Orioles pitcher Donnie Hart.

How was that pitch any different than the one Matt Barnes got suspended for? It isn’t. It’s baseball. Machado, you started this by cleating Pedroia at second base. The rule is there for a reason, to protect guys like Pedroia from potentially getting a worse injury than he already suffered.

Remember when Marco Scutaro was taken out in the 2012 NLCS? Those are the types of slides the new rule is aiming to prevent, and Machado was so close to hurting Pedroia really bad.

So, Manny, you started this. Quit your complaining and let the fans enjoy this rivalry, particularly in a time when baseball could use some fireworks. The Red Sox and Orioles play Wednesday and Thursday night and meet for a series at Camden Yards to kick off June. Welcome back, rivalry baseball.