With the recent decline in the Red Sox/ Yankees rivalry a new rivalry has started to really heat up. It started in 2011 when the Baltimore ended the Sox last gasp hope of making the playoffs by winning in the bottom of the 9th and leading to the dismissals of Tito Francona, Theo Epstein, and many other sox players and lead to the hiring of Bobby Valentine and the disaster that was the 2012 Red Sox season.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Manny Machado slid late and hard into Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia spiking him on his knee and ankle. The Sox chose not to retaliate until recently with having reliever Matt Barnes throwing at and getting suspended for 4 games. ( here is the conversation between Pedroia and Machado) https://twitter.com/BoSoxInjection/status/856245674890985472
After Machado was thrown at by Barnes, a conversation between Pedroia and Machado was caught on camera. Pedroia said that he had not told Barnes to throw at Machado and that if he had, Machado would have been hit earlier in the game and that would most likely been the end of the issue.
However, Machado has continued to say that he had no intent to slide late into Pedroia which I don't believe at all.
In last night's game Orioles pitcher, Dylan Bundy threw two pitches one missing Mookie Betts the second one hitting him on the right hip. http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19291659
(Now tell me that's not intentional when you see Orioles catcher setting up wayyy outside and the pitch hitting Betts on the hip)
Now in tonight's game Chris Sale facing Machado. It didn't take long for Sale to retaliate throwing behind Machado and enlisting warnings on himself and for both managers.
After the game, Machado went on a profanity-laced tirade saying that he's lost all respect for Boston and their organization. This is a player who once threw a bat deliberately at Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson in 2014.
Now I am not a hater of Manny Machado though it might seem this way in this post. Machado is a great player whose defense and the offense has put him into the top echelon of third baseman in baseball along with Nolan Arendondo of the Rockies in the National League.
He has brought passion and intensity to the game which reminds me of throwback players of the 60's 70's and 80's, yet it is his hot-headedness, immaturity, and lack of respect for the game of baseball that really get's to me.
In the unwritten code of baseball, it's understood that if you do something that requires retaliation then you need to expect it.
For example, if you hit the star player on one team, the star player on the other should expect to be hit. The fact that Machado keeps running his mouth about how he believes that he's being targeted is not far from the truth, but he should understand that he's the face of the Orioles organization and as so needs to understand his responsibility to his team.
I'm enjoying this new heated rivalry between these two teams since it brings a must win intensity to each and every game.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Manny Machado slid late and hard into Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia spiking him on his knee and ankle. The Sox chose not to retaliate until recently with having reliever Matt Barnes throwing at and getting suspended for 4 games. ( here is the conversation between Pedroia and Machado) https://twitter.com/BoSoxInjection/status/856245674890985472
After Machado was thrown at by Barnes, a conversation between Pedroia and Machado was caught on camera. Pedroia said that he had not told Barnes to throw at Machado and that if he had, Machado would have been hit earlier in the game and that would most likely been the end of the issue.
However, Machado has continued to say that he had no intent to slide late into Pedroia which I don't believe at all.
In last night's game Orioles pitcher, Dylan Bundy threw two pitches one missing Mookie Betts the second one hitting him on the right hip. http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19291659
(Now tell me that's not intentional when you see Orioles catcher setting up wayyy outside and the pitch hitting Betts on the hip)
Now in tonight's game Chris Sale facing Machado. It didn't take long for Sale to retaliate throwing behind Machado and enlisting warnings on himself and for both managers.
After the game, Machado went on a profanity-laced tirade saying that he's lost all respect for Boston and their organization. This is a player who once threw a bat deliberately at Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson in 2014.
Now I am not a hater of Manny Machado though it might seem this way in this post. Machado is a great player whose defense and the offense has put him into the top echelon of third baseman in baseball along with Nolan Arendondo of the Rockies in the National League.
He has brought passion and intensity to the game which reminds me of throwback players of the 60's 70's and 80's, yet it is his hot-headedness, immaturity, and lack of respect for the game of baseball that really get's to me.
In the unwritten code of baseball, it's understood that if you do something that requires retaliation then you need to expect it.
For example, if you hit the star player on one team, the star player on the other should expect to be hit. The fact that Machado keeps running his mouth about how he believes that he's being targeted is not far from the truth, but he should understand that he's the face of the Orioles organization and as so needs to understand his responsibility to his team.
I'm enjoying this new heated rivalry between these two teams since it brings a must win intensity to each and every game.
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