Machado a popular topic at World Series

BOSTON >> Most players are questioned ahead of their World Series debuts. Manny Machado was cross-examined.

October’s villain is especially despised at Fenway Park for planting his spikes into Dustin Pedroia in April 2017. The Boston second baseman hasn’t been the same.

“That’s old history,” Machado said Monday, deflector shields raised.

He’s Manny the Masher, Manny the Miscreant and Macho Manny all in one, whacking baseballs, opponents and questions.

Wearing a blue Los Angeles Dodgers World Series hoodie and gray pants, arms crossed, he sat between teammates Yasiel Puig and Ross Stripling, surrounded by a scrum of inquirers in the Pavilion Room on the 106-year-old ballpark’s fourth level. Even with stubble on his chin and lips, Machado’s face looked boyish. His hair was styled into cornrows at the top and a crew cut on the side.

With hard slides at second base against Milwaukee and a foot planted on the heel of Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar , Machado acquired notoriety far exceeding the attention he gained as a fourtime All-Star infielder with Baltimore. He even earned condemnation from Pete Rose, whose own rambunctious play included running over Ray Fosse in an All-Star Game.

“I don’t think going in hard is the same as dragging your left foot, to kicking the guy’s foot off the bag,” Rose said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t know Manny Machado, so I don’t know if he’s a dirty player or if he’s not. But I just thought when he hit the first baseman’s foot it was kind of unnecessary.”

A few weeks from becoming a free agent at the age of 26, Machado’s actions could signal a giant “caveat emptor” sign to suitors, warning them buyer beware.

When he took out Pedroia during a slide at Baltimore on April 21 last year, Machado spiked his surgically repaired left knee and calf. Pedroia missed the next three games and has been limited to 92 games since.

“I know how I hurt my knee and I know what happened. That’s it. We all know,” Pedroia said.

Machado’s response was out of “The Godfather:” business, not personal.

“We’re not friends,” he said.