Machado picks spots to kick it up a notch
BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore Oriole Manny Machado has always played baseball to the beat of his own drum, so it’s not like anybody should be surprised at his reaction to criticism about his lack of hustle on a ground ball during Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Machado told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic in an interview that was excerpted on the Game 4 pregame show Tuesday night that there’s no excuse for him not running out every ground ball, but he’s “not the kind of player who’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle.’ ”
That’s classic Manny. He was able to semi-apologize and wax defiant at the same time.
“I’ve never given excuses for not running,” he said. “I’m not hurt, there’s no excuse but I’ve been the same player . ...
I’ve been doing this for eight years, I’m in The Show for eight years, I’ve done the same thing for eight years, I’ve been the same player.”
No argument there. Machado has been playing at the speed of Manny since he broke in with the Orioles in 2012, and for the most part, it hasn’t been a big problem. The guy is a superstar and he’s made countless plays that other players can only dream of being able to make, and there are 30 major league teams that would gladly accept that trade-off.
Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer made some waves by blasting him in a tweet during Game 2 and it’s hard to argue with the notion that every player should run hard on every ground ball. But lots of players jog to first base when they feel a routine play is going to be made well ahead of them.
If that weren’t true, why did Orioles manager Buck Showalter always make such a big deal of the fact that Adam Jones always ran hard to first base regardless of the situation?
The pregame panel on Fox Sports 1, which included Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, came to Machado’s defence by pointing out the number of games he has played over the past four years (all but 11 out of 648 regular-season games) and correctly observing that Machado suffered a severe knee injury landing awkwardly on the first base bag in 2013.
In the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2-1 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers in 13 innings Tuesday night, Machado drew more criticism after running into Milwaukee first baseman Jesus Aguilar in the 10th inning while attempting to beat a throw on a groundout to shortstop.
Machado appeared to drag his left foot while hitting the bag and made contact with Aguilar’s ankle, which drew a reaction from the first baseman and caused the benches to clear.
After singling to left field in the 13th inning, Machado greeted Aguilar with a brief hug at first base, and the two had a conversation between pitches.
“We are family . ... We go back to the minor leagues,” Machado told Fox Sports reporter Tom Verducci after the game when asked about the incident with Aguilar. “What happens on the field stays on the field.”
Of course, if Machado were having a terrible post-season, it would be easier to make this kind of criticism stick, but he leads all post-season hitters with nine RBIs and is tied with three other players for the home run lead (three). In the 13th inning Tuesday night, he singled with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on Cody Bellinger’s walk-off single, just beating the tag at home plate.
The Dodgers apparently are satisfied with his effort.