Manny Machado on getting plunked by Jonathan Papelbon: ‘That’s coward stuff’
The beltway rivalry between the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals was turned up a notch or ten on Wednesday.
In the ninth inning of Baltimore’s 4-3 victory, Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon came up and in on Manny Machado, who two innings earlier launched a go-ahead home run against Max Scherzer, before actually drilling the young star two pitches later.
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Though there was no clear evidence of Papelbon’s intentions, there was enough probable cause in the mind of home plate Mark Rippenger to eject Papelbon on the spot. Had he hit Machado with the first pitch, perhaps it’s a different story. If the first doesn’t come up and in, perhaps that’s also a different story. The combination of two was definitely suspicious, and that’s what nearly caused tensions to bubble over.
In Machado’s opinion, it was clearly intentinal. He didn’t mince words about it following the game.
Those are pretty strong wrods. Even with 20-30 minutes to clear his mind, Machado was clearly still in that moment.
Some have suggested the plunking was in response to a beef between Machado and Scherzer stemming from a couple issues earlier in the game. Machado’s home run, of course, aws a crushing blow to the Nationals, who are still fighting for their lives in the NL East. When the margin is thin, any perceived hint of arrogance or just plain frustration can set guys off, and that could be the case here.
There was also an issue with Machado not getting a timeout from Rippenger, leading to a strikeout. That led to a minor run-in between Machado and the umpire, which no doubt didn’t appeal to Scherzer either.
Obviously, there was a lot going on here. Enough anyway that both benches emptied slowly in the immediate aftermath, but the animosity was kept to the players directly involved. Papelbon was briefly restrained by teammates before heading back to the dugout, where he curiously remained even after being ejected. That was also noticed by the Orioles.
Fortunately, it didn’t escalate into something more. At least not on this night. If you ask Bryce Harper, he suspects things could get interesting again on Thursday, and he also suspects he’ll be right in the middle of it.
The last thing Harper probably wants is more fuel being thrown the fire, but…
Not exactly a denial, but also nothing surprising from Papelbon. He doesn’t mind stirring the pot a bit.
As a result, Thursday’s could indeed be very interesting. Here’s to hoping whatever does transpire does not escalate, and there are no causalities as a result.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
