The Baltimore Orioles are off to a very nice start in 2017 but the team’s best player, Manny Machado, didn’t exactly display optimism and joy after Tuesday evening’s game. The Orioles lost a 5-2 decision to the Boston Red Sox, and Machado seemed to be less than thrilled with one particular part of the defeat.
In short, he is very mad at the Red Sox after being thrown at in his first at-bat. This is after the Red Sox threw at him earlier in the week as “retaliation” for a hard Machado slide into second.
Manny Machado has every right to flip out on the Red Sox. pic.twitter.com/JZcm1BmY1m
— Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) May 3, 2017
As seen above, Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale threw a pitch behind Machado in the first inning, which prompted what became a profanity-laced tirade to the media after the game. It should be noted that, while the language is removed by bleeps, this is not suitable for work.
Machado held absolutely nothing back in this media session, dropping multiple F-bombs and directing general venom in Boston’s direction. After said interview, the young All-Star did calm down to some degree and he spoke to NESN in calmer, more direct terms.
“I lost my respect for the entire organization and Boston and how they are handling the whole situation. If they want to hit me, hit me, go ahead. Get it over with, don’t keep lingering it around. I’ve lost mad respect for that team and organization. They are probably going to try to hit me again [tomorrow]. I’m just going to have to wear it and see what happens — if I have to take care of business on my own then I’m going have to do something.”
The final sentence including Machado having to “take care of business on (his) own” presents an ominous picture for Wednesday and beyond in this match-up. It isn’t every day that the best player on a legitimate contender is involved in something like this off the field but, considering that a former Cy Young winner was on the pitching side in Sale, the amount of attention on this back and forth isn’t going away anytime soon. Strap in and prepare for fireworks on Wednesday evening in Boston.
