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Manny Machado does not make many friends in the playoffs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers' short stop does not seem to bother him.
In the 10th inning of the Dodgers '2-1 win on Tuesday night, Machado went through the first goal when his left foot hit the leg of the Brewers' first baseman, Jesus Aguilar. Aguilar, thinking that Machado had done it on purpose, took exception and the two words exchanged. The two benches are clear and a handful of pitchers jog on the field from each team's paddock. The dust dissipated almost as soon as it arrived, but Machado was enlightened on social media and the conversation infiltrated into the Brewers clubhouse after the match, even though the party Most important of the evening was that the series was tied 2.-2 en route to the fifth game at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
Brewers player Christian Yelich, who won the National League Most Valuable Player title, was particularly disappointed with the game.
"It's a player who has a history of this type of incident," Yelich told reporters. "Once, it's an accident." Repeated over and over again, it's a dirty game. "It's a dirty game .A dirty player .I have a lot of respect for him. as a player, but you can not respect a guy who plays the game like that. "
This is just another chapter of an eventful post-season for Machado, which creates buzz for good and bad reasons. It was acquired by the Dodgers in mid-July, as part of an exchange with the Orioles, an initiative geared toward serial success since Machado will be a free agent this winter. He is fourth in the Dodgers' lineup and has three homers and nine points in eight playoff games. He scored the winning point in the 13th inning Tuesday night, after hitting a singles with a broken bat and being led by Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers World Series is hoping, at least in part, to rest on his bat and what he can produce from here.
But there is everything else, mutual concessions, which featured in October. He did not run out of the ball in the second game of the NLCS and Jim Palmer, the Orioles Hall of Fame pitcher, tweeted, "Once again, Manny is not running very hard. 0-0 in the series, 0-0 in the 4th Too tired to run at 90 feet But wants the big $$ # pathetic. "In the third match, he tried to grab the lonely one. stop-stop Brewers, Orlando Arcia, while breaking the double play, and the referees excluded Bellinger from the match. Between the third and fourth games, he told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic: "I'm not the type of player that will be" Johnny Hustle ", and I went down the line and slipped to the first goal and, you know, anything that can happen … it's just not my personality, it's not my cup of tea, it's not who I am. "
Then he was in the 10th inning, meeting Aguilar at first base, triggering a debate about his intentions when only one person knew the truth. Aguilar told reporters after the match that Machado had apologized.
"You've seen the rebroadcast, probably," said Machado when asked what had happened in the game. "I was trying to overtake him and kick his foot. it's dirty, it's dirty, I do not know, call it whatever you want. "
What does Dave Roberts, the Dodger's manager, see? "I think it was one of those things where I think Aggie had the footing to the first goal and did not leave a lot of space to Manny on the sack. I n & # 39; I did not see the recovery, so he stepped on his foot and I. I think that was what Manny was talking about, but we have all solved the problem. "
Brewers manager Craig Counsell, does he think Machado goes beyond play hard? "I do not know, I guess they got tangled in first base, I do not think he's playing very hard."
It did not say much, but it was a lot.
Once Machado was singled out on the 13th, he found himself alongside Aguilar at the first goal and the two men started to argue. Machado covered his mouth with a batting glove. Aguilar did the same with his glove, so their words could not be captured by any camera. Then Machado patted Aguilar on the chest and Aguilar returned his gesture, and it seemed that what had happened three years ago was already deeply rooted in the past. But that does not mean that it will not infiltrate the rest of the series, given Yelich's comments, what Counsell inferred about Machado's efforts and how Machado seemed to superimpose a controversial moment on a other in post-season.
The gift of Machado is that he can do everything possible at any time: an impressive home run, a quick success, an unlikely game that steals one from the other team. But there is another side to all this. It can also be a curse.
"I'm trying to go out and win for my team," Machado said. "If it's their comments, it's their comments, I can not do anything about it."
This story was originally published in the Washington Post
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