Red Sox throwing coach Dana Levangie said Manny Machado was relaying the signs for the second game.(Photo: Jon Durr, USA TODAY Sports)

LOS ANGELES – It did not take long. Manny Machado is back in the news.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' shortstop showed a behavior that raised eyebrows in the second game of the World Series.

During Enrique Hernandez's round in the fourth inning on Wednesday, Machado took a short lead over second and closely watched Boston Red Sox receiver Christian Vazquez as he waved to David Price.

With all the subtlety of a hammer, Machado shifted his right hand from the hip to the tip of his helmet, then grabbed the letters from his jersey.

Throughout Hernandez's nine-length fight, and again for Yasiel Puig after Hernandez's withdrawal, Machado made various deliberate gestures just as Price was determined.

This is what the theft of placards looks like, from Major League level to Junior baseball. This is the reason why the catchers often stop for a visit of the mound when an opponent reaches the second goal, and why they display a series of coded signs each time a runner is on the goal.

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Puig hit a mere RBI in the inning. After the game, Red Sox's throwing coach, Dana Levangie, said Bleacher's report that he "He had wanted to enjoy a visit to the mound to alert Price on the ongoing larceny, but had chosen not to break Price's momentum after hitting Hernandez.

But to hear the managers of the World Series say it, steal signs in its analog form – no iPad, no Apple watch, no camera – just a baserunner trying to understand the sequence and relay it to the batter – It's only part of the game.

"It has been going on since the beginning of the game," Dodgers coach Dave Roberts said on Friday. "There is a game aspect of trying to get a benefit. And coaches and players do it every day.

"But now, when you introduce the technology and you use it as an advantage, I think a line is crossed. It's there that Major League Baseball did a very good job, trying to prevent that from happening. "

"But with regard to the theft of the panel, I guess everyone is probably guilty of that or has tried to do it."

The Houston Astros were the last to get caught using electronic devices. A club employee was watching the Red Sox's dugout canoe with a cell phone camera from the well of the first-baseman photographer's first three rounds of the American League Championship game 1 at Fenway Park. .

But what Machado did is not illegal.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora suggested the theft of signs was a way for a club to pay close attention to detail. He told a story about Hall of Fame Robbie Alomar, capitalizing on the catcher's nonchalant return while Cora and Alomar played ball together in Puerto Rico.

"You just have to be prepared as a team," said Cora. "That's the only thing you can do. Stealing signs and tips has always lasted. I learned in Miami, in college, we did it. I do not know if it's good for the program, but yes, we did it before.

The Dodgers starter for the fourth game, Rich Hill, said it was incumbent on the pitcher to make sure his opponents did not understand the signs.

"If the guys receive the signs of the second goal and pass them to the batter, you have to be a little more savvy as a pitcher to be able to display multiple signs and change your signs if something like that happens," he said. declared. .

"I do not have a problem with the guys passing signs of the second goal to the batter, because if you're not, again, well equipped enough to be ready to change your signs into one." set of different signs or another – whatever your choice. the variation could be, it's about you, the pitcher. That's how I see it.

Machado's efforts were not enough to help the Dodgers win on Wednesday. The Red Sox hold a two-game advantage in the top-seven series in the third game.

Follow Berg on Twitter @OGTedBerg

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