Manny Machado not as comfortable as the villain

BOSTON – Manny Machado made it clear during the unclean 38-minute day on Monday. Questions about the Boston Red Sox, his slide into Dustin Pedroia, their de facto captain, surfaced. During the National League championship series in Milwaukee, he was called a "dirty player" during an explosive tirade. NL's MVP, Christian Yelich, and various other investigations into how his past informs his present have been answered with a derivation of the same sentence.

"I'm here to win a world series."

It was not exactly Marshawn Lynch who was here, so he would not be fined. More like his cousin hurts uncomfortably. Machado, the Dodgers' 26-year-old short-stop in Los Angeles, sometimes spent time in the press the day before the Dodgers vs. Red Sox clash in the first game of the World Series. on the field: play the defense.

Rather than throwing propane tanks into the various bush fires that he has lit up over the years, Machado has been striving to avoid any further conflagration. And his stance has reinforced something that may not be obvious to those who see reels highlighting his trail of oxen left but that is obvious to those who know him: Machado is not someone who embraces the black cloud who is now hovering over him.

This is not the heel turn. The wicked embrace hatred. They savor in their misdeeds. They live in troll. They use a platform like the World Series – especially a series between two of the most prestigious franchises in the history of baseball – to amplify their quibble, not to pack it down.

Baseball is not the NBA, where drama and smallness are the blood supply of the heart that beats very hard. It's not the NFL either, where Lynch's desire not to talk has been turned into a successful marketing gimmick. The closest Machado ended up proposing something important about the controversies of his past and accused Major League Baseball of trying to create homogeneous players, which was interesting given his slogan " Let the kids play this fall.

"However, you play, you play," said Machado. "Everyone has their own different personalities in the game. Not everyone can be a robot. I know the MLB is trying to make us robots, but we will just play it and play our game. "

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This finally brings us back to Machado's game. Of which a large part, it must be noted, is glorious. Machado is a phenomenal hitter. He's a wizard on the ground. He will get $ 300 million, plus this season off as a free agent, despite the black marks, which are not really rare. Brewers' first player, Jesus Aguilar, was fined by the league and Yelich's inflammatory comments, as well as his lack of motivation to give the goal to first base, which, though optically mediocre, is not quite unique.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "In Boston, the story is much deeper. In April 2017, Machado slipped into second base during a forced play, lifted his left leg as he approached the sack and pushed his spikes into the back of Pedroia's knee Shortly thereafter, Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes threw Machado a quick shot, Machado was unhappy, and a few weeks later Chris Sale – starting the first game on Tuesday at 8:10 pm (ET) against Clayton Kershaw – launched a fastball 200 km / h behind Machado, give him a speech that, well, do yourself a favor and listen. "data-reactid =" 35 "> In Boston, the story is much deeper.In April 2017, Machado slipped into the second goal forcefully, raising his left leg as he approached the bag and pushing his spikes into the Shortly after, Red Sox thrower Matt Barnes threw a fast ball against Machado much too tight for a fastball to ever go into the batter's hole, Machado was unhappy, and a few weeks later Chris Sale – who starts match 1 Tuesday at 8:10 pm (ET) against Clayton Kershaw – threw a fastball at 98 mph behind Machado, which led him to make a joke that, good, do yourself a favor and listen.

Of course, given the recent and past history of Machado in which he stole the spirits and his recent and past links with the Red Sox – the fact that he was recently at Fenway Park – the inquisitive curious asked for clarifications on his thoughts. Among others, they were:

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