published on August 28, 2024 in Celeb Gist

Christian Yelich calls Manny Machado a dirty player after Game 4 incident. Machado says he is

LOS ANGELES — Manny Machado is not making many friends this postseason, and the Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop does not seem to mind.

In the 10th inning of the Dodgers' 2-1 win on Tuesday night, Machado was running through first base when his left foot hit the leg of Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar. Aguilar, thinking Machado did it on purpose, took exception and the two exchanged words. Both benches cleared and a handful of pitchers jogged onto the field from each team’s bullpen. The dust-up cleared almost as soon as it came, but Machado was lit up on social media and the conversation trickled into the Brewers' clubhouse after the game, even if the most important part of the night was that the series is now tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.

Why does Manny Machado do the things he does?

Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, the front-runner for the National League MVP award, was particularly peeved by the play.

“He is a player that has a history of those types of incidents,” Yelich told reporters. “One time is an accident, Repeated over and over and over again, it’s a dirty play. It’s a dirty play by a dirty player. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, but you can’t respect a guy who plays the game like that."

This is just another chapter of an eventful postseason for Machado, who is creating buzz for the right and wrong reasons. He was acquired by the Dodgers in a mid-July trade with the Baltimore Orioles, a move geared toward succeeding in the playoffs since Machado will be a free agent this winter. He is carved into the fourth spot of the Dodgers' lineup and has three home runs and nine RBI in eight postseason games. He scored the game-winning run in the 13th inning on Tuesday night, after he hit a broken-bat single and was driven in by Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers' World Series hopes, at least in part, rest on his bat and how much he can produce from here.

But then there is everything else, the give and take, which has put his name in headlines this October. He did not run out a groundball in Game 2 of the NLCS and Jim Palmer, the Orioles' Hall of Fame pitcher, tweeted, “Once again Manny doesn’t run hard. Down 0-1 in series, 0-0 game in 4th. Too tired to run hard for 90 feet. But wants the big $$ #pathetic.” In Game 3, he reached out to grab Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia while breaking up a double play and umpires ruled Bellinger out at first. Between Games 3 and 4, he told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, " I’m not the type of player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle,’ and run down the line and slide to first base and, you know, whatever can happen. That’s just not my personality, that’s not my cup of tea, that’s not who I am."

Then there he was in the 10th inning, running into Aguilar at first base, igniting a debate of what his intentions were when only one person knows the truth. Aguilar told reporters after the game that Machado did apologize.

“You saw the replay, probably,” Machado said when asked what happened on the play. “I was trying to get over him and hit his foot. If that’s dirty, that’s dirty, I don’t know, call it what you want.”

What did Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts see? “I think it was one of those things where I think Aggie had his foot on first base and didn’t give Manny a whole lot of room on the bag. I didn’t see the replay. So he stepped on his foot and I think that was what Manny was talking about. But we all worked it out.”

Does Brewers Manager Craig Counsell think Machado is going beyond just playing hard? “I don’t know. I guess they got tangled up at first base. I don’t think he’s playing all that hard.”

That was not saying much, but it was saying a lot.

Once Machado singled in the 13th, he stood next to Aguilar at first base and the two started to chat. Machado covered his mouth with a batting glove. Aguilar did the same with his glove, so their words could not be captured by any cameras. Then Machado patted Aguilar on the chest, and Aguilar returned the gesture, and it seemed like whatever happened three innings earlier was already deep in the past. But that does not mean it won’t seep into the rest of the series, given Yelich’s comments, what Counsell inferred about Machado’s effort and how Machado has seemed to stack one controversial moment on top of another this postseason.

Machado’s gift is that he can make anything can happen at any time: a towering home run, a timely hit, an improbable play that steals a single from the other team. But there is another side to all of that. It can be a curse, too.

“I try to go out there and win for my team,” Machado said. “If that’s their comments, that’s their comments. I can’t do nothing about that.”

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