There’s no love lost between Manny Machado and the Los Angeles Dodgers faithful.
Despite once donning the Dodger blue, Manny Machado is currently public enemy No. 1 in Los Angeles. The San Diego Padres third baseman put a target on his back in Game 2 of their NLDS battle. Thanks to his ostensibly suspect base running, he only made matters worse the following contest.
Machado took an awkward path to second base on a hard-hit ground ball by Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill in the bottom of the second inning. The former’s direction made it difficult for Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman to turn the double play, instead forcing a throwing error.
Freeman’s miscue in response to Machado taking a visually odd course to second sparked a chain reaction. Not only did the latter advance into scoring position, but he got to third base. Then, the Padres star reached home on a fielder’s choice by Xander Bogaerts, marking the first run of San Diego’s six in the frame.
Ump show: Manny Machado gives Dodgers fans more reason to vilify him with controversial base running
The Dodgers faithful needed additional cause to besmirch Machado after the antics from Game 2. But the standout infielder delivered them further incentive to do so with his strange-looking angle to second base. However, the FS1 announcing duo of Joe Davis and John Smoltz saw no foul play — for what it’s worth
Davis and Smoltz credited Machado for the savvy, heads-up baserunning. Furthermore, the broadcast described how there wasn’t anything illegal about the veteran slugger’s movement because he wasn’t avoiding a tag. In such scenarios, the runner has no restrictions.
As much as Dodgers fans want to tally the stain on Machado’s record, no rules were broken. Instead, it’s better to channel that energy toward the vicious comeback Los Angeles mounted the subsequent set of outs. The club scored four runs to cut the deficit to one, quickly putting the incident in the rearview mirror.
