Rob Long: The Punishment Fit The Crime
On Monday, Major League Baseball upheld the five-game suspension they originally handed Manny Machado for throwing a bat during a game on June 8th at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The incident capped off an odd weekend where Machado seemed to be completely out of character.
On June 6th Machado reacted by getting into a shouting match with Josh Donaldson when Manny felt the Oakland infielder was overly aggressive during a tag play early in the game. Things got weird from that point for the duration of the three-game series.
Oriole fans had not seen that side of the 22 year old third baseman. Manny burst on the scene on August, 2012. They witnessed a kid who earned his stripes with good hitting and superb defense which made him the 2013 Platinum Glove winner.
After an appeal that Manny attended with Orioles Executive Vice President Dan Duquette, both the O's and Machado were hoping for a reduction. On Monday they discovered they did not get what they hoped for and Manny would have to start serving that suspension immediately.
Manny spoke with the media after finding out about the ruling and said he learned with this incident. Manny later added that the lesson was to never do this again. In the meantime, the Orioles will have to get used to life without their best defender.
In the interim, Chris Davis will chip in playing third while Steve Pearce plays first. At least that was the plan for Monday's opener against the Texas Rangers.
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