Matt Barnes Throws One Behind Manny Machado's Head, Dustin Pedroia Says 'That's Not How You Do That'
First thing’s first, under no circumstances should you throw at somebody’s head. I’m all for throwing at guys if the situation calls for it — it’s part of the game — but the head is off limits, always. I’ve been pretty consistent with that in non-Red Sox incidents, and it makes no difference here, regardless of what kind of laundry these guys are wearing. When it originally happened, I tweeted, “Matt Barnes drinks for free,” for having Dustin Pedroia’s back (that was obviously before Pedroia made his postgame comments), but in no way was I condoning throwing at somebody’s head. If you’re gonna throw at a guy, hit him in the ass or the back. Keep it below the shoulders. Barnes did not do that.
I think most guys understand that targeting the head is big no-no, which is why I’d like to give Barnes the benefit of the doubt here in that he tried to put one in Manny Machado’s ribs or something and it just got away, but who knows. For all I know, he could’ve been targeting the head, but we’ll never get a straight answer on that. What I do know is that Barnes does not have the reputation of throwing at anybody — never mind at their head, just in general — while Machado has built quite the reputation of being a player who often gets thrown at for the shit that he does on the field. Those are facts.
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Here’s what Barnes had to say after the game:
“I would never ever intentionally throw at somebody’s head,” Barnes said. “That’s a line you don’t cross. I’m sorry that it kind of ended up that high and fortunately it didn’t hit him. But I think he’s got every right to be mad that that one got loose.”
Now, should Barnes get suspended? Yes, he should. He claimed after the game that it was unintentional, but we all know that’s bullshit. He has to say that. The suspension would be even worse if he just outright admitted that he threw at a guy. So, he’ll get a couple games for that, and he’s lucky he didn’t seriously hurt Machado. Also worth noting that Barnes did apologize — something that, to my knowledge, Machado did not do after injuring Dustin Pedroia. At least, not publicly. I would hope that he did so privately.
As all of this was going on, the camera kept cutting to Pedroia in the dugout, and you could kind of read his facial expressions that he was not comfortable with what was transpiring on the field. Kudos to NESN for capturing this back and forth between Pedroia and Machado.
Pedroia’s a pretty straightforward guy. He’s telling Machado that him getting thrown at was not his call, and that if he was going to tell one of his pitchers to drill him, “I would’ve hit you the first day.” Have to appreciate the honesty there, and he’s right. The best way to do it is the next day, and then it’s over.
The Red Sox waited until one of their last opportunities to do it in the series, which I don’t agree with, but the Orioles come to Fenway Park on May 1 for four games. It’s not like the Jose Bautista situation with Texas where the Rangers waited until their last meeting of the season and the last inning to do it before they retaliated. The Red Sox might’ve waited until the last game of the series, but these two teams meet each other again one week from tomorrow. This obviously isn’t over, even more so because the pitch was behind the Orioles’ best player’s head.
The Pedroia exchange with Machado on the field told us a lot, but his comments weren’t just in that NESN clip. He also sounded off after the game.
“That’s not how you do that, man,” Pedroia said. “I’m sorry to (Machado) and his team. If you’re going to protect guys, you do it right away. He knows that. We both know that. It’s definitely a mishandled situation. There was zero intention of him trying to hurt me. He just made a bad slide. He did hurt me. It’s baseball, man. I’m not mad at him. I love Manny Machado. I love playing against him. I love watching him. If I slid into third base and got Manny’s knee, I know I’m going to get drilled. That’s baseball. I get drilled, and I go to first base. That’s it.”
But Pedroia didn’t believe Barnes was trying to injure Machado.
“He’s not trying to hit Manny in the head,” Pedroia said. “It’s just a bad situation.”
Okay, so I have a question — It’s my understanding that in these situations, the pitchers usually communicate with the player who has been wronged before the pitcher retaliates. If Pedroia felt that strongly about Machacho’s innocence, then how did that memo not get back to the bullpen guys? I’m not even being facetious; I’m genuinely curious. If Pedroia really wanted to squash this thing and move on, doesn’t that seem like the type of thing where you’d approach the bullpen guys and be like, “Listen, either do it on Saturday or don’t do it at all.”
And no matter what team you root for, you have to give a ton of credit to Pedroia for saying how he truly felt about it. He could’ve said “no comment” if he didn’t agree with his own teammates’ actions, but I think it says a lot about his character to speak honestly and openly about it, even if he’s condemning the actions of his own teammate. “Condemning” might be too strong of a word, but it’s very clear that he did not agree with how the Red Sox handled the situation.
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Like I said, the Orioles are coming to Fenway Park a week from Monday. The Yankees are coming to town this week, and I’m sure NESN is going to be plugging the shit out of that series as a “rivalry renewed” but it’s a complete fabrication. That rivalry has been dead for over ten years. The real rivalry is right here with the Baltimore Orioles.