Following the NLDS Game 5 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday that sent his team to the National League Championship Series, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made an interesting admission: he called attention to Manny Machado's throw/toss of a baseball into the Dodgers' dugout during Game 2 of the series as a diversionary tactic.
When Roberts was asked whether his delayed reaction was a calculated one, he told The Athletic:
"It was. It was. As a manager, you never want to make it about you. But I just felt in that situation, if we could take it off our guys a little bit … Manny and I have a really good relationship. I would take him any day. But I don't think that diversion was a bad thing for our guys. And they responded by having my back."
Here's the throw/toss in question, which took place during that eventual 10-2 Dodgers loss in Game 2:
Here is video of Manny Machado throwing the ball toward the #Dodgers dugout. The ball had just been used by Yu Darvish to warm up. Kyle Higashioka’s throw to second bounced in the dirt, so Darvish received a new ball to begin the inning. #Padres pic.twitter.com/Wkf1L4Pff5
— Annie Heilbrunn (@annieheilbrunn) October 8, 2024
Maybe it's a little firmer than most such throws, but overall it probably seems pretty ordinary and standard to impartial eyes when it comes to baseballs idly tossed out of play, even if you consider the earlier dramatics between the Dodgers, Padres and the fans. Roberts, though, reacted this way the next day:
"I didn't notice it at the time. I really didn't. I didn't notice it. I did see the video. And it was unsettling. Obviously I have a relationship with Manny from years past. There was intent behind it. It didn't almost hit me because there was a net.
"And that was very bothersome. If it was intended at me, I would be very -- it's pretty disrespectful.
"So I don't know his intent. I don't want to speak for him. But I did see the video. And the ball was directed at me with something behind it.
"But I don't know what led to that. I didn't see it in real time but I did see the video."
In light of what the throw actually looked like, Roberts' words come off as a fairly extreme overreaction. Now we know why, at least to the extent that Roberts' second version of events is any more truthful than the first.
