Machado's Intentional Bat Flip Frustration

Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is one of the best young players in the game. At age 21, he does things not many players are able to do on both the offense and defense.  He had quite the weekend on the baseball diamond against the Oakland A's involving two different situations where Machado let his emotions get the best of him. Machado needs to learn how to reel in his emotional issues as he will be seen as a player opposing teams know they can get under his skin easy.

Friday's incident is not as severe as Sunday, but it still sparked everything for the weekend.In the third inning, Machado gets caught in a rundown and Oakland A's third baseman Josh Donaldson applied a sort of hard tag on him.  Machado didn't appreciate it and overreacted like I do when some girl doesn't talk to me on Tinder. He threw his helmet towards the direction of Donaldson sparking a fracas leading to the benches clearing out momentarily. Orioles pitchers seemed to defend Machado as Wei-Yin Chen threw at Donaldson later on in the game. It seemed like one of those moments that happen occasionally in baseball, but nothing more was thought of it.

Sunday is where things escalated to a full on feud and potential reputation-changing moment for Machado. Fernando Abad threw inside on Machado two consecutive times hoping he could break him, and that's exactly what happened as the young Orioles third baseman flung his bat towards Donaldson. Machado didn't use his words or his hands rather he threw a bat whom could have got several people hurt. It was a terrible decision by him, and there is no place for it in baseball. Odds are MLB will suspend him for five or more games to send a message to Machado is pretty high. He looked like a complete punk, but there are moments where we all have acted like punks at 21.

Where does this sudden anger stem from?  Possibly, the fact Machado is not having a good start in his second full season. We hear all the time about sophomore slumps, and it could ring true for the young Orioles player. In 34 games this season, he is hitting .235 on the season with only seven total extra bases with four home runs along with 19 hits and struck out 26 times already this season. Machado had a great 2013 campaign, and it appears the book has been figured out on him at least for the time being. He will likely be fine as many young players go through struggles like this one, but it is clear Machado's frustration at the plate carried over to what happened on the baseball diamond.

The bummer part of this is many people will now classify Machado for this incident. Obviously, he shouldn't have done it, but this doesn't make him a bad person. He did something stupid at a young age. I drank 15 shots of rum in 60 to 90 minutes at age 20. I should have probably been in the hospital that night, but I never did it again. Odds are Machado will never do something this again. Maybe that's a bad comparison, but at the same time, we do dumb things when we are young no matter if we are college kids or professional athletes. Machado will hopefully find a way to be a better player on the field and control his temper as much as possible.

Baltimore is in second-place in the American League East being 5.5 back from Toronto. If they want to make a serious run at returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2012, they will need Machado to be at his highest level.

Charlie. 

Highlights-Lowlights: Orioles-Brewers (5/26-5/28)

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game.

Highlights
Khris Davis - What a week for this guy whose red hot in his last 10 games. Davis has moved his average from .215 to .251 in 10 days with hitting three straight home runs. Davis went 7 for 11 drawing three walks as well and scoring five runs as well. It shows you why teams do not give up on players and keep giving them chances. For the year, Davis' strikeout total is 49, but in his eight-game hitting streak, he only stuck out four times. Who knows if this is just a hot streak, but it is clear he figured something out at the plate in the last couple of games.

Carlos Gomez - Mr. Feel Sexy is doing the damn thing at the cleanup spot. It is like Gomez never wanted to leave the four spot. Gomez is hitting .476 from the cleanup spot with a nine-game hitting streak featuring a majority games with him at the cleanup position. Even the inning he got hit by the pitch by Bud Norris on Wednesday, he stole a base, took third on a sac fly and scored on another sac fly. He manufactures runs for this team, and him leading off any inning has a chance for the Brewers to score a run. I think he is right up there for the first two-month MVP and definitely in consideration for Player of the Month. Oh he also got hooked up with some kiwis.

Thx to everyone over at @ZESPRIkiwifruit for the Kiwi, remember ppl Kiwi is good 4 your health!! pic.twitter.com/Q91cuiccS6
— Carlos Gomez (@C_Gomez27) May 28, 2014

Yovani Gallardo - Pretty good series for Yo as he drove in the game-winning run on Tuesday night in one of the more inexplicable Brewer win this season, and then went out to pitch pretty strongly minus Nelson Cruz only allowing four hits, striking out five batters getting his first win since April. Gallardo looked better as the game went on Wednesday night. It showed he had a little bit of rust at the beginning of the game and bounced back nicely through the near seven innings.

Nelson Cruz - One of my five things to watch featured 'Avoid Nelson Cruz' and the Brewers clearly did not. He hit three home runs this series with two home runs on Wednesday and one Tuesday. He now has 19 homers for the season. The guy seems in a complete zone. Gallardo couldn't pitch him outside or inside as Cruz hit both of them far out. Good move by the Orioles to take a flier on him with a one-year eight million dollar deal. Me thinks he will get a lot more money this offseason.

Will Smith - It seemed like Ron Roenicke gave Smith a break during the road trip. He only pitched twice against Atlanta and once against Miami. But the Brewers needed him on both Tuesday and Wednesday night. He had two strong outings striking out all four batters he faced on Wednesday night, and stopping the bleeding on Tuesday night with the disastrous seventh. Usually, the All-Star Game doesn't send relief pitchers but I feel like Smith is deserving of an All-Star bid at this point of the season.

Lowlights
Khris Davis' Death Threat - It was reported on Tuesday, Davis received a death threat around the Cubs series via social media. Just complete stupid. Sometimes I wonder why athletes use Twitter because there is so much bullshit out there. Glad to see Davis didn't let it affect his play.

Matt Garza's Seventh - It appears this is becoming a theme when Garza pitches in a series. He has one blowup inning. I do think this one could have been prevented. Garza could have been pulled after the Jean Segura error knowing he has a tendency to lose his mental stability, but instead, Milwaukee kept him in leading to a three-run homer by Steve Pearce. Garza pitched well for six innings. He struck out nine batters and looked in control for the most part. Roenicke needs to do a better job of pulling Garza a little quicker before it mushroom clouds on him.

Seventh Inning in General - What the hell is going on with this inning? It is becoming downright scary when opposing teams step up to the plate in the seventh. In the last six games, Milwaukee pitchers have allowed 12 runs in the seventh inning. That's an obvious problem. I don't know if it is a bullpen issue or a Roenicke issue of keeping pitchers in for too long. This will start to become a storyline for a bit until something changes with this hexed inning.

Playing the Orioles - Jesus, I feel for opposing AL East teams. It sucked to play against the O's. No disrespect either, they are a pretty good team, but they just don't quit. Their pitching isn't top notch, but that offense can keep them in any game. It is nice to know the only time the Brewers can play the Orioles again this year is the World Series. Just glad I don't have to watch the Brewers play this team consistently because this series was exhausting.  

Francisco Rodriguez's Monday - I kind of hinting at this on Friday with our Brewers-Marlins preview about my concern with the lack of games Frankie had played in during this last 15 game span. He only has five appearances, and I think that had something to do with his unraveling on Monday. I did think he pitched well on Tuesday night, but the fact Rodriguez needed only one out is maddening.

Charlie.

SnoTap's Thing of the Day: Yovani's Double Should Be Looping on your Computer

I don't know if this will be a daily thing. The reason why I scaled back on SnoTap was due to the workload and so far, it worked out great for me. Adding something in the morning is not always something I will have on here, but when Yovani Gallardo hits a walk-off double, we need to post it. I will have in Highlights-Lowlights tomorrow too, but man oh man, this is awesome. Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter gave his best Tony La Russa impression and managed himself out of the baseball game. Such an awesome ending to what could have been a disappointing game. Gallardo pitches tonight against Bud Norris.

Charlie.

Orioles-Brewers Preview (5/26-5/28)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups
Monday:      Chris Tillman (4-2 4.21) vs. Kyle Lohse (6-1 2.67)     1:10 pm FSNWI
Tuesday:      Wei-Yen Chen (5-2 4.08) vs. Matt Garza (2-4 4.92)       7:10 pm FSNWI
Wednesday: Bud Norris (3-4 3.83) vs. Yovani Gallardo (2-3 3.51) 7:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Home Sweet Home - Brewers are back at Miller Park for the first time in two weeks. The road trip ended on a high note with the Crew taking two of three from Miami, but in reality, Milwaukee really should be on a five-game winning streak as they pissed away both Thursday and Saturday's game. Even though the Brewers are only four games above .500 at home, it is still nice to be playing in front of the fans and getting to sleep in their own bed each night. This week at home needs to be an efficient one, and hopefully the hot hitting continues this week.  .

2.) New World Order - Ron Roenicke has been criticized by me in the past for being very generic and robotic with some of the decisions he makes in all aspects of the game. Roenicke thought outside the box to put Ryan Braun hitting second and Carlos Gomez in the cleanup spot. The Brewers scored seven and nine runs in their two wins this weekend, their highest run total in a game since their eight-run output against Arizona on May, 3rd. Roenicke is sticking with the lineup today, and you wonder if Aramis Ramirez will be hitting fifth when he returns from injury or if Roenicke will revert back to the old lineup.

3.) Kyle Lohse's continued success - This could be the biggest jinx of the season given I am writing this about 40 minutes before he tows the rubber, but right now, he is the best pitcher on the Brewers staff. Everything is working for Lohse which is great to see as other pitchers have struggled slightly. One thing that might make you a little nervous about today is Lohse really has seen any of the bats for Baltimore. That can also work to a pitcher's advantage too. Lohse goes out there with another strong outing like he did against Atlanta, I think you can make a case he deserves to be in consideration for Pitcher of the Month in the National League.

4.) Avoiding Nelson Cruz - One of the hottest players in baseball right now with 16 home runs for the season and hitting .295. Orioles picked him up as a flyer before the season started and no one really thought much of it yet he is carrying the team right now leading them in almost every batting category. One advantage the Brewers do have with him though is he cannot play defense to save his soul meaning the Crew could get some added chances with balls hit to left field this week. Given Miller Park and the weather this week, you almost have to expect Cruz to hit one or two out, let's hope they are solo shots.

5.) Little pitching, big offense week? - It is humid as all hell today meaning the panels will be open today and likely tomorrow if the storms hold off which is good news if you like a lot of offense. I wouldn't be surprised to see several balls fly out of the stadium. Granted, Brewers pitching has been good and Orioles haven't been too bad so maybe I am wrong and we will see a bunch of pitcher's duels like we have grown accustomed to in the first two months of the baseball season.

Appropriate YouTube video


For all the troops out there, serving, served or lost in combat. THANK YOU. This day is about remembering the fallen whom fought for our freedom. Nothing better than montages of soldiers coming home to their families.

Prediction 
Brewers have done well against the AL East thus far going 5-1. I could see two out of three from the Crew. Feels like they are getting warm again.

Charlie.