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Pedro Martinez says he would have hit Manny Machado, just not in the head
Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez has weighed in on the developing hostilities between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, and not surprisingly he’s taking sides with his former team.
Well, kind of.
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Speaking to the Boston Herald this week, Martinez admitted he would have thrown at Baltimore’s Manny Machado just as Boston reliever Matt Barnes did last Sunday.
However, Martinez wasn’t a fan of the pitch sailing over Machado’s head. Instead, he says he would have aimed for Machado’s ribs.
“I would react the same way except I would try to keep the ball lower. The ribs –the ribs down. Butt cheek. Legs. But ribs,” Martinez told the Herald. “I aimed all the time to the ribcage — boom! And I was a sharpshooter, too. You rarely saw me right over the head. It would be the ribs.”
“I see baseball as a jungle,” Martinez said. “You kill to survive. (The Orioles) should have known, if you hurt one of my players…I’m glad I’m not pitching because I don’t think I would’ve missed. I would have hit (Machado) square in the ribs. And if I didn’t, I would try another one, too. That’s how it used to be.”
Martinez’s choice of words might be a little over-the-top, but nothing about his underlying message should come as a surprise to longtime baseball fans.
Martinez never shied away from confrontation during his career and never hesitated to send a message with a pitch when he deemed necessary.
Barnes was immediately ejected and ended up receiving a four-game suspension for his pitch, which served as retaliation for Machado spiking Dustin Pedroia on a late slide two days earlier. Had Barnes aimed for the ribs, perhaps that would have lessened his punishment. More importantly, it would have lessened the risk of a serious injury.
The crazy thing is all of this is over a situation that Pedroia himself has attempted to downplay, at least publicly. Pedroia says he wasn’t in favor of any type of retaliation. But what’s done is done, and what’s coming is a four-game series between these two teams starting Monday in Boston that could determine whether this feud ended in Baltimore or will carry on.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
