Padres Star Details Why Wednesday Officiating Was Frustrating, Not Worried About RISP
Whether the San Diego Padres win or lose, you can always count on Manny Machado to keep it real in his postgame interviews. He is one of the best current players to lace up a pair of cleats and we all know that when he plays, he is the heart and soul of this Friars squad.
As one of their leaders, he always sticks up for his guys through think and thin and with the Padres sitting four games under .500 right now, we have consistently seen a version of him that believes in his teammates but also wants a change in results already. He's gone on record saying that when they figure things out, everybody will forget the animosity surrounding the clubhouse right now.
But there are just certain games that even the biggest stars in the league cannot believe the outcome and this was the case on Wednesday for Machado. He was quite productive as he collected two hits in both of his at-bat's but the Friars were not able to capitalize on majority of the runners they got on base and ultimately fell to the Giants 4-2.
However, the entire team was fed up due to a fifth inning play in which Fernando Tatis Jr. sent a missile from the outfield on point to Gary Sanchez to get Blake Sabol out before he reached home plate. But the play then got challenged by the Giants and it was ultimately ruled illegal by Sanchez to block the base path despite Sabol being far from scoring.
It has now become an entire debate as to whether or not the official MLB rulebook was followed and Machado wants to make sure the world knows that that is not right. When asked about the team's dropping RISP once again, he wanted to focus on the missed call instead.
“Honestly, we’re not even thinking about runners in scoring position,” said Machado. “… That play right there, (Yu) Darvish gets into a little bit of a pickle there. To get get away with it with just one run, that’s a hell of an inning for us. That’s a win. Then you just compete. … We don’t know if we’re going to score two runs like we did. But it changes it. It’s a different ballgame if it’s 1-0 and not 4-0.”
(Via The San Diego-Union Tribune)
The 30-year-old star also didn't like that it took the officials so long to come out with the 'wrong' decision.
“It’s windy; it’s cold,” said Machado.. “It takes them 15 minutes to make a call, and then you overturn it. You ice our pitcher down. (He has) to go out there and get another out. I mean, it was just, yeah, it was just a (messed) up inning.”
(Via The San Diego-Union Tribune)
Nonetheless, let's hope that the Padres use this as motivation in their final game against the Giants!
