Machado begins 5-game suspension tonight.

[BamaOsFan]

Perfect timing. Finally hitting and he gets to sit.:angryfire:

[Can_of_corn]

Perfect timing. Finally hitting and he gets to sit.:angryfire:

You know this was the only way Buck was going to give the kid a day off.

[Ruzious]

3 games would have sent the message just fine. Players do more dangerous things than that - such as intentionally hitting a player with a 90 plus MPH baseball. And even when pitchers get a larger suspension, they generally don't miss more than 1 game. Nobody's arguing whether or not he should have been suspended and needed to learn a lesson. What about the absurd temper tantrum that Big Papi threw last year in an O's game? What was his suspension?

[webbrick2010]

I wonder if he would have admitted to intentionally throwing the bat would have resulted in a reduced sentence.

He was sticking to his lie that it slipped

If someone continued to lie to me that would indicate that he wasn't truly repentive... and I would have kept the suspension at 5 games

[LA2]

During his "State of the Orioles" interview, Duquette is defiantly critical of the decision; kudos to him for being so forthright--hope it doesn't get him into trouble further down the line:

"When a pitcher comes in from the bullpen and goes after the league's best defensive player in an area where he had an injury and they want to dock the player five games and the other guy escapes, that's a gross inequity. Hopefully reasonable people will apply reasonable standards. The pitcher could have been warned after the first pitch. Then he could have been thrown out of the game and then suspended. That would be equitable."

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/06/dan-duquette-addresses-fans-at-state-of-orioles-address.html

[LookitsPuck]

During his "State of the Orioles" interview, Duquette is defiantly critical of the decision; kudos to him for being so forthright--hope it doesn't get him into trouble further down the line:

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2014/06/dan-duquette-addresses-fans-at-state-of-orioles-address.html

Duquette nailed it on the head. Abad threw at him not once...but twice. As a matter of fact, the A's were throwing at his knee the entire series. Personally, I'd have been miffed as well. Granted, the long swing to the back of Norris's head was inexcusable. But I can see the reasoning for the bat toss...see: frustration. And it didn't put anyone at risk. He didn't throw it at the pitcher. He didn't throw it at the 3rd baseman. It was just tossed.

I think 5 games is absolutely asinine. And the fact that Abad didn't get anything makes me further believe that Torre is the wrong man for the job.

[pccp82]

I would make a "deal with it" .gif, but I'm not that clever.

it is what it is folks. two wrongs don't make a right.

[oriole]

Who did he throw the bat at?

Manny really needs to work on his bat toss since the bat didn't land particularly close to anyone.

He obviously threw the bat intentionally but I don't think you can make a case that he threw it at someone.

He intentionally threw the bat in between the white lines. That's reason enough to me to suspend him 5 games. If he actually hit a player intentionally then we'd be talking legit assault and real court cases, not MLB hearings.

If this was a player on any other team then many of you would feel differently.

[SteveO]

Duquette nailed it on the head. Abad threw at him not once...but twice. As a matter of fact, the A's were throwing at his knee the entire series. Personally, I'd have been miffed as well. Granted, the long swing to the back of Norris's head was inexcusable. But I can see the reasoning for the bat toss...see: frustration. And it didn't put anyone at risk. He didn't throw it at the pitcher. He didn't throw it at the 3rd baseman. It was just tossed.

I think 5 games is absolutely asinine. And the fact that Abad didn't get anything makes me further believe that Torre is the wrong man for the job.

Yea I agree 100%. If the umps had done their job this might have gone down differently. The fact that Abad got nothing is a joke. Manny deserved to be suspended, you cant throw the bat the way he did no matter how frustrated you may be but he certainly deserved some adjustment considering the mitigating factor that anyone with two eyes could see the A's were going after him the entire series IMO.

If I were Manny though I would leave the grumbling about it to DD and Buck, keep my head down and continue doing what what he has the past week or two. There is not much to be gained by commenting much on the decision IMO. Just say I did wrong, I accept baseballs decision and refer everything else to DD and Buck...end of story

[Ohfan67]

I heard the hearing was really crazy and DD went nuts. Here's some security camera footage.

[lormat]

Wasn't Yankee Joe Torre the one who heard the appeal?

[SeaBird]

What about the absurd temper tantrum that Big Papi threw last year in an O's game? What was his suspension?

After being ejected for arguing balls and strikes, Ortiz took out his anger on an inanimate object in the dugout. He didn't try to hit anybody. He was fined $5000.

[Ohfan67]

Wasn't Yankee Joe Torre the one who heard the appeal?

Not a lot of love between the Yanks and Torre these days.

[SteveO]

He intentionally threw the bat in between the white lines. That's reason enough to me to suspend him 5 games. If he actually hit a player intentionally then we'd be talking legit assault and real court cases, not MLB hearings.

If this was a player on any other team then many of you would feel differently.

I think he deserves to be suspended but when you allow a team to throw inside on a guy an entire series and then do nothing when the pitcher out and out tries to hit him, maybe MLB should admit that their umpires did an absolutely horrible job of maintaining a safe playing environment for all players on both sides.

There is a reason that umps have the discretion to toss people or give warnings, its so that things like this do not boil over and get out of hand. MLB loves to just pretend that what we all witnessed never really happened. Instead Manny just got mad he was hit and threw the bat when he was hit. Thus Abad does not need to be suspended and our umps did a fine job of responding appropriately. See how much nicer that sounds then our saying our Umps were incompetent and let things get out of control culminating in one guy throwing at anothers injured knee and the guy being thrown at throwing his bat risking the safety of everyone because we suck at our job....

[SeaBird]

Who did he throw the bat at?

Manny really needs to work on his bat toss since the bat didn't land particularly close to anyone.

He obviously threw the bat intentionally but I don't think you can make a case that he threw it at someone.

Go out in a yard or a park, away from people, and try to throw a bat at an imaginary target. Odds are it will whirlybird away, nowhere near your intended target unless you've practiced a few times to learn the necessary release point.