BALTIMORE All Matt Barnes had to do yesterday was drill Manny Machado in the butt like Pedro would have done with the Bambino.

Instead, by sailing a pitch behind Machados head, Barnes woke up the Bambino, the Orioles and this is most damning his own team leader.

He also ensured that these hostilities will likely linger until at least the next Red Sox-Orioles series.

Cant anybody here play this game the right way?

By not exacting revenge correctly, Barnes blew up a chance to broker a truce with the Orioles.

The pitch also caused a self-inflicted wound that doesnt help the Sox own harmony and chemistry.

Its too soon to assess the damage not with a wound this fresh.

Thats not how you do that, man Im sorry to (Machado) and his team, said Dustin Pedroia after the 6-2 Sox win. If youre going to protect guys, you do it right away. He knows that. We both know that. Its definitely a mishandled situation. There was zero intention of him trying to hurt me, he just made a bad slide (when) he did hurt me (Friday night). Its baseball, man. Im not mad at him. I love Manny Machado. I love playing against him. I love watching him. If I slid into third base and got Mannys knee, I know Im going to get drilled. Thats baseball. I get drilled, and I go to first base. Thats it.

Teammates dont throw shade on teammates real often.

Especially Pedroia.

Barnes, Pedroia and manager John Farrell all swore that the right-handed reliever was not aiming at Machados head. Theres no reason to doubt that or malign Barnes, who is the opposite of a bad egg.

But the videotape will always show that his pitch was a couple inches away from hitting Machados head and causing who knows what kind of terrible injury.

Nobody wants to be labeled a head-hunter.

In the minds of most of those who live in Baltimore or play for the Orioles, Barnes was head-hunting yesterday.

You can kill a guy doing that, said Os pitcher Kevin Gausman.

It didnt matter that Barnes wasnt trying to bean Machado, just as it doesnt matter that Machado wasnt trying to maim Pedroia when he slid past second base, spikes high and landed on Pedroias left leg, injuring his knee and ankle and keeping him out of game action for two games and counting.

Intent is not the issue now.

Revenge, justice, long memories and baseballs inscrutable and uncodified code are still in play.

Barnes aim was more than lousy. It was inflammatory.

I think it was completely obvious havent seen a guy miss that bad in a while, behind a guys head I dont think theres any question about it, said Orioles first baseman Chris Davis.

Baltimore manager Buck Showalter was relatively subdued.

Whether he threw at him or not, Ill let him and the good Lord answer, said Showalter. Im not going to get into that.

Machado himself took a long time to come out and meet the media. Before he did, he had plenty of time to see the TV replays that caught his exchanges across the diamond with Pedroia, where Pedroia was telling him that he wouldnt have handled the situation like that.

He also received a text from Pedroia.

You never want to get hit in the head, intentionally or not, it doesnt matter, you dont want to get hit in the head, said Machado.

Im going to respect Pedey to the end of this day, I look up to a guy like that. Whatever he says and whatever is going on that side is up to them and their situation. At the end of day he knows what happened, and I respect him to the end of the day. He shot me a text. Its just part of the game, part of baseball. We all grind out there. We all play hard. We all play hard for each other and hard for the team we play against.

Machado and the rest of the Orioles drew kudos from Showalter for not letting their emotions get the best of them.

They all, believe me, wanted to do something about it, said Showalter, who made sure to come out on the field and put himself in between Machado and the nearest Red Sox after the pitch. I really respect the courage our players had today.

Barnes sounded appropriately miserable.

I would never ever intentionally throw at somebodys head, said Barnes. Thats kind of a line you dont cross. Im sorry that it kind of ended up that high and fortunately it didnt hit him but I think hes got every right to be mad that that one got loose.

Yes, Machado was mad, as are the Orioles and Pedroia.

This will settle down, but it wont be forgotten.

All because Barnes could not drill someone the right way.

Here is the original post:
Silverman: Matt Barnes' pitch leads to dangerous chemistry - Boston Herald