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The Boston Red Sox Friday, October 9, 2020 * The Boston Herald Red Sox fans should be Dodgers fans this October thanks to Manny Machado Jason Mastrodonato It’s time for Red Sox fans to suck it up and root for the Dodgers. Sure, they have Mookie Betts. And they have Joe Kelly. But it’s not about who the Dodgers have. It’s who they don’t have: Manny Machado. It’s hard to think of a current MLB player who has done more to irritate the Red Sox than Machado, who found himself back in the Boston baseball conversation on Thursday thanks to his latest in his long line of childhood antics during a playoff game on Wednesday night. “So you can hit balls to the moon and almost dance at (the plate),” Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez tweeted. “Why (is it) the pitcher (can’t) do whatever they want after they get you out? If you call it, let the kids play, is about everybody, not just let the hitters play right? ‘You do it, I do it,’ I think.” Rodriguez has faced Machado more than any other hitter in his career. Machado has never homered off him, going 6-for-35 (.171) with two doubles and six strikeouts. If anyone has the right to stand up to the former Baltimore Bully, it’s Rodriguez. Flash back to Wednesday night, in Game 2 of the National League Division Series between the Padres, who signed Machado to a 10-year, $300-million contract before the 2019 season, and the Dodgers, Machado’s former team. The Dodgers led 4-1 in the sixth inning when Machado hit a solo homer off Clayton Kershaw and celebrated like he just hit a walk-off salami. It was a great swing on a curveball near his ankles, and he roped it on a line out over the left-field fence. Then he put his bat in his right hand and threw it overhand down the third-base line while screaming a few words that can’t be printed in newspapers. Fine. Whatever. Whether you are for pro-styling on home runs or against it, that doesn’t matter. He hit a nice homer in a playoff game. Celebrate away. But one inning later, when Cody Bellinger hauled in a game-saving catch to rob Fernando Tatis Jr. of a go- ahead homer against Brusdar Graterol, Machado must’ve forgotten all about his celebration. Graterol sure didn’t. The burly pitcher walked off the mound and chucked his glove toward his own dugout, then took his cap off and threw that, too. He screamed some of the same words Machado used before, then thumped his chest and pointed to the sky. Machado was so offended that he jumped out of his own dugout and started walking toward Graterol, screaming at him to go take a hike — or something like that — and telling him he’d be waiting for him next inning (Graterol later retired him on a grounder up the middle). What happened to celebrating freely, Manny? All of a sudden you’re a few steps away from inciting a benches-clearing incident in the middle of a global pandemic because you can’t remember what you did one inning earlier? The Dodgers hung on for a 6-5 win thanks to Kelly, who recorded the final out. Betts, often quiet and nondescript on the field, was among those telling Machado to get back into the dugout. “When he hit his home run he threw the bat,” Betts said on the Fox broadcast after the game. “Then we take one away, we can celebrate too. So there’s gotta be two sides to it.” Machado is so close to being everything that’s right about baseball. He’s energetic. He’s exciting. He’s unpredictable. He’s incredibly talented. He plays on one of the most interesting teams in the game. But why does it always feel like he crosses the line? Like when he ran by former Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar and clipped his ankle at first base in the 2018 postseason. And when he threw his bat at the Oakland A’s because he didn’t like them pitching him inside in 2014. And how so often when he plays against the Red Sox he finds himself in the middle of some kind of dirty play at second base. Machado nearly took out Xander Bogaerts one day in 2017, when John Farrell had to come out and argue on his behalf. Then he practically ended Dustin Pedroia’s career with one of the most ridiculous slides in recent baseball memory. He slid through second base on a play Pedroia wasn’t even trying to turn two on and spiked him behind the knee, taking out the former MVP for good. It didn’t cause Pedroia’s career to end, but “it didn’t help,” Pedroia later admitted. A short time later, Machado nearly did the same thing to Brock Holt, Pedroia’s replacement. The only question that remains is whether or not Machado will ever be a World Series champion or if he’ll always be just another talented player who didn’t have the “it” factor. He’s hitting just .136 this postseason. Over his career, he’s a .198 hitter in the playoffs. He’s got zero rings and the Red Sox have two since he came into the league. As if you needed another reason to root for the Dodgers, Machado gave you one. * The Providence Journal PawSox announce ‘Final Weekend Celebration’ plans Bill Koch PAWTUCKET — Denied a farewell season on the field, the Pawtucket Red Sox have planned a Final Weekend Celebration. The PawSox Foundation Golf Classic, Dining on the Diamond and a 33-hour Grand Finale will highlight the four-day event, which starts Thursday. Pawtucket Country Club and McCoy Stadium will play host. The inaugural golf tournament will raise funds for the city community and is sold out. The foundation typically funds the PawSox Scholars program, the Paws for a Cause initiative and other civic groups. Dining on the playing field will be held Friday and Saturday (Oct. 16, 17) including multiple seatings each night. The Saturday schedule includes seatings at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. The PawSox started the program in late May and have filled the seatings offered throughout the summer. The finishing marathon begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday and pays homage to Baseball’s Longest Game, the 33- inning epic against Rochester in 1981. “Never Can Say Goodbye” is a six-hour event that will allow fans to walk the ballpark’s warning track and receive free PawSox gifts. Club mascots Paws and Sox are scheduled to participate. Saturday’s dining event will be followed by a Scouts Sleepover, which starts at 8:30 p.m. and runs to 8 a.m. Sunday. The event will be held in coordination with the Narragansett Council and features a baseball movie on the video board, special snacks and an overnight on the outfield grass. Sunday’s events include a pair of opportunities to play on the field. R.I. Interscholastic League baseball and softball seniors who missed their 2020 spring season will take batting practice beginning at 9 a.m. The Pawtucket Slaterettes, a city staple for more than four decades, will host batting practice for girls and women beginning at 11 a.m. The last scheduled event Sunday will be a Unity Fest held in cooperation with Black Lives Matter Rhode Island. A series of speakers and gospel artists will be featured in coordination with that day’s dining seatings. The fundraiser, designed to promote racial justice and equality, will benefit the African-American Innovation Center. The PawSox will begin the 2021 season at Polar Park in Worcester, Mass., ending a 50-year association between the state and the franchise. Pawtucket began its run at the venue in 1970 and was named the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate in 1973. Minor League Baseball did not sponsor a season for the first time since 1901, and play in the International League was halted for the first time since 1884. Per state and local health guidelines, fans must preregister for all events at pawsox.com and self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms. The PawSox consulted city and state officials while finalizing their plans. * MassLive.com Boston Red Sox will explore long-term extensions before 2021; could Rafael Devers, Eduardo Rodriguez be candidates for deals? Christopher Smith The Red Sox might have some budget restrictions due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom won’t explore the possibility of signing some of his top young players to long-term deals. Though Boston doesn’t have many key pieces on the verge of free agency, it’s still possible the Sox could dole out an extension or two now that they’re out of CBT purgatory. “It’s going to be a different offseason but I wouldn’t, at all, rule out the possibility of us engaging with players on long-term deals,” Bloom said shortly after the season. “That’s something, if we did it, we would do our best to keep in-house unless there’s an agreement, but I think as long as there’s mutual interest and there’s a mutual fit, I don’t know why we wouldn’t look into it and pursue it.” The Red Sox have only four players -- Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts, J.D.

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