This rivalry has become pure hatred
I don't think the Dodgers and Padres like each other
It’s no secret that the Dodgers and Padres don’t like each other. The players don’t like each other. The managers don’t like each other. The fans don’t like each other.
For years, tensions have been building between the two clubs. It reached its tipping point on Thursday night.
During the four-game series, there were a total of eight hit-by-pitches. Four on each side. Pages, Tatis and Ohtani each received two of them. Out of those eight, only two were obviously intentional.
It all started on Monday night, when Andy Pages took exception to a 98-mph heater right off the elbow from Dylan Cease. Pages stared him down, clearly frustrated with the pitch. Pages’ reaction seemed to come out of nowhere, but following the game it made a little more sense.
While speaking with reporters, Pages said be believed Cease threw at him intentionally. He said the Padres thought he was relaying signs from second base earlier in the game. If you go back and watch when Pages was on second base, you could see where the Padres were coming from based on how he was jumping around over there.
“They thought I was relaying signs when I was jumping at second base, I think,” Pages said to The Athletic. “It’s impossible that he can’t miss a slider on the corner, and he missed a fastball a strike zone inside.”
Now, Cease could have definitely just missed his location and beamed Pages on accident, but if Pages thought there was intent behind that pitch, there may be something there.
Following the game, Manny Machado was pretty vocal about the moment.
“I mean, they got way more superstars over there. If we want to hit somebody, well, they got some big dogs over there we can hit.”
Hmmm. Interesting.
The next hit-by-pitch came the next day. After throwing only a couple of pitches, Lou Trivino plunked Tatis on the shoulder with a 95-mph fastball. If you recall, Trivino also hit Tatis with a pinch in San Diego the previous week. After the pitch, you could see the immediate frustration from Trivino that he let the pitch get away and put Tatis on.
Clearly not intentional, but the Padres had other ideas.
Shohei Ohtani stepped into the box an inning later. On the first pitch, Randy Vasquez missed inside. On the second pitch, he plunked Ohtani right above the knee. He had his shot on the first pitch and blew it. Instead of letting it go, Vasquez made sure to send the message. Machado said the night prior the Dodgers have some big dogs they could hit. Well, they hit the biggest dog in the park.
“The plan that we had beforehand was to execute a pitch that was inside, a fastball that was inside,” Vásquez said to The Athletic. “We were able to execute it.”
Warnings were issued on both sides, which Dave Roberts wanted an explanation of. Why should the Dodgers get a warning when their guy was the one who was intentionally hit? Because you can’t argue warnings, Roberts was tossed from the game by umpire Tripp Gibson.
“He can’t argue the warnings, so we had to get rid of him,” Hudson (Home plate umpire) said in a pool report. “He had to be ejected.”
In the seventh inning, Matt Sauer plunked Jose Iglesias on the hand. Obviously, the last thing Sauer wants to do is put a guy with a 70 wRC+ on base. As expected, the Padres took exception, pleading for Sauer to be tossed from the game.
Despite a warning being issued earlier in the game, Sauer wasn’t tossed, proving that the umpires didn’t believe there was any intent behind the pitch.
Fast forward 24 hours.
Pages, who was hit two days prior, was hit once again. On the first pitch of the bat, Stephen Kolek nearly hit Pages in the head. Keeping his cool, Pages nodded his head. He could have easily escalated the situation, but opted to take the higher road and head to first base.
Based on the immediate reaction from Kolek, you could tell it wasn’t intentional. When he left the game, him and Pages embraced and you could tell there was no bad blood there.
Alright, onto the main event of Thursday night.
Lost in the shuffle was the first hit-by-pitch of the evening, which was actually Bryce Johnson. He was hit in the knee by a pitch from Lou Trivino and had to exit the game. Despite the HBP, the benches didn’t overreact, as this clearly was accidental.
The ninth inning was when things got really juicy.
Making his MLB debut, Jack Little was struggling big time. Actually, struggling was an understatement. Poor guy was making his debut but he looked terrible. He quickly allowed two runs in the eighth inning and should be thankful he didn’t allow more. An inning-ending double play with the bases loaded saved him from an even worse outing.
Getting the ball once again in the ninth, Little plunked Tatis on the hand with one out. For Tatis, it was his second hit by pitch in the last few days. The Padres didn’t like it one bit, as they immediately left the dugout.
Obviously you hate seeing Tatis getting hit in the hand and having to leave the game. You never want to see anyone get hurt. It sucks what happened. With that said, Little wasn’t trying to intentionally hit Tatis. He was making his Major League debut. He’s trying to prove he belongs. The absolute LAST thing he wants is to put more runners on base.
Well, the Padres and Mike Shildt didn’t see it that way. Shildt charged towards the Dodgers dugout, clearly targeting Dave Roberts. LA’s manager took exception to Shildt’s actions, charging in his direction. Both Roberts and Shildt bumped into each other, causing even more chaos.
“I felt that he was trying to make it personal with me,” Roberts said to reporters. “Which then, I take it personal.”
Shildt was being a drama queen all series. After Pages’ first HBP in the first game, Shildt was seen screaming from the dugout “Who the F*** do you think you are?!” Numerous times throughout the series he was seen throwing a tantrum any time something happened to his team.
Speaking of a drama queen, there’s Manny Machado. I don’t need to rattle off all the reasons majority of baseball fans dislike him, you all get the idea. Here’s what he had to say following the game.
“Let’s just hope the CT scan [on Tatis] comes back negative. They gotta pray it comes back negative tomorrow. They better put out a candle.”
Initially when I heard this quote, I thought it had to be fake. No way he said that? The Dodgers better be praying Tatis is okay, or else what? What is Machado going to do about it? What a quote, but shouldn’t expect anything less coming from Machado.
Things could have really gone off the rails in the ninth inning. After falling behind 3-0 in the count, Robert Suarez threw a 100-mph pitch in the direction of Ohtani’s head. Not only was this intentional, it was dangerous. If you’re gonna plunk a guy, go for the arm. Going for the head is absolutely insane.
Suarez was immediately tossed. Based on his reaction, you could easily tell he knew what he was doing. After every Dodgers pitcher hit a Padres player, you could see their immediate regret. You also saw it from Kolek after he hit Pages. Not here. Suarez wasn’t fazed at all. He intentionally threw at Ohtani’s head.
The situation looks like it was about to escalate, but Ohtani immediately signaled to the Dodgers’ bench to remain in the dugout. He didn’t want another altercation.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. With tensions already sky-high and following a clearly intentional pitch, when has a batter WHO GOT HIT ever signaled to their dugout that it’s okay? That’s why Ohtani is the best in the world.
Any other player likely charges the mound or starts barking. If that doesn’t happen, the dugout is immediately running out and an altercation follows. I mean, this one could have really gotten ugly between both sides. Despite knowing they were on the receiving end once again, the Dodgers remained in their dugout.
It’s no secret this is the biggest rivalry in baseball. These two teams genuinely dislike each other. Both managers clearly have frustration with the other side. It is just an ugly old schooled rivalry.
The Dodgers fell just short of the miracle comeback, dropping their first game of the series. For these two teams, they won’t meet again until the middle of August. Will there be more retaliation then? Guess we’ll have to wait a few months to find out.
As someone who lives in San Diego everything about that franchise is bush league. They have no identity other than hating LA. That's it's. They have banners for wild card wins on their stadium. A total joke.
Lost in all this commotion was the questionable decision by Roberts to "run the white flag" when the Dodgers were only down by 5-0 in the fourth game. I hate when he does that. Especially in a rivalry game when a sweep of the Pads could have really sent a message. What message is it sending the team that they are done for the night, when they are only down five runs - at HOME?!? And what does it do for the fans?!!