Dodgers’ Dave Roberts waving off Manny Machado trash talk was perfect

The goal for Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been clear since the offseason: win a World Series. That’s why he isn’t going to concern himself with child’s play in mid-September when his MLB-best roster is getting back to full strength and gearing up for a run in October.

Sadly for the San Diego Padres, they’ll never learn and will continue to prop up the Dodgers even when LA manages to lose. It doesn’t matter where the Padres stand; they’re still going to talk a big game and be unable to back it up most of the time.

Leave it to Manny Machado, though, to attempt to get under the Dodgers’ skin when LA is up 18 games in the NL West while San Diego clings to a half-game lead for the second NL Wild Card spot (since they’re not catching the Mets or Braves, both of whom are up 10.5 and 11 games).

On Friday night, as the Dodgers took the Padres to extras, Roberts made the prudent decision to walk Machado when he led off the bottom of the 10th with the ghost runner on second base and the game tied. Prior to that at-bat, Machado was 3-for-3 with a walk. Nice work, buddy. You were having a good game.

Who wouldn’t have sent him to first base under those circumstances? Roberts made the right call, even though the Dodgers lost in the end. The skipper’s best act of the night, however, was shooing Machado away when the slugger tried to trash talk the Dodgers’ dugout before he went to first base.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts showing up Manny Machado was hilarious

Bye bye, Manny! Hope you enjoyed the jog to first base followed by cutting your division deficit from 19 games to 18 after Jake Cronenworth’s game-winning hit against the Dodgers’ sixth pitcher of the evening! That was a big one for ya.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with being confident, but there’s a time and place — one that Machado has never been familiar with. Every last win counts for the Padres because they’ve put themselves in this precarious situation. The Dodgers have the luxury of not fretting at this point in the season. It’s not that they’re content with losing games, but they certainly don’t “need” the wins. They don’t feel a loss to the Padres right now. It’s just like any other day.

More importantly, they wouldn’t be attempting to agitate their opponent if they were in the Padres’ situation (down 18 games and fighting for a Wild Card spot).

Padres fans just better hope for their sake that this energy doesn’t run out before it’s too late. San Diego will need every last drop should they make it to October.

The Dodgers? They’ve saved plenty and are still humming along. Don’t want to give them more ammo now, do ya?

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