Will Smith, Max Muncy back up trash-talking after near brawl against Padres

The Dodgers got their first benches-clearing situation of the season on Saturday night, after Gavin Stone let a pitch get away from him and it ended up a little too close to Jurickson Profar's head. Profar took exception, and Will Smith was quick to stand up for his pitcher from behind the plate, leading to both of the dugouts (the Padres seemed particularly trigger-happy) emptying for what turned out to be an underwhelming on-field delay.

Following the game, which the Dodgers ended up taking 5-2 thanks to some small ball, Smith hit us with the quote of the century, surely throwing gasoline on the Dodgers-Padres rivalry. He said of the Profar incident, "I don't know why we would have thrown at him...he's kind of irrelevant." It was a shot heard 'round southern California, a soundbite for the ages.

On Sunday's game, the Dodgers struggled to get anything going against Padres starter Yu Darvish in early innings. Manny Machado chimed in first, with a solo blast to put the Padres on the board in the top of the fourth. When it was the Dodgers' turn, Smith didn't disappoint.

Freddie Freeman got himself into scoring position with a double, then Smith came up and singled to score a speedy Freeman. And then Max Muncy stepped up to remind everyone exactly how fearsome the Dodgers' lineup is, even when you get past the Big Four; he saw Machado's solo homer and raised him one to score himself and smith. 3-1, Dodgers.

Will Smith, Max Muncy come up big after Dodgers, Padres benches cleared on Saturday

The Dodgers-Padres rivalry has been incredibly lopsided over the past few years, and in certain ways it still is. However, LA had to recover from San Diego's ridiculous come-from-behind win on Friday and, after Smith's fighting words on Saturday, had to come back and make good on trash-talking to take the series on Sunday.

Especially after Machado, who is up there in terms of Dodgers fans' least favorite opponent of all time, hit his fourth home run of the season, the middle of the lineup and especially Smith had to make up for the slow start by responding in full force. And oh, did they. The Dodgers powered ahead, reminding fans that they can always be trusted to back up their words with action.