Thunderous Dave Roberts boos during Dodgers intros are Machado-fueled overreaction

You're not going to believe this, but the fans in San Diego don't seem to be too fond of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ahead of Game 3.

Roberts escalated his beef with the Padres' roster this week when he accused third baseman Manny Machado of throwing a baseball (with intent) in his direction. The Dodgers forwarded the footage to the league, we all saw the footage, it wasn't all that damning (the "throw" was more like a moderate velocity roll, and the "intent" was loosely defined), and now the vitriol has been kicked up several notches ahead of a potential pivot playoff game.

Was it wise for the Dodgers' manager to poke the bear ahead of a showdown in a building where their 2022 season ended? We're about to find out in just a few hours.

Either way, if Roberts was hoping this whole thing was just going to blow over, he hoped wrong. The manager's reception during intros was a full-throated Boo Fest.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was booed without remorse by San Diego Padres fans ahead of NLDS Game 3.

Dodgers fans tossed baseballs at Jurickson Profar. That was awful. That, rightly, stopped the action on Sunday.

Machado tossed a baseball at Roberts, someone who -- it would seem -- he actually has genuine distaste for. Not just "sports hate". No big deal, according to Padres fans? Alrighty then.

They're going to scream themselves hoarse as this contest drags on. Machado gave them permission (and, yes, so did Roberts' initial comments). The Roberts-related hoots will not represent the end of the scene ... unless the Dodgers do something about it. Freddie Freeman is back in the lineup. The series is tied, just like all the rest of them entering Tuesday. Momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher, and that ... uh, ok, fine, that one's advantage Padres.

But Roberts has backed himself into a corner here with an undermanned roster, and Pads manager Mike Shildt already upped the ante and used some of the Dodgers tactician's words against him. Either he fights his way out of it, or the lingering image of the series becomes the Game 2 Dodgers crowd and the surprisingly cheap rent in Roberts' cranium.