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An interesting and rather strange article was published by baseball insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on Tuesday prior to Game 3 of the NL Division Series between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. To say it helped fuel the Padres to a massive win and put the Dodgers on the brink of elimination would be an understatement.
Rosenthal's story revolved around Manny Machado's baseball toss toward the Dodgers dugout in Game 2, which caused a major uproar in Los Angeles. Rosenthal labeled the throw the “Sinister Sling” but didn’t stop at making Machado the villain in the series.
Furthermore, in the article, Rosenthal wrote the following:
“Machado is far from the Padres’ only irritant. Fernando Tatis Jr. is a smiling, dancing peacock. Jurickson Profar is the kid who pulls the fire alarm at school and then asks, “Who, me?”
If there was any doubt the Padres read the article, or at least knew its content, that was put to rest with a fantastic social media post by Tatis.
San Diego's playoff superstar launched a two-run homer to cap off a six-run second inning for the Padres. On his Instagram story, he posted a picture of his celebration down the first baseline with a dancing man and peacock emojis.
Tatis put dancing peacock emojis on his story LMAOOOOOOO https://t.co/7CEMZBXVb4 pic.twitter.com/Ks0SdZZWMK
— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) October 9, 2024
Rosenthal is covering the series for FOX Sports and was seen on the broadcast interviewing Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez in the dugout after his grand slam in the third inning. He did not interview Fernando Tatis Jr., nor any other Padres players, during or after the game.
Whether that was his decision remains to be seen, but the Padres definitely took notice of his comments which only added to their confidence in this series.
The Padres are one win away from eliminating the Dodgers in the NLDS for the second time in three years.
