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          SweetSpot

          Real or not? Orioles-Red Sox rivalry heats up; Rockies team to beat in NL

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          Kurkjian, Boone critical of Barnes' throw at Machado (1:12)

          Tim Kurkjian says there's no place in the game for Matt Barnes' throw at Manny Machado on Sunday and Aaron Boone calls it "wreckless" because Machado's slide on Pedroia didn't warrant retaliation. (1:12)

          • David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior WriterApr 25, 2017, 05:50 AM
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            • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
            • Former deputy editor of Page 2
            • Been with ESPN.com since 1995

          The Baltimore Orioles won again on Monday doing Orioles types of things: They hit home runs -- three off Tampa Bay starter Chris Archer -- and the bullpen pitched 5⅔ scoreless innings. Brad Brach has four save opportunities in place of the injured Zach Britton and hasn't allowed a hit.

          The Buck Showalter machine just plugs in names and rolls along, confounding the computer projection systems and OBP worshipers. They're 13-5 even though Manny Machado and Mark Trumbo have hit more like Manny Alexander and Mark Belanger, and their Opening Day starter has a 7.50 ERA.

          On Monday, Adam Jones hit the go-ahead two-run shot in the sixth.

          Aside from sitting in first place, however, the big story brewing in Baltimore is the bad blood with the Red Sox. Matt Barnes was suspended four games on Monday for throwing at Machado, but the most interesting fallout from Sunday's incident may have been Britton's comments about Dustin Pedroia. From Dan Connolly's report at BaltimoreBaseball.com: "Dustin, him telling Manny, 'Hey, that didn't come from me' may be even more frustrating," Britton said. "Because he's the leader of that clubhouse and if he can't control his own teammates, then there's a bigger issue over there."

          Britton does seem to have a point here. Machado's slide happened Friday night. If Pedroia thought the slide was an accident, he had two days to tell his teammates that was his belief and that no retribution was necessary. But Pedroia didn't actually say that until after Sunday's game, when he threw Barnes under the bus. As Connolly wrote, "By not saying anything, Britton contends, Pedroia gave tacit approval for Barnes to retaliate -- although Britton doesn't suggest that Pedroia would have instructed Barnes to throw at anyone's head."

          Whatever the case, we still have a pitch near Machado's head that may lead to retaliation from the Orioles when the teams meet again on May 1. We have two longtime division opponents who will likely be competing for a playoff spot. We have bad blood and now some pointed comments from an All-Star closer about an All-Star second baseman's leadership skills, or lack of them.

          The Orioles do seem to love picking these little fights. The team has long had a running feud with Jose Bautista, and GM Dan Duquette said in spring training that the Orioles didn't consider signing Bautista because the fans don't like him. There was the brawl with the Royals last season after Machado was hit by the late Yordano Ventura. Machado and Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson haven't liked each other since their incident in 2014. Back in 2011, Showalter poked at Boston's high payrolls and then-GM Theo Epstein when he said, "I'd like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll. ... That's why I like whipping their butt. It's great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, 'How the hell are they beating us?'"

          In short, the Orioles do love -- as Duquette even said about signing Trumbo -- to portray themselves as a blue-collar kind of team while Showalter paints his richer rivals in Boston, New York and Toronto as the scum of the earth. It all makes for good theater. And Orioles-Red Sox may be the best theater of 2017.

          Rockies end Nationals' win streak at seven -- More good baseball from the Rockies. They faced a spot starter in Jacob Turner, called up to fill in for Stephen Strasburg, whose wife was having the couple's second child. Turner was superb for five innings, however, and the Nationals led 4-1. But in the sixth, Mark Reynolds hit a two-run homer, and the next inning Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run homer off Enny Romero -- both with two outs -- and the Rockies bullpen did its job. Game over.

          Reynolds has been huge -- so good, in fact, that while Ian Desmond took some batting practice on Monday, he also took some balls in the outfield. With Reynolds hitting .329 with six home runs, Bud Black can't just give first base to Desmond once he returns. So look for Desmond to jump into more of a Ben Zobrist-like super-utility role. Reynolds' hot streak may not be a fluke either. The all-time single-season strikeout leader has worked hard to redo his swing and approach; last year, he focused on making contact and he's now working on driving the ball.

          Reynolds' strikeout rate peaked at 35.4 percent in 2010, when he fanned 211 times (his 223 K's in 2009 is the record). He cut that down to 25.4 last year with the Rockies and is all the way down to 20.5 percent this year -- that's basically Mike Trout territory. Yes, I just compared Mark Reynolds to Mike Trout! We can do this in April.

          What's unique about this approach is that when everybody else is trying to hit more fly balls, Reynolds is hitting fewer -- like, a lot fewer. His fly ball rate in 2010 was 52 percent; it's just 27 percent this year. He's hitting more grounders, but also more line drives, so he's going to sacrifice some power, but if the contact rate holds, he's going to get more hits and hit for a much higher average. It's an approach especially suited for Coors Field and its large outfield dimensions.

          Oh ... the Rockies now have the best record in the NL.

          Eric Thames just bought the Reds because he owns them -- Thames hit two more home runs as he became the first player to hit 10 -- seven of those have come against the Reds. (Kris Bryant basically won his MVP award last year against the Reds, hitting .364 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs in 19 games.) Note from researcher Mark Simon: The average major league hitter hits a home run on a pitch located between the knees and the number on his jersey approximately one out of of every 98 pitches. All 10 of Thames' home runs are on pitches to that area. He's averaging one for every 27 pitches seen in that area.

          Royals flushed -- Wow, this is bad:

          The Royals are hitting .184 in those eight games, although they did manage to win two of them -- both with shutouts.

          Madison Bumgarner meets with the media The picture says it all. Don't ride dirt bikes on an off day in Colorado.

          The Never-ending story -- This isn't your typical baseball story. In fact, it's a baseball story that has never been told before because it's never happened before. A kid grows up in Lithuania, signs a pro contract with the Pirates, comes over to the U.S. at age 17 speaking almost no English, works his way through the minors and reaches the major leagues. Right-hander Dovydas Neverauskas -- "Never" to his teammates in the minors -- appeared in his first major-league game in a 14-3 loss to the Cubs, giving up one run in two innings.

          It's a remarkable story primarily because nobody really plays baseball in Lithuania. As Luke Winn once wrote, "Basketball is the only sport the 3.2 million Lithuanians truly care about." Neverauskas has even said that he's a "nobody" in Lithuania. He picked up the sport from his dad, who played on one of the first Lithuanian baseball teams in the 1980s.

          I talked to him at last year's Futures Game, and he said his dad still coaches baseball over there, although finding fields to play on is difficult, at least fields without rocks. The Pirates discovered him at a European camp when he was 16. He had several fastballs against the Cubs that hit 98, which means he has a chance to stick around. And maybe get 3.2 million Lithuanians to check out Pirates' box scores.