Manny Machado - Baltimore Orioles third baseman

Earlier today we learned that Major League Baseball upheld Manny Machado‘s five-game suspension. We also found out that Machado received four games for the bat fling and one game for his helmet toss/tussle with A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson.

Machado spoke with the media at Camden Yards this afternoon. He was asked (via MASNSports.com’s Steve Melewski) whether he thought the suspension would damage his reputation:

“People make bad mistakes in their lives,” he said. “Only thing you can do is learn from it and keeping playing the game the way I play it. I’m not going to change how I play. Play hard and play the right way. Hopefully people can see it that way. I know they will. You can’t put anything into someone’s mind. You just have to go out there and show it.

Unfortunately for the O’s, Machado is starting to heat up a bit. He’s slashed .333/.394/.667 with 3 dingers and 6 RBI in his last eight games.

Tonight, Chris Davis gets the start at third.

Image Credit: Keith Allison