Dodgers manager Roberts says it's 'bothersome' that Machado seemed to throw ball at him in dugout

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said it was “bothersome” and “unsettling” that a ball San Diego third baseman Manny Machado threw into the Dodgers dugout seemed intended for him during the Padres' 10-2 win in Game 2 of their NL Division Series, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands at Dodger Stadium.

It was one of several incidents Sunday night that prompted Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty and Machado to exchange profanities as the Padres evened the series with Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers at 1-1 by hitting six home runs. Two of them were by Fernando Tatis Jr., who was hit by a pitch by Flaherty, which also angered Machado. Flaherty also hollered at Machado after striking him out with two runners on in the sixth.

Roberts said he didn't notice Machado's throw in real time but later saw a video of the incident. “It was unsettling. ... And the ball was directed at me with something behind it.”

Roberts said the ball didn't hit him because of netting.

"That was very bothersome. If it was intended at me, I would be very — it’s pretty disrespectful," Roberts said Monday before the Dodgers had an early evening workout at Petco Park, where the series will resume in front of a sellout crowd Tuesday night.

Third base umpire Tripp Gibson spoke with Machado but Roberts said: “I don’t think they should have had a little arm-around-each-other conversation. If players can throw balls at opposing managers, you know."

Game 2 was delayed for 12 minutes after rowdy fans tossed baseballs in the direction of San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar, and then trash onto the outfield. Profar had robbed Mookie Betts of a home run in the first inning, reaching into the stands behind the low left-field wall. He trolled the fans by staring at them and then hopping up and down several times before throwing the ball to the infield.

Flaherty said Sunday night that Machado "did some s--- in between innings. He threw a ball at our dugout. There was no reason for that.”

Asked about Flaherty’s accusation, Machado said, “I throw balls all the time into dugouts. Both dugouts. They have bad balls, you throw the ball back in there.”

Roberts spoke Monday about an hour after Machado met briefly with reporters.

Flaherty said he wished he had “held it together a little bit better."

“It's the playoffs, man. There's a lot of emotion,” Flaherty said. “I think it got out of hand yesterday with everybody from me and him to the fans getting involved. There's emotion after the punchout, there's emotion after every home run. I wasn't trying to direct any of that toward him. I understand them taking offense to Tatis getting hit. We would react the same way if any of our guys got hit."

“After that happens and he throws a ball, I wish he would have just let it go,” Flaherty added. "The umpires did their job. They stepped in and talked to him. That's not how I want things to go. We want to keep things on the field and focus on the game."

Flaherty, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, was obtained from Detroit on July 30.

“I'm not trying to be that player that's going back and forth with somebody in the dugout,” Flaherty said. "I was done. Things were said, it's hard to hear. We've got to do a better job of getting things done on the field."

The Dodgers will start Walker Buehler while the Padres will go with Michael King, who struck out 12 in his first playoff start in a 4-0 win in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Atlanta.

“It’s good to be able to have a day off, reset, have a workout here shortly. And there’s going to be a lot of emotions tomorrow,” Roberts said.

Roberts grew up in northern San Diego County, played for the Padres for two seasons and later was on their coaching staff, including serving as interim manager for one game after Bud Black was fired in 2015.

“Part of it is trying to drown out the noise. The other part of it is using it as fuel. So I think that collectively, we’ll be ready to go,” Roberts said.

“I mean, clearly that team over there, they like the villain-type kind of role and they feed off of that," Roberts said. "So whatever gets us going, the motivation is individually, collectively, to win a baseball game, to win a series. It's going to be noisy and rowdy. And it’s up to us to still stay focused and compete and fight.”

Said Profar: “We love to play baseball and we play with a lot of energy. We’re always trying to win.”

Tatis is 9 for 14 with three homers and no strikeouts in four playoff games this year.

“He’s been on fire. He’s been carrying this team,” Machado said. “We all know what he’s capable of. He’s not going to shy away from anything. For us to get to where we want to get to, he’s a big part of that.”

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San Diego Padres' Manny Machado, left, shakes hands with pitcher Yu Darvish after a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

San Diego Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar, second from right, and third baseman Manny Machado talk to the umpires after items were thrown at Profar in the outfield during the seventh inning in Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty throws to a San Diego Padres batter during the first inning in Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty throws to first base after a bunt single by San Diego Padres' Jurickson Profar during the sixth inning in Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty is high-fived in the dugout after being relieved during the sixth inning in Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts walks back to the dugout after making a pitching change during the seventh inning in Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is suffering from a cold and will deliver his Sunday blessing from indoors, the Vatican said, announcing the precautions ahead of a busy Christmas period and launch of the Holy Year that will sorely test Francis' stamina and health.

The Vatican cited the cold temperatures outside and Francis' strenuous week ahead, after a wheezing and congested-sounding pope delivered his annual Christmas greeting to Vatican bureaucrats earlier Saturday.

Francis, who turned 88 this past week, on Tuesday is due to inaugurate his big Holy Year and preside over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations in St. Peter's Basilica. On Thursday, he is scheduled to travel to Rome's main prison to inaugurate the Jubilee there.

Francis has long suffered bouts of bronchitis, especially in winter. In 2023, he ended up the hospital to receive intravenous antibiotics. He had part of one lung removed as a young man and frequently seems out of breath, especially after walking or exerting himself.

He took several minutes to catch his breath on Saturday, when he delivered his annual Christmas greetings to Vatican bureaucrats and lay employees. Once again, he used the occasion to admonish the backstabbing and gossiping among his closest collaborators and urge them instead to speak well of one another.

“A church community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony to the extent that its members walk in the life of humility, renouncing evil thinking and speaking ill of others,” Francis said. “Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens people’s hearts and leads to nothing. The people say it very well: Gossip is zero.”

“Beware of this,” he added.

By now Francis’ annual Christmas address to the priests, bishops and cardinals who work in the Vatican Curia has become a lesson in humility -– and humilitation -- as Francis offers a public dressing down of some of the sins in the workplace at the headquarters of the Catholic Church.

In the most biting edition, in 2014, Francis listed the “15 ailments of the Curia,” in which he accused the prelates of using their Vatican careers to grab power and wealth. He accused them of living “hypocritical” double lives and forgetting — due to “spiritual Alzheimer’s” — that they’re supposed to be joyful men of God.

In 2022, Francis warned them that the devil lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith.

This year, Francis revisited a theme he has often warned about: gossiping and speaking ill of people behind their backs. It was a reference to the sometimes toxic atmosphere in closed environments such as the Vatican or workplaces where office gossip and criticism circulate but are rarely aired in public.

Francis has long welcomed frank and open debates and even has welcomed criticism of his own work. But he has urged critics to tell it to his face, and not behind his back.

Francis opened his address Saturday with a reminder of the devastation of the war in Gaza, where he said even his patriarch had been unable to enter due to Israeli bombing.

"Yesterday children have been bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war," he said.

The annual appointment kicks off Francis’ busy Christmas schedule, this year made even more strenuous because of the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year on Christmas Eve. The Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome over 2025, and Francis has a dizzying calendar of events to minister to them.

After addressing the Vatican prelates, Francis issued a less critical address to the Vatican’s lay employees who gathered in the city state's main audience hall along with their families. Francis thanked them for their service and urged them to make sure they take time to play with their children and visit grandparents.

“If you have any particular problems, tell your bosses, we want to resolve them,” he added at the end. “You do this with dialogue, not by keeping quiet. Together we’ll try to resolve the difficulties.”

It was an apparent reference to reports of growing unease within the Vatican workforce that has been called out by the Association of Vatican Lay Employees, the closest thing the Vatican has to a labor union. The association has in recent months voiced alarm about the health of the Vatican pension system and fears of even more cost-cutting, and demanded the Vatican leadership listen to workers’ concerns.

Earlier this year 49 employees of the Vatican Museums — the Holy See's main source of revenue — filed a class-action lawsuit in the Vatican tribunal complaining about labor woes, overtime and working conditions.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Francis arrives to exchange season greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis exchanges season greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis exchanges the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis arrives to exchange the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis exchanges the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he exchanges season greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis exchanges the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis meets with Italian pilgrims participating in the Camino de Santiago, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis tries a skullcap received by faithful during the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)