In keeping with ancient baseball tradition, we're passing final and lasting judgment on a recent baseball controversy. That's why we call this Kangaroo Court -- it's a nod to the old days when a veteran player would preside over clubhouse "legal proceedings" and mete out fines based on baseball-related offenses. For instance, if you fail to advance a runner, take too long rounding the bases, wear the wrong jersey to batting practice, or in the case of former Red Sox manager John McNamara use aerosol deodorant as hairspray, you get fined by the judge. These days, the Kangaroo Court is a clubhouse relic of the past, but we're here to revive it and to bring the mechanisms of baseball justice to bear on present-day dust-ups, hostilities, and close calls. 

In this particular installment of Kangaroo Court, we consider the case of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado versus Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes. Machado on Friday slid hard into Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia and injured his leg. On Sunday, Barnes, seemingly in retaliation, threw up and in against Machado. Now let's present the cases for both sides ... 

The case for Barnes

As noted, Machado slid aggressively into Pedroia at second base on Friday and wound up hurting his ankle and knee. Pedroia is of course a vital part of a Sox team that has designs on winning the World Series. Since the retirement of David Ortiz, he's also the longest-tenured Red Sock and the "philosopher-king" of the club. In other words, mess with Pedroia, and the Sox will likely come back at you.

In that general sense, what Barnes did -- throw at Machado -- is justified. Such acts of retribution are part of baseball's code/unwritten rules, and those kinds of things are best left to the players to sort out. That's what happened on Sunday. 

The case for Machado

As you're about to see, the case for Machado is more layered and substantial. First, his slide into Pedroia, while hard and ultimately injurious, looked unintentional. Consider ... 

That top foot is going to come up on that kind of slide. It happens. Also note that Machado's gesture of concern toward Pedroia was almost instantaneous. That suggests, at least to this guy who's presently wearing robes and a magistrate's wig, that Machado wasn't out to hurt Pedroia. Machado should've done a better job of staying down, but I see no malice aforethought. 

Now this happens on Sunday ... 

Bear in mind that Eduardo Rodriguez earlier in the game had come way inside on Machado with three straight pitches, albeit below the waist (it's of course possible that that was merely a lack of control -- he walked five on the day). He didn't hit him, but that should've ended it. Even outside of that, that's 90 mph at the head. Not acceptable. I don't care if Carl Mays is your baseball warrior-poet, that's too dangerous. Know who else agrees? Pedroia ... 

"That's not me," the man says, among other things. Pedroia also said this after the game:

"I had nothing to do with that. That's not how you do that, man. I'm sorry to him and his team. If you're going to protect guys, you do it the right away.''

Sox manager John Farrell said the ball got away from Barnes, but that's pretty much a de rigueur kind of response when something like this happens. You also see some saying that the catcher was set up low and away, so it couldn't have been a purpose pitch. That one ... I'm not buying. Pay attention to obvious purpose pitches. Rarely does the catcher set up way inside. Plausible deniability denied. 

Maybe Barnes didn't mean to come at Machado's head -- I'd certainly hope not -- but if you're not skilled enough to command the purpose pitch, then don't throw it, at least not that high. 

Final and lasting judgement

The court, with the thunderous pounding of the gavel, rules against Barnes. Since we're granted plenary powers when it comes to discipline, we hereby suspend Barnes for 30 days without pay (UPDATE: Barnes actually received a four-game suspension and an undisclosed fine by Major League Baseball, though he has elected to appeal the ban). Had this been the more traditional message pitch directed at the tailbone of the hitter, then we wouldn't have convened this hearing. Since Barnes instead threw at Machado's head, he needs to learn a lesson.