Manny Machado catches Jonathan Schoop off guard

Let’s face it, a given baseball game has a lot of opportunity for standing around and not doing a whole heck of a lot. The Orioles infielders were presented with one of those opportunities in the bottom of the ninth inning when closer Zach Britton fielded a ball a bit awkwardly.

After recording the out, the usual suspects came out to check on Britton, which, naturally, presented an opportunity for the O’s infield to congregate while there was a brief conference with Britton while they made sure that he was OK.

Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, as we have seen for ourselves over the past several seasons, are BFFs who enjoy clowning around with one another.

In fairness, Schoop started it by flipping J.J. Hardy upside the back of his head. That left his guard down, and Machado did not miss his chance to take advantage:

That’s a lesser-known reason of why you should probably wear a cup.

I think my favorite part is actually the exasperated reaction of Hardy, who’s obviously seen this before.

When do you think Schoop will find the chance to get his revenge? Hopefully the MASN cameras catch it when it happens.

Britton turned out to be fine, getting one final ground ball to end the game and seal the Orioles win.