Machado on his appeal: "Five games could maybe even cost us the playoffs"

Manny Machado's appeal of his five-game suspension will be heard tomorrow in Baltimore. Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette will join Machado at the hearing. Earlier today, before reporters were informed of the appeal date, Machado talked about the appeal process and the organization's hope that his suspension will be reduced. "I hope we get it down at least below four (games)," he said. "Four for sure. Just because they gave me that extra day without me getting thrown out of the game for Friday night's brawl. Hopefully we get it down to four, hopefully to two or one. Less is better for us. "It's a long process, something that will continue and eventually come to an end and we'll see what the plan is. I've been out here playing. I don't want to be down for five days and not helping my team in any way. Being out five games is tough. An entire week I can't help the club win, so I'm glad we made the decision." All along, the Orioles felt five games was too long of a suspension and they seem to feel the chance to get it reduced through the appeal process is strong. "We obviously had a bunch of conversations about how we were going to approach this," Machado said. "Should I just take the five or appeal and see how many we can get it down to? I think we have a pretty good fight to get all the games down. That's a lot of games. An entire week. Five games could maybe even cost us the playoffs. Every game is important, so we'll try to get this all the way down as possible." Machado, who confirmed that he does get paid during the suspension, was asked how opposing players and fans have reacted to him since the five-game suspension was handed down. "Nothing. The same. Same old player, you know," he said. "Just go out there and respect the game. It's a lesson that I learned and they all know it. Just trying to go out there and play baseball and win some games."