Zack Greinke got in a fight and will miss significant time:
A hit by pitch leads to a fight between Zack Greinke and Carlos Quentin. Greinke broke his collar bone. Photo: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Greinke broke his left collarbone in a bench-clearing brawl during Los Angeles’ 3-2 victory Thursday night, leaving the Dodgers so furious that Matt Kemp confronted Padres slugger Carlos Quentin nose-to-nose as the two were leaving Petco Park.
Juan Uribe‘s pinch-hit home run in the eighth put the Dodgers ahead, two innings after Greinke hit Quentin on the left shoulder with a pitch.
The slugger started walking toward the mound and Greinke appeared to say something. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Quentin then charged the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, who is 6-2 and 195 pounds. They dropped their shoulders and collided, and Quentin tackled the pitcher to the grass.
There is video at the link. It wasn’t even that hard a pitch, 89 MPH. Vin Scully does a very good play by play of the fight, giving background that Carlos Quentin gets hit a lot, and that the Padres appeared to throw at Matt Kemp earlier.
The two players have a history, as Greinke hit Quentin for the third time, but he’s not the only one.
Looking at the video, Greinke hit Quentin fairly high, and batters tend to get upset with that.
The Dodgers won the game against the Padres 3-2. Los Angeles may end up wishing they had waited a week to trade Aaron Harang.
Update: Quentin did think Greinke threw high:
In a hallway between the home and visiting clubhouses, Kemp stood face to face and exchanged angry words with Quentin, who charged the mound and broke Zack Greinke’s collarbone in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.
“If a guy’s throwing at your head …” Quentin said.
Is there a possibility that MLB will finally come down hard on players cause brawls like this — like a season long suspension for Quentin? I mean, Zack Greinke is a Cy Young winner and marquee starting pitcher, he’s supposed to be one of the players that draws more fans into the games. If Quentin’s reaction to getting plunked (for the 8 zillionth time) results in an injury where Greinke never returns to form, then it’s reasonable to say that Quentin just cost Major League Baseball a lot of money.
Even if the player injured wasn’t a big name, it’s about time MLB steps up its enforcement and ended this crap. No more 5 to 10 game suspensions, throw the book at hotheaded players before someone else gets injured — or worse. Enough is enough.
Tas: agreed. It should be a 3 game minimum for charging the mound, and a 3 START minimum for throwing at a player. The trouble is going to be proving that the plunks were intentional. This won’t be easy.
As a side note: Vin Scully is simply the greatest broadcaster of all time. It’s always just a plain-English description of what is happening, shaded by an in-depth understanding of the game that can only come through experience. I don’t even like the Dodgers, but always watch their West Coast time zone games. Vin Scully sounds like summer.
Greinke wasn’t throwing at Quentin’s head and I don’t believe Quentin thought so, either – his post-game statements are just working on his defense. The “history” from 4 years ago is silly, too.
I think the real trigger was Greinke saying something, or looking like he was, which felt to Quentin like a challenge he couldn’t ignore without losing face. (Remember how people ridiculed Piazza when he didn’t see / react to Clemens throwing the broken bat?) That’s why there’s a little hesitation before he charges.
From Quentin’s post-game remarks, he didn’t actually hear what Greinke said (if anything) but responded to the posture / gesture. Notice that Quentin allows himself to be led off the field early on – compare that to Kemp’s emotional temperature. Quentin wasn’t being hotheaded, he was doing what he thought he had to do in response to what he perceived as a challenge.
That’s not a defense. I think MLB needs to change the dynamic, alter the cost-benefit ratio enough that batters no longer feel that way. A really big suspension will do that.
Kemp and Scully are probably right that it ties back to the pitch that buzzed Kemp. At 3-2 in a tight game, Greinke wasn’t going to give Quentin anything to hit anyway, so he chose that moment to throw a pitch just like the one to Kemp. The difference is that Quentin dives over the plate while Kemp’s batting style allowed him to spin away.
Excellent observation about batting styles. It would seem that Quentin gets hit so often b/c he crowds the plate, and isn’t afraid to take one.
Based on their collision, I didn’t even have to look it up to see that Carlos Quentin played football and Zack Greinke did not. Zack: If you’re going to hit a guy with your shoulder, drop your ass, straighten your back, and get low.
Looking at the size of Quentin roid rage comes to mind. Dumbest thing I have seen for awhile. Glad to see Kemp stepping up, he better bring gloves tonight.
Definitely watching that game tonight, Quentin better check his helmet and body armor cause he is getting drilled again or the Dodgers have no self respect.
Just FYI, the Dodgers don’t play the Padres tonight. They do play them again next week, however.
If you make part of your living getting HBP as Quentin seems to (I wonder if Ron Hunt ever charged the mound) you’re on shaky ground accusing pitchers of deliberately throwing at you. It’s a pity he doesn’t have to face guys like Drysdale or Gibson or Early Wynn, who would just as soon hit you as not if you hung over the plate.
I bet the Padres are glad that the McCourt era is over in Chavez Ravine–I wouldn’t give much for the Padres’ chances against the miscreants in the Dodger Stadium parking lot if security hadn’t been beefed up in the last couple of years.