This past Thursday, the Dodgers and Padres became involved in one of the bigger baseball brawl’s in quite some time. There has been a lot said about what instigated this fight, and the fallout from it. There is even more intrigue for us Kansas City Royals fan, as former fan favorite and current Benedict Arnold impersonator, Zack Greinke, was the center of attention in this brouhaha. So what fueled this struggle on the coast? Read on.
In the previous inning, the Padres threw a pitch high and tight in to Matt Kemp, a pitch that was dangerously close to Kemp’s head. There is no way of really knowing if that was done on purpose or not, but I tend to think that was just a pitch that got away. No harm, no foul, right? I think so. I don’t think the Dodgers, or Greinke were looking for payback. I don’t think the Padres think that either. Except for maybe Carlos Quentin. This leads us to the bottom of the inning.
If you actually watch the at bat Carlos Quentin has against Zack Greinke, you can actually figure out what Greinke was trying to do. He starts by working him down, then Zack starts working on the outside of the plate. With a full count now on Quentin, and mind you with runners on base, Greinke then throws his 3-2 offering to Quentin and hits him in the shoulder. It was obvious Greinke, after throwing him away most of the at bat, was trying to then throw inside to Quentin, hoping to catch him off guard. But the pitch got away from Zack, and hit Carlos. But Quentin is notorious for leaning over the plate and crowding it to a point to where it is hard NOT to hit him. This can’t be mentioned enough, but plays into this scuffle and the history between these two. Quentin led the NL in HBP(hit by pitch) last year. He led the AL the year before. He averages 26 HBP per year, and has the all-time minor league record for HBPs in a season with 43. Even Craig Biggio and Don Baylor think that Quentin gets hit a lot!! This is probably where we should also mention that Greinke has hit Quentin twice before, and Carlos had mentioned to his teammates that the next time Zack hit him he was going to go after him. Nevermind that Quentin is the only person to blame for getting hit. I would love to see a player like Quentin try his little tricks against someone like Bob Gibson or Don Drysdale. I don’t think he would like how those plate appearances would go. So Quentin gets plunked and we are off to the races.
Quentin charges the mound, a few words are spoken and Greinke throws his glove down. There has been some debate as to what Greinke should have done here. Obviously, he couldn’t just run away. Could you imagine him trying to live THAT down? Maybe he should have been a bullfighter and moved at the last second to ole Quentin. There was also the option of jumping on Quentin’s back and riding him around the infield. Go ahead, get that visual in your head. Instead, Zack lowered his body and shoulder-blocked Quentin. What ensued was this.
and this…
and then it turned into this…
More than anything, this fight was over Carlos Quentin getting hit by Zack Greinke for the third time in his career. This is what happens when you lean over the plate. You get hit. This wasn’t revenge, this wasn’t retaliation. I mean, if it was payback for the Kemp at bat, why would Zack do it on a 3-2 count? He wouldn’t. With runners on base? Nope, no way, no how. It was too close of a game to even chance it. Not even Zack Greinke, a flake if there ever was one, would do that. This obviously angered Matt Kemp quite a bit…
and it didn’t exactly make Jerry Hairston happy either…
In fact, this brawl continued after the game. It seems Matt Kemp had some choice words for Carlos Quentin in the parking lot after the game…
I’m pretty sure Kemp didn’t wish Quentin a good night’s sleep and good health:
So what did all of this solve? Well, Greinke broke his left collarbone and will be out close to two months. Quentin received an 8-game suspension for his actions while Jerry Hairston was given a 1-game suspension. Both suspensions are being appealed. The Dodgers are now without one of their top pitchers for awhile, and Quentin has soured his name, as many of his Padres teammates have said they don’t agree with his actions. This is probably where I should mention that the Dodgers and Padres play in the same division, so they play each other about 18 games each season. Oh, and if you thought the flames would cool by the next time these two teams play each other–the Padres travel to Los Angeles to kickoff a three game series on Monday. So there is that as well. Two lessons have been learned from this brawl. One, if you crowd the plate you are very likely going to get hit and two, when a batter is charging the mound, do NOT lower your shoulder and ram it into a guy who outweighs you by forty pounds. I have a feeling we might be hearing more about these two teams the first part of next week. Stay tuned…
Bleeding Royal Blue 
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