In case you missed it, Thursday night featured a fight in a tight baseball game in San Diego, as the Padres battled the Dodgers. On a 3-2 count in the bottom of sixth, in a one-run game, Zack Greinke's pay-off pitch ran in and plunked Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin on the arm. What happens next? Why don't you watch if you haven't yet.
Quentin charged the mound after pitcher Zack Greinke, who didn't hesitate to fight back. There was some speculation over whether or not Greinke yelled or mouthed something to him after Quentin stared him down. But the result of the fight left Greinke- who signed a $147 million contract in the off-season- with a broken collarbone. This is a huge loss for the Dodgers, especially considering how much money they are paying him. It's saddening to think that a young man won't be pitching for a while as a result of a non-baseball injury. Yes, the injury occurred on the baseball diamond. But it wasn't a result of baseball. This didn't happen because he was throwing too much and it wasn't something unlucky that happened like when Mark Prior got hit by a screaming line drive. It was a result of someone coming out to fight him. It's the same thing as someone beating him up on the streets.
Yes, this isn't the first time we've seen someone charge the mound. It happens at least once a season. Charging the mound is something that fans enjoy. It provides entertainment, and brings more excitement to a game that is played 162 times from the beginning of spring to the near-end of fall. Personally I loved seeing Derrek Lee charge Padres' Chris Young. And I loved pitcher Kyle Farnsworth leveling and punching Paul Wilson after he threw inside on Wilson and Wilson thought he would try to take down the 6'4, 230-pound wrecking ball.
Both those moments I just mentioned made me proud to be a Cubs fan. But looking at charging the mound from a logical stand point, things can be very dangerous. Zack Greinke just broke his collarbone. Check that; Carlos Quentin just broke his collarbone.
The logical thing for a pitcher to do when a guy is charging at him is to run straight into the outfield. But that simply isn't going to happen. Guys are too prideful to let that happen. Sure, Greinke wants to protect himself, his career, and the Dodgers' money for investing in him, but that isn't on his mind when this is actually happening. When a guy starts yelling stuff at you, it's hard to keep your mouth shut in the heat of the moment. Next thing you know he's running straight at you, and you immediately go into self-defense mode. This is all happening over the course of just a few seconds and you can't think straight. So should pitching coaches prepare and teach pitchers how to handle this situation, similar to a fire drill? I don't know.
I just don't think you can blame the pitcher in this situation. Greinke wasn't throwing at him intentionally. Who throws at someone on a 3-2 count, late in a one-run game? It wasn't intentional. Quentin is to blame for this. If anything, Quentin should have been gracious for the free pass to first base. He should have walked right down over to first and kept his mouth shut, because Greinke put him on in a close game. He became a baserunner in a close game. He was given the opportunity to start something up in a close game. Instead he charges after Greinke who didn't hit him on purpose. Again, maybe it was just spite of the moment hard for him to control himself as it was for Greinke to defend himself, but for a guy who crowds the plate and gets hit an awful lot, he should be used to this. He shouldn't have charged the mound.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said that he believes Quentin should be suspended for as long as Greinke is out, which is most likely two months. That's a valid point. He is responsible. This made me think about the same question for other sports. If a linebacker illegally hits a quarterback and gives him a concussion and as a result has to miss the next two games, should that linebacker miss the next two games as well? I think it's a fair point and it is worth something to explore. Obviously we all knew that Quentin wasn't going to be suspended two months and due to the rules put in place, he shouldn't be. However I do think the MLB should look this over at the winter meetings after this season and think about whether or not a rule like this could improve the game, and perhaps set a precedent for other sports. I think it would be a fair suspension for Quentin be out that long. The rule could be: Any illegal play that injures a player will have you suspended until they are cleared to play. Certainly they would have to review each ruling of it. What if a guy is injured for an entire season or the injury is career-ending? What happens then? I'm not sure. But I think Mattingly's comments have a lot of value and are something that should be thought about more.
As for the Dodgers, I feel for them here. I don't normally feel for teams that spend big like them, but I do feel for them because they caught a really bad break. I feel for Greinke as well. Hopefully he will have a timely recovery and will be throwing as hard as he was before he got hurt.
As always, thank you for checking out my blog and hearing my thoughts. Let me hear your thoughts on my Facebook fan page or on Twitter @vellvita7. Or comment below.
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