The Glade 4.0

The season is just started and already the brawling has started. The LA Dodgers new $147 Million pitcher Zack Greinke has a broken collarbone, the Padres have to figure out what to do with Carlos Quentin and the NL West is looking to be an interesting party.

What is your tale on the brawl?

Go Giants, who had no part in this.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I'm annoyed at your headline - I'm hoping you're really not thanking him for inflicting a senseless injury on Greinke.

My take? Quentin needs to be suspended for a lengthy period, and the Padres themselves should bench or suspend him to distance themselves from this somehow. Also Greinke's ejection from last night should be reversed. I didnt see him as an instigator - he certainly wasn't throwing at Quentin, and all he said to him, from what I can see on the video, was "What's your problem?" And then Quentin charged. 'Roid rage, anyone?

Kemp was out of line, trying to be too much of a "leader". He needs to cool down. Hairston? I wish I knew what John Baker said, but it apparently had something to do with laughing at Greinke's injury after he left the game.

And, AJ Ellis should have been the one to fight Quentin. He should have gotten between them when Quentin left the box (but then Ellis would have been an "instigator," I guess).

The whole thing pisses me off. I hope the Dodgers respond like your guys did last year when Cabrera got suspended. That seemed to energize the club (unlike 2009 when Manny got suspended; they played well enough, but that seemed to take a lot of wind out of their sails).

I'm not urging retaliation, but I'm sure a pitch or two is going to go inside on Quentin next time he's up. We play them 15 more times this year, so it's gonna happen.

And I was kind of thinking of going for the Hello Kitty fleece blanket next week, too. they play the Padres, not sure I want to be there for that.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Tone and sarcasm in general on the tubes is difficult. It was meant more like thanking the oaf for making a total mess of things. Sorry it came off wrong.

My own take is be leaned further in as the ball was pitched, like he was looking to get hit, the. Lose his temper and rough up the golden boy of the moment. Yes, a premeditated attack. Watch it again and see if you agree.

I just wanted to see if anyone else noticed it first rather than start off on it.

Still, the Dodgers and the Padres can brawl all season and I'll cry crocodile tears at their misbehavior.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Heh, yeah, I was assuming sarcasm.

Heh, I dunno if it was premeditated. I've been listening to sports radio while in the car today (something I usually don't do), and spent a lot of time on sports boards this morning. Seems that Quentin thinks they have a history, while Greinke really just looks at him as another batter. He may have hit him on purpose once, four or five years ago. Hardly a "history," if you ask me.

I don't think it was premeditated so much as Quentin taking it personally after getting hit by a pitch by Belisario on Tuesday. He probably thinks that the Dodgers in general are doing it on purpose, and took it out on Greinke.

If you're interested, I could put up some links on comparing Matt Kemp (said by a SI writer to also be one who leans in) with Quentin. Someone analyzed their stances and noted why Kemp can get out of the way of those pitches, while Quentin can't. He does dive in toward the plate a bit.

Or, I can link you to the observation that much of Quentin's value - about a third of his performance, really - is due to getting hit by a pitch so much. Ah, found a quote, at least:



WAR = Wins Above Replacement, another super-geeky baseball stat. Point still stands.

He's a douche.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

You don't plunk a guy on 3-2.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

If you have a history, you might.

Eight game suspension may make him reconsider his reactions.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

It wasn't intentional Michael. There is no way that happens in that situation.

Quentin contends he was on his way to first when Greinke taunted him... so in other words "he had it coming"...

8 games will make him think twice before he does it again.

Vin Scully hurt the cause of Unintentionality, too, by harping on the question of whether Quentin getting hit was payback for Kemp almost getting his head taken off in the first inning. I kept yelling at the TV for him to shut up about it. That had nothing to do with Greinke's pitch.

A letter to the LA Times today pointed out that Quentin's bringing up of the "history" suggests it was premeditated, and had it happened outside of a ball park, would be grounds for criminal charges. Eight games is way insufficient, but I understand that it's in line with what charging hitters usually get. I really wish that, on his appeal, they'd double it, just out of principle. "There ya go, keep appealing."

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

When do you plunk a guy?

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Holy shitsnacks!

The next at-bat after he's stood and admired a home run. Then you put one through his ear.

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Or after one of your guys has been hit.

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Raell Kromwell

More technically, on the first pitch of an at-bat. You're sending a message, so you usually don't wait until you've thrown ten pitches at the guy (in his third at-bat against you, no less).

Apparently, Quentin has been stewing about this since 2009, when Greinke threw at his head, then hit him (if I'm reading that correctly). He said at the time, If he hits me again, I'm going out there. Four **** years later, he gets his chance. Some are blaming this on Ozzie Guillen (really!), saying that toward the end of his time as manager of the White Sox, he stopped "protecting" his players. In other words, he didn't have his pitchers throw at the other team's hitters after his had been hit.

In my neighborhood, that's called being an adult. The Dodgers had some infantile **** going on about this in the National League Championship series Philadelphia in '09. People criticized Chad Billingsley for not throwing at someone (anyone!) after the Philly pitcher threw a bunch of brush-back pitches at Dodgers hitters. Hiroki Kuroda came in the next game and promptly threw inside all night.

In the abstract, it's cool (and I love Kuroda), but in reality it's just macho bullshit that I like to pretend doesn't exist.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Watching Quentin the last couple years, he is a hot-headed jerk.

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