I hate that I didn’t get to see this happen live, otherwise I would have been yelling at Carlos Quentin through my TV. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly summed this incident up perfectly. Stupid. Pure unadulterated stupidity.
On both players part! Now hold on, I am not suggesting that Zack Greinke purposely threw at Quentin. I truly do not believe that Greinke had any reason to throw at him in that situation whatsoever. However, Greinke should not have gone on the offensive either. Doing so cost him a broken collarbone. Had Greinke just let Quentin come to him, chances are he doesn’t leave injured, just with a busted lip or black eye.
Carlos Quentin is clearly to blame, for many reasons. First of all, Quentin is notorious for crowding the plate, which is probably why he has led all of MLB for the last two seasons in being hit by a pitch. Secondly, Quentin holds grudges. Greinke plunked Quentin almost in the same spot 4 years ago when Greinke was pitching for the Royals, and Quentin was playing for the White Sox. Last but certainly not least, if that’s your strategy, to crowd the plate so you can get hit and get on base…DON’T BE ALL CHIPPY WHEN YOU GET DOTTED!!! Consider it a regular occupational hazard!
In conclusion, this was straight up Busch league by Quentin and I agree 110% with Mattingly, he deserves a suspension. And Greinke needs to learn how to not get his collarbone broken when he gets charged!
