Greinke breaks collarbone on a bogus move by Quentin

In last night's Dodgers vs. Padres game, Carlos Quentin charged the mound after getting hit in the shoulder by a Zach Greinke pitch, and the skirmish left Greinke with a broken collarbone.

Normally I would go to the defense of the batter on these situations but this one was totally crazy. The situation was 2-1 Dodgers, Quentin leading off the bottom of the sixth inning, a 3-2 pitch. Along with that, after the pitch, Greinke went off the mound shaking his head and rolling his eyes, looking up into the first base bleachers. An intentional beaning is typically followed by staring the batter down, coming off the mound spitting, looking at the ground or just looking tough. Greinke wants to earn a win. There is no way that Greinke was going after Quentin.

The interesting thing about the situation was during the at-bat, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully went over Quentin's bio. He went to college at Stanford where he was an "honor roll student." He played football in high school where he was on a championship team, and made a big play on football forcing a fumble on defense and then on offense winning the game with a run. Quentin is big, strong guy. And he's supposed to be a smart guy, too.

This wasn't just a fluke injury. Greinke is a 190 pound beanpole. Quentin is a 240 pound former football player. Quentin charged the mound, bull-rushing Greinke, who lowered his shoulder into a charging Quentin. Greinke obviously took the brunt of that, and that was immediately followed by Quentin tackling him. Then two dozen players jumped on top.

The Dodgers signed Zach Greinke to a $147 million, 6 year contract in the offseason, the largest ever (at the time) deal for a right handed pitcher. They opened up the checkbook for lots of players in a mad effort to put together a star-studded roster that can win the World Series this year. Greinke was the brightest star of the free agent class, making $21 million this year. Carlos Quentin is getting $9 million a year playing for the last place San Diego Padres.

Greinke will likely be out at least two, could be three months.

It was a real wild pitch, but Quentin needs to use a little better discretion. It was a cheap shot by a large strong man on a bad team against a great but scrawny player on a great team. It was a completely unnecessary injury that significantly impacts a team and player.

Some people will say that Quentin should be suspended until Greinke returns. He will likely get benched for a week or less. But one thing is for sure: Padres manager Bud Black better not include Carlos Quentin in the lineup in the 16 remaining games against the Dodgers or he will add to his 108+ career times hit by pitch.