ChiefsPlanet - Other Sports Greinke Brawls..breaks collarbone

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...pitch/2076525/

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the game Thursday night against the San Diego Padres, but their pennant hopes certainly took a hit.

Dodgers starter Zack Greinke fractured his left collarbone in a bench-clearing brawl during the Dodgers' 3-2 victory over the Padres at Petco Park, prompting enraged Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp to confront Padres left fielder Carlos Quentin in the clubhouse tunnel after the game.

Padres starter Clayton Richard and security guards intervened before another fight ensued.

The brawl started when Quentin was hit in the shoulder by Greinke's pitch in the sixth inning. He took several steps towards the mound with his bat, dropped it, and charged Greinke. It was the second time in four years that Greinke hit Quentin, but Quentin was intercepted by Kansas City Royals catcher Miguel Olivo and home-plate umpire Bill Hohn back on April 9, 2009, when Greinke pitched for the Royals and Quentin played for the Chicago White Sox.

This time, no one held anyone back, with Greinke, Kemp and Jerry Hairston ejected from the Dodgers, along with Quentin.

The biggest losers, of course, were the Dodgers, with Greinke sidelined for an indefinite period. He's scheduled to see Los Angles physician Neal ElAttrache on Friday. Greinke signed a six-year, $147 million free-agent contract during the winter.

"My teammate now has a broken f------ collarbone,'' Hairston told reporters. "Excuse my language, but that's unbelievable.''

Said Quentin: "It's unfortunate. It could have been avoided. You can ask Zack about that.

"For me, I've been hit by many pitches in my career. I think you guys know that. I can tell you I've never responded in that fashion, so you guys can do your homework on that. For me, the situation is done. That's it.''

Quentin was most infuriated, he told reporters, by what Greinke told him after he was hit.

"That was the final straw,'' he said.

Kemp, enraged by the incident, met face to face with Quentin in the hallway after the game at Petco Park. He followed Quentin into the parking lot and saying: "We'll see, b----,'' according to the Los Angeles Times.

"That's terrible for him to charge the mound like that,'' Kemp told reporters. "I think Carlos Quentin went to Stanford. I heard there's some smart people at Stanford. That wasn't too smart.''

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said that Quentin shouldn't be permitted to play another game until Greinke can pitch.

"We're in a 2-1 game and on a 3-2 pitch to a guy that I see on the [score]board set a record for the Padres by getting hit, a guy who basically dives into the plate,'' Mattingly said, according to the MLB.com report. "In a 2-1 game, we're trying to hit him, 3-2?

"It's just stupid is what it is. He should not play a game until Greinke can pitch. If he plays before Greinke pitches, something is wrong.''

Said Greinke: "The only thing I'm going to say about the whole thing that happened there is I've never hit him on purpose. I never thought of hitting him on purpose.''

Quentin has long been a magnet for pitches. In 2004, he set a minor league record by getting plunked 43 times, and he led the major leagues the past two seasons, getting hit 23 times in 2011 and 17 times last year, even though he played just 86 games.

Greinke told reporters he thought Quentin's umbrage in reacting to getting hit by pitches was "a ploy" to intimidate pitchers.

"I figured he was trying to intimidate pitchers so they wouldn't throw inside,' he said.

The Dodgers and Padres play again Monday, this time, in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium on Jackie Robinson Day.

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