http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9166153/carlos-quentin-san-diego-padres-draws-suspended-eight-games-according-report

Associated Press
Updated: April 13, 2013, 12:29 AM ET

SAN DIEGO -- Padres slugger Carlos Quentin was suspended eight games and Los Angeles infielder Jerry Hairston Jr. suspended one game by Major League Baseball for their roles in a brawl Thursday night.

Quentin rushed the mound after he was hit in the upper left arm by a pitch from Zack Greinke. The two players lowered their shoulders and Quentin slammed into Greinke, breaking the pitcher's left collarbone.

Hairston incited a second melee when he ran across the field gesturing at someone in the Padres dugout.

Quentin and Hairston are playing, pending appeal by the players' association.

Quentin also was fined $3,000. Hairston was fined, too, but the amount wasn't immediately known.

No discipline was announced for Greinke or Matt Kemp, both ejected along with Quentin and Hairston.

MLB is believed to be investigating Kemp's confrontation with Quentin as the players were leaving Petco Park after the game. The two went nose to nose before Padres pitcher Clayton Richard got between them. Police and security moved in and broke it up.

Greinke is scheduled to have surgery Saturday and miss eight weeks.


Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/story/_/id/9164643/dodgers-padres-brawl-repercussions

Zack Greinke got hurt in melee, and now Los Angeles must cope with the pain

By Jayson Stark | ESPN.com
Updated: April 12, 2013, 9:57 PM ET

Editor's note: It was announced on Friday night that Carlos Quentin will be suspended eight games for his role in Thursday's brawl.

Just when baseball's peacekeeping forces were beginning to think they might have put an end to the dopey tradition of mound-charging, along came Carlos Quentin.

He never got that memo.

I'd be willing to bet that, before Thursday, no player in the history of baseball had ever charged the mound after getting hit by a 3-2 pitch in a one-run game.

But Quentin never got that memo, either.

So just because the Padres' resident plunk-master inexplicably stampeded out to Zack Greinke's turf Thursday night, setting off the most unforgettable baseball brawl in years, the Dodgers' $217 million season hangs in the balance.

And the repercussions will be reverberating for months. Maybe longer.

Why? Here's why:

• Early indications are that Greinke could be out for two months, possibly longer. That's a dozen starts. Maybe more. We're talking about a guy who, in his Cy Young season of 2009, was worth 10.4 Wins Above Replacement and was pitching great this year until Quentin showed up at his doorstep, with a 1.59 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP through two starts. There's no replacing that level of dominance. Impossible. The single biggest reason to believe in this team was that Greinke-Clayton Kershaw tag team at the top of the rotation. If this injury costs them two to four wins, that's a killer. Remember, the National League West has been decided by three games or fewer in six of the past nine seasons.

• On the other hand, that Cy Young edition of Greinke hasn't shown up every year. He was worth a combined 3.6 WAR to the Brewers and Angels last season, was valued at 1.5 wins the season before that and 3.4 in the season after he won the Cy Young. So if that's the guy the Dodgers have to replace, they're as equipped to do that as any team out there. For months, people have been asking what they were doing holding on to guys like Chris Capuano and Ted Lilly when there was no place for them in the rotation. Now, they're about to turn to one or both of them to take Greinke's starts. For what it's worth, Capuano was worth 2.1 WAR last season. So if this is a short-term absence by their co-ace, not trading away those "excess" starters could turn out to be the best trade the Dodgers never made.

• The other big topic rattling around baseball Friday was the one that Dodgers manager Don Mattingly raised after the game Thursday: Should Quentin be allowed to play a game before Greinke returns? "I agree with Mattingly 100 percent," one American League executive said. "Quentin needs to miss as much time as Greinke." Well, that's not going to happen. Over the past eight seasons, eight hitters have been suspended after games in which they headed for the mound. The longest sentence handed to any of them was eight games -- to Nyjer Morgan in 2010. Coco Crisp got seven games in 2008, and Richie Sexson was suspended for six in 2008. And the only other players who got more than four games were Kevin Youkilis in 2009 and Miguel Olivo in 2008, who missed five games apiece. Incidentally, there wasn't a single incident last season of any hitter charging the mound.

• But here's the difference between this incident and any of the previous eight: This one led to a serious injury, of a critical player, under circumstances that should never have been allowed. There were rumblings Friday that baseball was pondering a difficult question: How much did Greinke's injury, and prolonged absence to come, have to be factored into Quentin's suspension? "You have to take that into account, don't you?" one longtime executive wondered. "There has to be a consequence with something like this or you run the risk of having more incidents. And you can't allow that precedent."

• Also factoring into the discipline deliberations: The Dodgers and Padres are back at it Monday in Los Angeles. This won't be one of those times when suspensions are handed down a week after the brawl. All suspensions need to be in place before the next time the teams meet. So the discipline debate was moved to the top of the priority list in the commissioner's office Friday. Good plan.

• Another fascinating question: Was there any chance -- any -- that Greinke was throwing at Quentin on purpose -- on a full-count pitch, in a one-run game, to a hitter leading off the sixth inning? Just check the body language of catcher A.J. Ellis. If this had been premeditated, wouldn't his first move after the pitch have been to jump in front of Quentin to make sure he didn't charge the mound? Instead, Ellis just rose out of his crouch casually, looking curious but certainly not alarmed, about Quentin's impending reaction. "And not just him," one NL exec said. "Look at [plate umpire] Sam Holbrook. Typically, you'll see at least some intuitive feel from the umpire and catcher to jump out and get in the way [if they think the hitter might run toward the mound]. But there was none -- because neither guy's intuition told him that there needed to be."

• But if you're interested in applying for Quentin's defense team, here's a stat to ponder, even though it looks more ominous out of context from this particular situation: Since 2008, Greinke has hit Quentin with a pitch three times in 31 plate appearances. That comes to one HBP every 10.3 trips to the plate. Greinke has faced 4,279 hitters not named Carlos Quentin in that span -- and hit just 19 of them. That comes to one every 225.2 trips to the plate. Your witness.

• Here's the response of one executive after I ran that stat past him Friday morning: "It's not like he's only been hit three times [since '08], all by Zack Greinke. All the guy does is get hit. He missed half the season last year, and he still got hit 17 times." This would be true. Of all players since 1900 who have been drilled at least 100 times in their careers, guess who has the highest rate of HBPs per plate appearance? That would be Quentin -- one every 24.1 PAs.

• Of course, Greinke didn't exactly defuse this situation. When Quentin took a step toward the mound, Greinke could have waved, shrugged, apologized or at least flashed the peace sign. Instead, he clearly uttered some sort of inflammatory remark. (Use your imagination.) But was that a good enough reason for Quentin to stomp toward the mound? C'mon. "Let's just say he dropped the F-bomb," the same exec just quoted above said. "You think that's -- what? -- the second or third time [Quentin] ever heard it? That's no reason to do what he did. That makes no sense."

Well, it must have made sense to Quentin, given the history of his long, bruise-filled relationship with Greinke. In the heat of a moment, no player is thinking through every possible nuance of why a baseball might or might not have been heading his way.

Nevertheless, mound-charging is always a dumb idea. And thanks to this one, the bottom line is this:

The Dodgers' beautiful -- not to mention expensive -- 2013 season can't ever be the same.

MOUND-CHARGING SUSPENSIONS

Since 2007, eight players who charged the mound were suspended for their actions. Here are those eight suspensions, from longest to shortest:

8 games: Nyjer Morgan (Nationals), Sept. 1, 2010
7 games: Coco Crisp (Red Sox), June 4, 2010
6 games: Richie Sexson (Mariners), May 8, 2008
5 games: Kevin Youkilis (Red Sox), Aug. 11, 2009
4 games: Miguel Olivo (Royals), Aug. 8, 2008
4 games*: David Ortiz (Red Sox), July 8, 2011
3 games: Shane Victorino (Phillies), Aug. 5, 2011
3 games: Nick Swisher (A's), Sept. 16, 2007
*later reduced to 3 games

Whoa!!! I can't believe that guy would grab another guy's uh... well you know. :eek:

That being said, it sucks that Grienke has hit him times before that night so there is history there. They need to cut that out because I think maybe they hate each other.

That being said, I'm glad the writer made two sides of the story instead of bashing the Padres player totally which I have kinda expected.

Not sure what MLB can do to Kemp for something that happened after the game but Kemp should have just stayed away.

I never want to see a player get hurt but I'm sorry that he is out for 8 weeks.

A 8 game suspension in baseball is nothing LOL

Since baseball is the only sport that a team plays almost every night.

So basically he will be playing again by 4/22

Mr. Quentin wasn't the only Carlos in MLB to get suspended this week. The other happens to be on my own team (and we couldn't be prouder - :rolleyes:):

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2013/04/cleveland_indians_pitcher_carl_2.html

Cleveland Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco draws eight-game suspension, fine

By Dennis Manoloff, The Plain Dealer
Follow on Twitter
on April 12, 2013 at 4:47 PM, updated April 12, 2013 at 10:32 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco insisted that he accidentally hit the Yankees' Kevin Youkilis with a pitch Tuesday night. Major League Baseball did not buy it.

Carrasco was suspended eight games and fined an undisclosed amount for the incident. The announcement came Friday afternoon. It is Carrasco's second suspension in three years.

In unrelated news, the Indians activated designated hitter Jason Giambi; recalled left-handed reliever Nick Hagadone from the Class AAA Columbus Clippers; placed righty reliever Matt Albers on the paternity list; and sent right-handed pitcher Corey Kluber back to Columbus.

Carrasco, making his first start in the majors since Aug. 3, 2011, was ejected after drilling Youkilis in the shoulder blade in the fourth inning of a 14-1 loss. On Carrasco's previous pitch, Robinson Cano hit a two-run homer for a 7-0 lead.

Carrasco had just finished serving a five-game suspension dating to July 2011 for throwing over the head of Kansas City's Billy Butler.

The Indians optioned Carrasco to Columbus on Wednesday. They did not send him down because of the Youkilis HBP, but because they needed to make room for Kluber. Rain wiped out Kluber's scheduled start Wednesday night.

"Carlos is very adamant that it was unintentional,'' Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti said. "He's been consistent with that.''

MLB officials spoke with Antonetti and Tribe manager Terry Francona before making the decision.

"We were all looking at the same video,'' Antonetti said.

Carrasco will appeal.

"Ultimately, Carlos will have the opportunity to have others hear his case and hear how remorseful he is for it,'' Antonetti said.

After Tuesday's game, Carrasco told reporters that he didn't mean to plunk Youkilis.

"I know it doesn't look good," he said. "I want to say I'm sorry. I didn't want to hit anybody. I slipped (on the pitch that hit Youkilis). That's the truth. I was throwing 95-96 mph the whole game. I slipped and threw 90."

Youkilis said: "When that comes after we score seven runs, it doesn't look good. But I'm not here to decipher such things. I'm here to play baseball."

Plate umpire Jordan Baker calmly tossed Carrasco, who acted surprised. A source in the Yankees clubhouse said its personnel was angry at Carrasco and thought it was Billy Butler, Part II -- but its players stayed put as Carrasco exited.

"That was right in the middle of his back after a home run," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "No one ever knows if a guy truly does it on purpose. But he just came back from a suspension. If it was on purpose, it's not a good idea. If it wasn't, it looks like it was. Either way, it doesn't look good."

Francona said Carrasco was waiting outside his office after the game to apologize.

"It's just unfortunate," Francona said. "I hope he doesn't get suspended. I know how it looked. I also know what he told me, and I believe him. The league has to do their thing and I fully respect that. The league is pretty good about listening, but I know they have a job to do, too."

Carrasco (0-1, 17.81 ERA) allowed seven runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up two homers, had the hit-batsman and committed an error. He threw 67 pitches.

On July 29, 2011, Carrasco fired a fastball over Butler's head on the first pitch after a homer by Melky Cabrera in the fourth inning of a 12-0 loss. Cabrera's blast, which he admired, gave the Royals a 7-0 lead. As soon as Carrasco used Butler's air space to take out his frustration, plate umpire Scott Barry ran him. Carrasco gave up the seven runs in 3 1/3.

MLB originally suspended Carrasco for six games. He appealed and made one more start that year before undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

Carrasco did not pitch in the majors in 2012. When this season began, the Indians put him on the 25-man roster so he could serve his suspension before returning to Columbus. When Scott Kazmir went down with a rib-cage injury, Carrasco stayed in the big leagues so he could start Tuesday.

"From a team perspective, we obviously worked pretty hard to try to have his prior suspension not be an issue,'' Antonetti said. "When he returns at the major-league level, we'll have to deal with it again.''

Antonetti said that September would be the easiest time for the Indians to navigate Carrasco's suspension, but "I wouldn't say this precludes us from calling him up before then.''

Before returning to Columbus, Carrasco had an extended meeting with Yankees closer Mariano Rivera outside the Indians dugout. Rivera, in addition to being a great pitcher, is regarded as one of the game's finest people.

Carrasco, 26, was acquired from the Phillies in the Cliff Lee trade on July 29, 2009. He made his major-league debut with Cleveland on Sept. 1 of that season. He entered this year at 10-15 with a 4.93 ERA in 33 starts.

With Carrasco, repertoire has not been the issue. Then-Minnesota DH Jim Thome, after Carrasco's quality start in September 2010, made it a point to compliment him.

"I like Carrasco a lot," Thome said. "That kid has good stuff. He showed great poise, he pitched under control. The Indians have a good young arm there. His change-up really impressed me. He threw me two, and one of them had screwball action to it. He threw his fastball to both sides of the plate, and the fastball had late life."

In the start against the Yankees, Carrasco's fastball was settling in the mid-90s and creeping into the high-90s. His location, however, was off. Yankees left-handed batters locked on to pitches that caught too much of the plate.

The mental side of baseball -- specifically, handling adversity within games -- has been a huge problem for Carrasco, as evidenced by the Butler and Youkilis incidents. In the offseason, Carrasco spoke of how he had learned his lesson and was eager to surprise people with a big year.

Waterstonfan - yeah, their bad blood goes back to their days in the AL Central - when Grienke was on the KC Royals and Quentin was on the White Sox.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/dodgers/2013/04/12/zack-greinke-carlos-quentin-dodgers-padres-brawl/2077703/

Nightengale: Losers aplenty in Dodgers-Padres brawl

Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports 3:39 p.m. EDT April 12, 2013

The Los Angeles Dodgers-San Diego Padres brawl might be over, but, oh, how that hostility is just beginning.

From their official Twitter account early Friday morning, the Dodgers fired out a message that simply read: "See you on Monday in Los Angeles.''

Oh yeah, and when you opened the message there was a picture of a screenshot of Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy character in Anchorman, delivering the classic line:

"You stay classy, San Diego."

Yes sir, this hatred between the Dodgers and Padres is just getting started.

"If there wasn't (animosity) before,'' Dodgers starter Zack Greinke told news reporters, "there probably is now.''

The two teams meet again Monday, but it likely will be played without Padres left fielder Carlos Quentin.

And definitely without Greinke.

Quentin was the one who charged the mound and promptly broke Greinke's collarbone.

Greinke, who's being examined Friday, is expected to be out at least six to eight weeks.

Quentin? He likely will receive a 10-game suspension, with Major League Baseball likely to deliberate quickly and announce penalties over the weekend.

If the dude is smart -- and Quentin did go to Stanford -- he'll begin serving that suspension immediately without an appeal.

If not, he'll be the one subjected to the wrath and fury of Dodger fans, making Josh Hamilton's reception in Texas last weekend sound like a church social.

If Quentin indeed does play, word of warning to the Dodgers:

Don't retaliate. Well, at least not that night.

Monday happens to be Jackie Robinson Day, and if Robinson can turn his cheek to all of the racial hatred during his time, certainly the Dodgers can restrain themselves for at least a night.

Besides, Commissioner Bud Selig, Rachel Robinson and MLB's top dignitaries will be on hand.

Once they leave town the next day, then all gloves are off.

Once again.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly thinks Quentin should be suspended until Greinke returns. That comes from a manager who just saw his team's playoff hopes slammed to the ground harder than Greinke's left shoulder.

"He shouldn't play a game until Greinke can pitch,'' Mattingly told news reporters Thursday night. "If he plays before Greinke pitches, something is wrong. Their guy charges the mound being an idiot, and our guy is going to be out for however long, and their guy is probably going to be playing in three days. It's a joke.

"Not one person on their team thinks he was throwing at him. We're trying to win a game. You don't hit a guy there. It's stupid. Just ridiculous."

Yeah, but it's also baseball.

OK, maybe there's not the same risk of concussions like football, or the reward of your own poster if you dunk on a guy like in basketball, but this sport still is filled with plenty of machismo.

Why else would Greinke, who's in the first month of a six-year, $147 million contract, lower his left shoulder and brace himself with Quentin charging toward him?

Why else would Dodgers teammate Matt Kemp threaten to take on the entire Padres team, and so enraged more than an hour later that he was ready to punch out Quentin when he saw him in the tunnel leaving the stadium?

And why else would Quentin practically ask for mercy in the courts, well, at least the press, by reminding everyone that he and Greinke have history?

Greinke hit Quentin nearly four years to the day, on April 9, 2009, when Greinke was with the Kansas City Royals and Quentin played for the Chicago White Sox.

Oney Guillen, the son of former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, said on Twitter that Quentin vowed to retaliate against Greinke if he was ever hit again.

Well, Quentin, who crowds the plate and has led the league in being hit the last two years and 116 times in his career, certainly decided to respond.

And Greinke paid the price.

"It's unfortunate,'' Quentin said. "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.''

It also didn't help that Greinke apparently did a bit of trash-talking to Quentin after he hit him. Quentin, who had taken only a few steps toward the mound, then became a raging bull.

"That,'' Quentin said, "was the last straw. Look at the body language. Look at the video.

"There's a reason why I acted the way I did. Who knows what happens if he doesn't say anything. Or he motions that it wasn't intentional.''

Indeed, let's not make Greinke an innocent victim in this fracas. He can trash-talk with the best of them, and it was clear they've been bitter rivals well before Thursday.

"I've never hit him on purpose,'' Greinke said. "I never thought of hitting him on purpose. He always seems to think that I'm hitting him on purpose, but, I mean, that's not the case.

"I actually thought it was just a ploy to get people to not throw inside to him. I just feel like he's trying to intimidate people to throw away. But I don't know anyone who has hit him on purpose."

Then again, we don't know any ballplayer who has deliberately hurt someone else on purpose.

"It's part of the game, it's happened for 100 years," Padres starter pitcher Jason Marquis told news reporters. "It's unfortunate guys get hurt. I'm going to protect my teammates in any which way. But you don't want to see guys hurt in that situation.''

Too late now.

If no one is hurt in the brawl, and Greinke has nothing more than a couple of bruises, this is forgotten by the time Tiger Woods holes out at 18 Friday at the Masters.

Now that Greinke will be out for a couple of months, leaving one of the richest teams in baseball desperately needing Ted Lilly to bail them out, this might be remembered the entire season.

If the Dodgers don't reach the playoffs, guess who'll they'll be blaming?

And, if opposing pitchers are smart in the National League West, they'll keep pitching inside on Quentin, knowing he can't afford to charge the mound again without risking severe discipline.

All in all, an ugly night in San Diego, but a thing of beauty for Giants fans in San Francisco.

Their team's hopes of repeating in the NL West certainly got a whole lot better.

Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter: @BNightengale

I can see how someone would want to fight after getting hit by a pitch because I know a 90MPH fast ball hurts LOL

The Indians are off tomorrow so I'll have to see if I can catch this game. Carlos Quentin is appealing his suspension so he can still play right now - I would love to see SD put him in, but I doubt they will. The LA fans would probably dump trash all over him - figuratively AND literally!!! :eek: :crazy:

Not tomorrow, it's Jackie Robinson day.

That's right, I had forgotten. Tuesday will probably be another story!! :eek: