I usually don’t post on Fridays, but I’m making an exception
today (by the way, I have a decent amount of stuff lined up for the next week
or two). Someone needs to set the record straight about this Zack
Greinke/Carlos Quentin business.
This thing is entirely – and I mean entirely – Zack
Greinke’s fault. Greinke hit Quentin with the pitch. Greinke popped off at the
mouth when he clearly saw Quentin was mad. Greinke led with his shoulder when
Quentin went to the mound.
Y’all amuse me highly with this shifting of fault toward
Carlos Quentin, and Don Mattingly needs to sit down somewhere saying that
Quentin should sit as long as Greinke is out. Wonder if he’d have felt that way
if Roger Clemens beaned him a few times.
I know y’all love the Dodgers because Magic Johnson is a
part-owner and because they spent a lot of money on players who were good three
years ago, but seriously: the guy who got hit is to blame. See that little
thing called “out of here”? Get it.
Why else do people want to absolve Greinke? He’s the
big-money guy who’s supposed to team with Clayton Kershaw to get the Dodgers
back into perennial contention. The Dodgers are an easy story to follow and get
material from. Hardly anyone cares about the Padres. Most people don’t even
care about the Giants, and they’ve won two titles in the last three years.
From a baseball standpoint…people want to kick the “3-2
count in a one-run game” thing. That’s fine, but don’t be selective with your
framing. Don’t leave out the fact that Greinke and Quentin have history. Don’t
leave out the fact that Greinke is a control pitcher. Don’t leave out the fact
that the Padres’ lineup is awful after Yonder Alonso. Greinke could’ve easily
walked Quentin, given up a single to Alonso, and still gotten through the sixth
without giving up a run.
All that said: if you really want to believe Greinke hit
Quentin accidentally, that’s cool. There’s also a little something called
“being responsible for your actions”. Haven’t we all done something that had
unintentional consequences, but we still had to act responsibly? Oddly enough,
this doesn’t explain Greinke opening his mouth or leading with his shoulder.
A certain movie premieres today, and we still have 2520
media defending a 2520 player for something he started. Ah, America.
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