We Need Common Sense in Baseball

I wrote an angry blog post last night as I was watching the Dodgers-Padres game.  This is an edited version of that post after learning what happened to Zack Greinke.  

Zack Greinke hit Carlos Quentin leading off the sixth inning in a 2-1 game and Quentin charged the mound.  The umpires ejected Quentin and Greinke.  As it turns out, Greinke's ejection didn't matter because he was injured by Carlos Quentin (now my least favorite baseball player other than Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez).  But why in the world was Zack Greinke ejected?  He was ejected because Quentin charged the mound.  That's ridiculous.  It's a one-run game with now outs in the sixth inning.  There's no way Greinke was trying to hit Quentin and put the tying run on base.  Because Quentin was a moron and charged the mound, they ejected the pitcher also.

Don Mattingly was great after the game.  He's right, Quentin should be suspended for a long time, but he'll probably miss less than a week.  And Matt Kemp also had a great line:  "I think Carlos Quentin went to Stanford, something like that?  I heard there's smart people at Stanford. That wasn't too smart. Greinke didn't do anything wrong. That stuff happens in the minor leagues. It doesn't happen in the big leagues."  I didn't need another reason to despise Stanford, but I have one anyway.

There was a game three years ago between the Dodgers and Giants where the Giants hit one of the Dodgers' hitters.  Both teams were warned.  Clayton Kershaw hit one of the Giants hitters and was ejected.  Now it's possible that Kershaw didn't do it intentionally and a pitch just got away from him (I really don't remember).  But either way it's stupid.  If it was unintentional, he gets ejected because the Giants' pitcher hit a Dodger first.  It it was intentional, the Giants get to hit a Dodger with no consequences and when the Dodgers retaliate, their pitcher gets ejected.

There was a game two years ago where Kershaw was ejected for hitting one of the Diamondbacks.  You can check out the video.  There was no warning.  Nobody had been hit in the game before that.  Kershaw didn't throw at anybody's head.  Maybe it was intentional based on what happened the night before, but that's baseball.  If you act the way Parra did, there are going to be consequences.

This isn't me speaking as a Dodger fan, this is me speaking as a baseball fan.  These scenarios could happen with any team.  I'm just using examples that I've seen while watching the Dodgers.  Baseball used to allow players to police themselves.  You show up the pitcher after you hit a home run and you're going to get hit.  You hit one of my guys, I hit one of your guys and it's over.  Whenever the Dodgers see Carlos Quentin again, he should get hit.  My suspicion is that there will be warnings issued at the beginning of the game.  Let Quentin take what he has coming to him.  If somebody throws at somebody else after that, then it makes sense to throw somebody out of the game.  But let's use common sense.  The only reason Zack Greinke was ejected tonight was because of what Carlos Quentin decided to do.  That doesn't make sense.