Carlos Quentin: MLB's new bad boy

Like a lot of dedicated Padres fans, I couldn't wait to see how the national media would react to the brawl last night between Carlos Quentin and Zack Greinke. As expected, the national media has absolutely torn Carlos Quentin apart, with many "reputable" sports writers and radio personalities calling for Quentin to be suspended, not just for a few games, but for a few weeks.  An overreaction? Perhaps.  First, we need to revisit the events of last night...as if we haven't already done that at least a dozen times already.

Bottom of the 6th, Quentin leads off the inning against Greinke with the Padres down 2-1 against the Dodgers.  After working a full-count, Quentin gets hit by a 89MPH pitch in the left arm, immediately takes a couple of steps onto the grass towards the mound, and is visibly furious.  Greinke then takes a couple of steps towards Quentin, says...well...we're not sure what he said still, but whatever it was, Carlos did not like it...throws his glove to the grass, and all hell breaks loose.  Quentin charges towards the mound and Greinke, for whatever reason, decides to stand in and take the hit, and the result is a broken collarbone for the Dodgers' $147M pitcher.  Lots of punching, pushing, shoving, crotch grabbing, and trash talk is exchanged between both sides, and then things eventually start to settle down...that is until Jerry Hairston Jr. decides to charge towards the Padres dugout to defend Greinke's honor.  JHJ will later tell reporters that a player (rumored to be John Baker) was making fun of Greinke's injury, which I find highly unlikely since most people didn't even know that Greinke was injured until well after the brawl was over.  Matt Kemp, trying his best to be a tough guy, decides to start yelling at Bud Black and the rest of the Padres roster, earning him the boot along with JHJ.  The field finally clears and twitter explodes with death threats towards Quentin from Dodger fans.  *cough cough* Bryan Stow *cough*  Oh yeah, and thanks to a Juan Uribe home run, the Dodgers leave Petco Park with a win.  But they wouldn't leave quietly.  After the game, Kemp decided to track down Carlos Quentin in the parking lot, wearing what appears to be an expensive suit and a stylish leather backpack that he stole from Rihanna's closet.   More words were exhanged as Kemp and Quentin were nose-to-nose (per multiple reports from eye witnesses) and were eventually separated by a vigilant Clayton Richard, security guards, and police officers...but mostly Clayton Richard.  I mean, look at the guy!  Ain't no donuts invading that temple.

Kemp: "We'll see, bitch!"
Richard: "What did the five fingers say to the face? SLAP!"

 The rest of the night can be summed up in the following bulletpoints.

•  Drunk Dodger and Padre fans fight in the stands
• Twitter blows up with angry tweeting between fans and journalists
• More fights between fans
• Don Mattingly pisses his pants in anger during his press conference, calling for Quentin to be suspended until Greinke is able to pitch again.
• Greinke acts like he has no idea why Quentin thinks he's hitting him on purpose, but seems reluctant to talk about the situation and past encounters with Q.
• Quentin tells reporters to "ask Zack" regarding what Greinke said before the two went all UFC in the middle of the diamond.
• More angry tweeting as the Dodgers official twitter account trolls San Diego.

See you on Monday in Los Angeles: twitter.com/Dodgers/status…
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 12, 2013

Now, I think the general consensus amongst everybody is that Greinke did not intentionally hit Quentin on a 3-2 pitch. That would be rather foolish on Greinke's part. I think we can also agree that Quentin should not have lost his cool and stared down Greinke.  What isn't being discussed (outside of San Diego) is that Greinke also shouldn't have taken two steps toward Quentin, tossed his glove, or said ANYTHING to him.  Whatever was said immediately sent Q into beastmode.  Well, what's done is done, and Quentin now has to sit out with an eight game suspension.  JHJ also received a one game suspension.  Somehow, Matt Kemp avoided getting any kind of suspension, because MLB loves the Dodgers and wouldn't dare suspend their MVP.  Also, Cody Random was DFA'd today, which leads me to believe he was the one apologizing to the Dodgers clubhouse. Josh Byrnes will not tolerate a traitor.  Finally, remember kids...