Major League Baseball

Blood, sweat and worst fears for LA

Published Apr. 11, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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When the Dodgers signed pitcher Zack Greinke to a six-year, $147 million contract in the offseason, they thought they were getting a pitcher, not a fighter, and one that pitched every fifth game, not every fifth week. And they don’t pay star center fielder Matt Kemp $160 million to chase down opposing players and be separated by police after the game, either.

Funny how things can change in nine games.

In the sixth inning of Thursday night’s game against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, Greinke hit Padres slugger Carlos Quentin in the shoulder, leading to a bench-clearing brawl as Quentin charged the 2009 Cy Young winner. While Quentin and Greinke got the festivities going, from the video below, clearly the most fired-up guy on the field was Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp.

You can also watch the video here.

Apparently, Kemp was so fired up, he confronted Quentin after the game.

And good thing this guy's idea didn't come to fruition.

And Kemp may not have been the only one out for Padres blood. Did the Dodgers use San Diego icon Ron Burgundy to hint at payback when the teams meet up in Los Angeles next week?

But back to the brawl.

While Greinke went into self-defense mode and lowered his left (non-throwing) shoulder into the charging Quentin — before getting in some, let’s call them, low blows (see more here) — the move turned out to be a devastating one. Shortly after the game the Dodgers announced that Greinke, who left the game after the brawl but was not ejected, suffered a broken left collarbone, with TV reports indicating he will be out a month.

While the scene was wild, with Jerry Hairston Jr. charging out the dugout once things had settled to rile them back up, it was perhaps not completely unexpected. You see, Greinke and Quentin have a bit of a history, with this being the third time the pitcher hit the slugger. After game Quentin admitted that their history played a role in the brawl.

Even Padres manager Bud Black admitted the same.

And things had been simmering throughout the series, with Quentin also being hit Tuesday and Kemp getting buzzed earlier in Thursday’s game.

You can also watch the video here.

Ultimately, the Dodgers won 3-2 on Juan Uribe’s pinch-hit home run in the eighth. But all the talk after the game was the brawl. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called Quentin charging the mound, "stupid" — and even offered up an interesting idea for disciplining the hitter.

Greinke really didn’t have much to say about the brawl or how long he will be out, but he did plead innocence in the affair.

And even though Greinke was hurt, at least the Dodgers (you know, the ones now paying him millions to sit on the bench) applauded his NFL-esque toughness:

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