Larry Brown Sports

Carlos Quentin charged the mound after being hit by a pitch from Zack Greinke, inciting a bench-clearing brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres on Thursday night.

Greinke had a full count on Quentin with the bases empty and the Dodgers leading 2-1 in the sixth when he plunked the Padres outfielder in the left arm. Quentin stared out at Greinke, took a few steps towards the mound, and then decided to charge. Greinke dropped his glove, braced for the contact, and dropped his left shoulder into the charging outfielder. Catcher A.J. Ellis rushed out and tackled Quentin to the ground, and then it was “every man for himself” after that, as announcer Vin Scully said.

Greinke was replaced by pitcher Chris Capuano after suffering an injury, which was later revealed to be a broken collarbone. Center fielder Matt Kemp was ejected for going crazy during the brawl, and he was replaced by Skip Schumaker.

Kemp was likely fuming because he felt the Padres had thrown at him earlier in the game:

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Los Angeles Times columnist TJ Simers recently suffered what he called a “mini-stroke” while in Arizona to cover spring training, and he apparently can thank the Los Angeles Dodgers for helping to save him.

Simers, who is known for his humor, negativity, and confrontational style, revealed the news in a column that featured his usual amounts of sarcasm.

As best as I could tell while deciphering fact from sarcasm, Simers fell multiple times getting out of bed. He says he then fell off the toilet, but later managed to climb back to bed. He called his LA Times colleague Dylan Hernandez to inform him he wouldn’t be able to cover spring training that day. Hernandez called the Dodgers, who sent over a trainer who took the writer to the emergency room.

Simers must have recovered well from his mini-stroke because he was able to write his usual witty column with only one day between published items; his previous column was on Mar. 16. Simers says Dodgers GM Ned Colletti even came to visit him while he was in the hospital.

I’d say that Simers might take it easy on the Dodgers this season considering they helped save him, but that just doesn’t fit his style.

Photo: Twitter/TJ Simers

The current ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which as you know includes NBA legend Magic Johnson, paid $2.15 billion for the team — the most ever for a sports franchise. They are expected to have a payroll of $230 million in 2013, which is the highest in baseball history. The team is also planning to spend over $100 million in stadium upgrades and improvements.

You think they’re gonna roll out that type of red carpet for a school marching band? That certainly isn’t the plan. The Dodgers have won only two playoff series in the past 25 years, but the new ownership group is thinking big. How big? Dynasty big.

During an interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports, Dodgers CEO Mark Walter was asked if he feels it is possible for any team to duplicate what the Atlanta Braves did when they won 14 consecutive division titles.

“It’s going to be done again, this time on the West Coast,” Walter said. “Oh, sorry.”

Dodgers president Stan Kasten happened to be the president of the Braves during that incredible run of success. While he was less specific than Walter with his prediction, the message was the same.

“I’m saying, ‘Yes.’” Kasten added. “But that’s all I’m going to say.”

LA certainly has the names. Whether you’re talking about Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett or Andre Ethier, the team isn’t lacking star power. The Dodgers’ roster will do wonders for ticket sales, but it will also keep expectations sky-high. Fans are not going to be patient, and why should they be?

Let us also remember that the Dodgers are in a division with the San Francisco Giants, who happen to be the reining World Series champions and have won two titles in the past three years. If LA intends to build a dynasty similar to the one the Braves had under Bobby Cox, they’ll have to start by beating the best.

San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt took a shot at the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers while speaking at the team’s “FanFest” event at AT&T Park Saturday.

According to CSN Bay Area, Belt was asked about the Dodgers spending loads of money over the offseason and responded “All I can say is, you can’t buy chemistry.”

Since purchasing the Dodgers last March, the new ownership group has spent over $600 million on players. They took on $262.5 million in contracts when they acquired Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto from the Boston Red Sox. They acquired Hanley Ramirez from the Miami Marlins and the $31.5 million he is owed over the next two years. They gave Andre Ethier a five-year, $85 million extension in June. They signed Zack Greinke to a seven-year deal worth up to $158 million. They spent $61.7 million to sign Korean pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu (including the posting fee). They signed Cuban defector Yasiel Puig for $42 million.

The Dodgers have a vastly improved team, but they still failed to reach the postseason last year even after acquiring many star players.

The Giants, meanwhile, got an MVP season from Buster Posey, a super postseason performance from Pablo Sandoval, and an All-Star performance from Melky Cabrera (before he was suspended for PEDs). Sergio Romo was unstoppable in the bullpen, while Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Ryan Vogelsong all were excellent throughout the year.

By winning two World Series in the last three seasons, San Francisco proved you don’t need a roster full of high-priced All-Stars to win a championship. However, the Giants did have the eighth-highest payroll in baseball last season, so it’s not like they’re a struggling franchise.

Image via YouTube/ladykaymarie

All of a sudden, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the New York Yankees. After the massive trade they pulled off with the Boston Red Sox last season and an offseason that has included signing Zack Greinke to a six-year, $147 million deal, L.A. is expected to have the highest payroll in MLB history in 2013. As baseball fans know, with a massive payroll comes massive expectations.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly knows what will be expected of his squad this season after how much money they have invested in its current roster. He also believes it’s likely the team falls short of expectations no matter what they accomplish.

“No matter what we do this year, every article that’s written is going to have something in there about the payroll,” Mattingly told ESPN Radio’s Mason and Ireland. “And if we win, we were supposed to win. How could these guys not win with that payroll? And if we lose, then it’s a monumental disaster. So we might as well just take it head-on.”

I’m sure the Red Sox could shed a little light on that and, ironically enough, the Dodgers have taken the expensive pieces that didn’t work for Boston to give them a shot on the West Coast. Like most others, we thought the money the Red Sox spent on Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford was a good investment. Fans and the media were instantly thinking of multiple World Series championships and a 100-win season, but the worst September collapse in MLB history changed all that.

Will the outcome be the same for L.A.? Only time will tell, but we certainly know the expectations will be just as high.

The Nationals are fighting to maintain the lead in the NL East and top spot in the NL for the playoffs, so they can hardly afford mistakes by their players, much less ones by the umpires. But that’s what they dealt with on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers were up 5-0 in the bottom of the 4th and had runners on second and third with two outs. Hanley Ramirez grounded a ball to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who tagged out Adrian Gonzalez who was going from second to third. Zimmerman tagged out Gonzalez for the final out before Matt Kemp, who was on third, reached home plate, as you can see in the image below:

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In their quest to become the Yankees of the west, the Dodgers even tried to out-Yankee the Yankees.

While they were on their multi-million dollar shopping spree, the Dodgers reportedly asked the Yankees if they had any interest in unloading CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, both of whom are signed to long-term deals.

The New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports that the Dodgers began calling teams in July about taking on unwanted contracts and that they inquired about those two players. Yankees officials apparently told them they were not interested in moving either player.

Sabathia has four years and $99 million guaranteed remaining on his contract, while Teixeira has four years and $90 million left on his deal.

Sabathia is still one of the most reliable starting pitchers in baseball, so it’s understandable why the Yankees would want to keep him. Teixeira is working on his third straight relatively disappointing season, so it would have made sense if the team thought about shedding his contract. However, we’re talking about the Yankees here, and as long as they’re getting relatively good production from a player, they probably don’t mind if they’re paying a premium. The Dodgers aren’t the only team trying to win a World Series here.

Forearm bash to Hardball Talk