When NOT to Charge the Mound

As a pitcher, I understand that I may have a little bias in regards to this subject; however, last night's charging of the mound by Carlos Quentin (Padres' outfielder) was in my mind one of the most idiotic events I have ever seen in sports. I happened to be at the game when it happened and it was a 3-2 count when I saw Zack Grienke (Dodgers' pitcher) hit Quentin and I thought nothing of it and looked down as it happened. I only looked up to the sound of the people around me yelling "Fight!!" 

Quentin Charging Grienke

Now I'm not going to lie, my initial thought was "wow this is awesome I've never seen a brawl in person!" But after taking the time to think about it and hearing that Grienke had to leave the game due to a fractured collar bone from the brawl, I thought "why did Quentin charge the mound in the first place?" When I thought about it, none of it made sense. It was a 2-1 ball game and the Dodgers were winning in the 6th inning when Grienke hit Quentin in the arm with a 3-2 pitch to lead off the inning... 

Now in that sentence I can spot 5 good reasons that show that there was zero intent behind Grienke hitting Quentin:

1. It was a 1 run game (Don't want to jeopardize chances of winning)
2. The Dodgers were WINNING by 1 (Put the tying run on base?? Yeah why not)

Grienke About to Break His Collarbone

3. The pitch was never even close to Quentin's head (Main reason hitters get upset with brush back pitches, but the pitch never threatened his head)
4. It was a full count (If you are going to hit someone, you do it early in the count to not waste pitches)
5. It was to lead off an inning (Putting the tying run on base to start an inning is just asking to give up a run)

There is no way that you could convince me that the Dodgers intentionally hit a guy in the arm, in a one run game to lead off an inning. Quentin, as a guy who lead the National League in Hit by Pitches last year should understand better than anyone when someone is intentionally throwing at him. The facts add up to that there was obviously no intent behind Grienke's errant pitch and since intent behind being hit is usually the main reason that someone would charge at a pitcher, I really can't wrap my mind around why Quentin reacted the way he did.

Matt Kemp Confronting Quentin After Game

Matt Kemp was quoted to have said the following after the game: "I think Carlos Quentin went to Stanford. I heard there's some smart people at Stanford. That wasn't too smart.'' In the midst of the whole brawl, Grienke fractured his left collarbone and is expected to miss at least 6-8 weeks. Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said that he believes Quentin should not be allowed to play as long as Grienke is unable to pitch. I completely agree. There is never really a "right time" to charge the mound, but there are certainly times when one could justify it at least a little bit. This time, I don't think anyone is on Quentin's side.

-Dan Kolodin