Zack Greinke Breaks Collarbone During Brawl

April 14, 2013

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The playoff hopes of the Dodgers were dealt a serious blow Thursday night when Zack Greinke broke his collarbone – and injury that will keep him out two months.  With the Dodgers winning 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning and the count at 3-2, Greinke hit Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin with a pitch.  Quentin charged the mound, and Greinke braced himself for the collision by leading with his left shoulder – resulting in the broken collarbone.

Did Greinke hit Quentin on purpose?  Most likely not.  Quentin gets hit by pitches a lot, because he crowds the plate.  It’s part of his game – it gives him better coverage of the outside of the plate, and he gets on base when he gets hit by a pitch (which happens at the rate of one every 25 times he comes to bat – an incredibly high rate).  Sure, Greinke had hit him two other times in his career, but he’s not the only pitcher who has plunked Quentin three times.

Then there’s the game situation.  It’s a one run lead late in the game.  You’re trying to protect the lead, not give the opposing team free baserunners.  And even if you are going to hit a batter, you wouldn’t take the count to 3-2.  You’d hit him with the first pitch and save the wear and tear on your arm.

None of my analysis is different than anything else you’re seeing on the internet, of course.

Rockies on a roll

While most pundits have predicted gloom and doom for the Rockies (with ESPN’s Keith Law predicting 53 wins), the Rockies have blasted 20 homers in the first eleven games of the season (15 homers in eight road games) en route to a 7-4 record.  Center fielder Dexter Fowler is leading the team with six homers.  Another player to watch is catcher Wilin Rosario, who blasted 28 homers in his rookie season last year, but was completely overlooked amidst all the Trout/Harper media hype.  Rosario’s power is real – the big question is whether he can improve enough defensively to stick behind the plate.

Astros improving?

Kevin Goldstein @ Saber Seminar 2011

The brains behind an Astros rebuild?

After getting off to a horrible whiff-laden start, some of the Astros hitters actually seem to be improving, to the point where a couple of them actually look good.  Is it possible that the Astros won’t be as bad as we originally though?

Nah, they,ll still be horrible – the larger sample size of a full season will bear that out.

However, help is on the way.  Kevin Goldstein, formerly of Baseball Prospectus, is now the director of professional scouting – so expect some astute trades.  Just look for the fedora.

Kobe tears ACL

Lakers star Kobe Bryan became the second LA star to suffer a significant injury in as many days when he tore his ACL Friday night.  He’ll be out 6-9 months, which means he might be ready for the NBA Finals (sorry, but the NBA playoffs ARE really long).  The Lakers currently hold a one game lead for the final playoff spot with two games left in the season.  Regardless of whether they make the playoffs this years, they have almost no chance of making the playoffs in 2014 without Bryant.

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The week in sports

June 9, 2009

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A big week in sports and a lot of stories to touch on…so this week Johnny G decides again to do the weekly run-down.

The Big Unit gets the big 300th Win. I wrote an article about this last week and I was glad to see Randy pick up 300 on his first try. Too many times in sports is seems like an athlete gets close to a milestone and it takes a long time to get it done and out of the way. Nice Job Mr. Johnson

The Magic decided to not show up for Game 1 in Los Angeles and then played better in Game 2. I am not a big fan of the NBA and last night reminded me again as to why. Too many ghost calls (for both teams in my opinion, but most of which Kobe was the benefactor of) impacts the final score of the game way way way too often in NBA games. I guess this is why I am a fan of individual sports like golf, because there is no referee to blame the outcome on.

Speaking of golf, I guess Tiger Woods’ knee must be feeling better. Jack Nicklaus the host of the Memorial Tournament joked that Tiger was really struggling in his comeback from the surgery since he had only what??? A bunch of top tens and a win to his credit so far this year? I guess you can add another win to the tally now. The folks running the US Open are hoping he can keep that going in two more weeks.

Roger Federer finally breaks through in an easy coasting straight set triumph at the French Open. This now adds him to the list of tennis players to win the career Grand Slam. Many would argue that Federer is the best of all time. He now has tied Pete Sampras with 14 career Grand Slam titles. I, for one, don’t feel he is even close to done winning them just yet.

The College World Series will be starting next weekend in beloved Omaha, Nebraska. The CWS has become one of the most popular NCAA tournament venues thanks mainly to the fantastic coverage provided by ESPN of the games in Omaha. Matter of fact a few years back when the NCAA was considering moving the CWS out of Omaha, the ESPN telecast became more of a “telethon” constantly pimping the great job and the fine folks and hospitality that the city provides hosting the tournament. Omaha has now committed to building a brand new stadium which will be used almost exclusively for this tournament for the few decades. I guess it does pay to have a major network in your corner.

And since ESPN is wanting to throw it’s weight around, the SEC begins a new 15 year contract with ESPN starting this year which will televise all of their games not already picked up by CBS coverage for a smooth 2.25 Billion dollars over that time. If you’re a fan of the SEC all this means that the future looks good. If you’re a competitor of the SEC, you know this league is not going to be backing down…and if your are not on the Big 10….errrr Big 11 network already you better hope that your conference is planning on something soon with an exclusive television deal….or during National Titles games we are going to hear a lot more chanting of S-E-C, S-E-C!