The Dodgers told Dylan Hernandez of the Times they don’t intend to retaliate against San Diego at Dodger Stadium on Monday for Carlos Quentin’s mound-charging fracture of Zack Greinke’s collarbone, but they didn’t exactly rule out some kind of revenge tactic later in the season.
Quentin agreed Sunday to begin serving his eight-game suspension. From the last section of Hernandez’s story:
… Furthermore, Mattingly expects the umpires to officially warn both teams before the start of the game.
Under such circumstances, any pitcher believed to be throwing at a hitter would be immediately ejected and subject to a suspension. With Greinke already down, the Dodgers can’t afford to have one of their starting pitchers suspended.
“We’ll probably talk about it,” Mattingly said.
Pitching for the Dodgers on Monday will be Chad Billingsley, who said he has no intention of throwing at anyone.
“I’m not going out there headhunting tomorrow,” Billingsley said. “I’m going out there to pitch and win a ballgame. That’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s what we’re here for, to win baseball games, make the playoffs, win the division. That’s why I go out there every fifth day.”
Billingsley was widely criticized for failing to protect the Dodgers hitters when Brett Myers of the Philadelphia Phillies was throwing at them in the 2008 National League Championship Series.
“That whole series is in the past,” Billingsley said. “That’s five years ago and you’re still bringing it up. This is nothing similar to the past. That was playoffs. This is regular season.”
Previously on Dodger Thoughts:
Anonymous
What’s going to happen to Ted Lilly?
MLBtraderumors says that the dodgers want to trade him. If that’s true, isn’t the best way to trade a player by showcasing him?
Anonymous
All that I cound find on MLBTR was their summary of the Gurnick article from dodgers.com with a link to the article. Dodgers say Lilly is not ready to pitch in MLB but needs more rehab starts. It would contradict their position to showcase him without such additional work
Paul Caron
I agree Jon, nothing will happen this series. That being said, Billingsley still doesn’t get it. Unbelievable.
Anonymous
There are only 2 Dodgers who played in the 2008 NLCS besides Billingsley still with the team: Kemp and Ethier. I doubt they care that much. And trying to be more like Brett Myers is a dumb idea. If everyone in baseball acted like Brett Myers, there would be no baseball.
Anonymous
And Lilly has refused additional rehab assignments in the minors. Which means somethings got to give between the player and the team. If this disagreement continues, then the team has to release, DFA, or trade him.
Anonymous
At least our “Boston” 4 are contributing. Crawford is looking good and is better than anyone we put in left field last year, Gonzalez is starting to hit (and is a definite upgrade on Loney), Beckett is a solid starter and even Punto is contributing when he can (certainly better than the Miles/ Carroll etc combinations that we have had in the role previously.)
Our pitching (as always) is looking rock solid on the whole.
So there you go, nothing to worry about :)
Anonymous
How ’bout that Adam Scott ?! Was fun to watch yesterday – Great win for him and Australia.
Anonymous
That sentence from Bills, on its own, seems strange to me.
Jon Weisman
John Ely expected to undergo Tommy John surgery
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/04/14/astros-john-ely-expected-to-undergo-tommy-john-surgery/
Jon Weisman
Hiroki Kuroda, the professional http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/52656/hiroki-kuroda-the-professional
Anonymous
Anyone else see this? http://deadspin.com/dodgers-fans-at-chase-field-forced-to-change-clothes-or-472797108
Anonymous
Weird.
Anonymous
Great to see Beckett pitch so well yesterday. I can’t help but to think that the Dodgers offense will start clicking at some point – hopefully soon, of course – so with that in mind, I am heartened by the early strength being shown by our starters as it should bode well over the long haul.
Jon Weisman
New post up top.