Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Latest Brawl May Be Just What Dodgers Need

by Kevin Zeni

When it comes to the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers, one thing is for sure; Zack Greinke sure does know how to start a brawl. After prompting an early-season fracas with Carlos Quentin and the Padres, Greinke was once again the focal point of an all-out slugfest between the Boys in Blue and the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday night.

In all fairness, it wasn't just Greinke's fault, with an abundance of plunking going back and forth before all hell broke loose, as you can see in the video recap below, courtesy of MLB.com.


While the Dodgers' prior brawl with the Padres didn't exactly set the team ablaze, that brawl was more of a personal battle between Quentin and Greinke and not a team-wide battle against D-Backs starter Ian Kennedy's head-hunting pitching tactics. This could be just what the Dodgers need to galvanize the team into a cohesive unit and not just a collection of former All-Stars.

While watching the action occur last night, I couldn't help but think of the classic baseball comedy "Major League II" and how a fight was the catalyst for that team to break away from their diva mentality and regain their All-Star form that made them so successful the prior year. While the context of the fight isn't the same, I very much believe the same effect can be had for this Dodgers team.

                                    Video courtesy of funkstafunkie on YouTube

As of Wednesday afternoon, the commissioner's office has yet to announce any fines or suspensions, which could dampen the Dodgers' momentum if players such as Yasiel Puig and Ronald Belisario, who were both ejected following the brawl, are away from the team for an extended amount of time. However, their absence very well may have the opposite effect, with the team further strengthening their bond to make up for their teammates' absence. All I know is that things will sure be interesting when these two teams match up in their remaining 11 contests.