San Francisco Announcer - for the Giants "you have to look at that as a good break"

(AP Photo)

Mike Krukow was in fine form this morning on San Francisco drive time radio.  Being interviewed by Brian Murphy on San Francisco’s 680 AM KNBR at 7:30 AM, I almost drove off the road when I heard his controversial comments. 

You be the judge of what he had to say about the brawl in San Diego last night:

Krukow: “I woke up, took a look at the headlines, I’m like ‘Holy smokes’ that’s quite a story. “

Murphy: “Have you seen the video yet?”

Krukow: “The Greinke thing is amazing because (pauses), I just don’t understand what went on down there.  I mean, he drills Carlos Quentin.  Carlos Quentin gets drilled all the time.  He hangs out over the plate and he’s a big guy.  Quentin’s a beast, he about a 240 pounder.  He’s just a thick boned slugger when he comes out at you.  Yet, he’s a mellow guy.  That’s another thing too.  If you know Carlos Quentin at all, he’s not the kind of guy that’s going to go out there.”

(photo by Lenny Ignelzi/AP)

“Now he gets drilled by Greinke, walks out in front of home plate and then Greinke said something, and that did it.  And then he charges.  Once he charges, it was ‘see you later.’  So it’s an unbelievable break, I should say bad break for the Dodgers.  But if you’re another team in the division, like the Giants are, you have to look at that as a good break.  And I hate to say that.  Because I don’t like injuries.  I don’t wish injuries on anybody.  And what I’ve gotten out of the game as a player and I’ve become a fan, I really hate to see injuries because I like to see guys play.  I like to see the Giants beat the Dodgers when they’re at full strength.  That’s just how I feel.  So it’s an unfortunate situation.  So if you’re a player for the Giants or the Diamondbacks or the Rockies or the Padres, I mean that’s an opportunity to gain some ground on a good Dodger team.”

Murphy:  “...Don Mattingly has already suggested that Quentin should be suspended for as long as Greinke is out.  How does that sound to you that Quentin committed an egregious act by charging the mound, do you think he did?”

Krukow: “Well, uh, yeah he absolutely did, but that’s part of the game.  He’s gonna get suspended, probably about 5 games.  He’s gonna get fined.  But that’s it.  you can’t suspend a guy eight weeks.  That’s just not the way it goes.  I mean, baseball fights are part of the game.  You have to protect your hitters, Quentin had been hit the day before by Ronald Belisario.  That itself would tick me off, ‘cuz Belisario’s spooky, and he would hurt.  So, the history that Quentin has had with Greinke, uh, there’s history there.  He’s got him three times all about in the same spot.  So, I don’t blame him for going out.  I do think he’s gonna get suspended.  It don’t think it’ll be for more than five days or a week.  For Mattingly to say, uh, I can understand Mattingly’s frustration, he lost his second best pitcher.  I understand that completely but in all reality, you’re not gonna see a whole new precedent be set here.  He’s gonna be suspended five days to a week and then the fine and that’s it.” 

Murphy: “A couple other notes about it, One, I want to ask you about Greinke’s strategic move.  To lower his shoulder into a 240 lb. man when he weighs 195.  ‘Cuz Kruk we talked about that very city, you had a terrifying moment.  We see that highlight once a year when Dave Winfield came charging in at you in San Diego.  Kruk, you guys must talk through the minor leagues and even in the big leagues about how you handle such situations like that.  How do you think Greinke handled it?  I mean obviously with a broken collarbone it is the wrong move, but what did you think about his (Greinke’s) decision to barrel in to Quentin?

Krukow: “Well that was a bad decision.  I mean Greinke weighs about 195, he’s thin shouldered and he has a slight build.  You’re gonna take on a guy 240 lbs. coming at you?  He’s got a head of steam and you’re going to hold your ground.  That was not a good move.  About the only thing you can do, and you do talk about it, is to get one punch in and then, you even talk about how you’re going to punch him because Jim Barr, who was my old roommate, and you’d never want to fight Jim Barr.  Jim Barr had a standard saying, if there’s ever an altercation or fight on the field, or if something was gonna go down in a bar, he’d say ‘roomie, use your other hand.  Don’t use the one you’re throwing with.’  So you have a pre-plan that you’re going to hit the guy or at least try to with your opposite arm, not the one you’re throwing with and then once you get one punch in, you hang on for dear life.   To meet a guy head on or shoulder on is crazy.  And I think that’s a mistake that, unfortunately, he (Greinke) learned the the wrong way...”

Later in the interview, he was critical of A.J. Ellis:

“I have to ask the question.  Where the hell was A.J. Ellis the catcher for the Dodgers?

He’s got to get out there.  You can’t anticipate that he’s (Quentin) going to stop there and yell at him.  You’ve got to anticipate that he’s gonna do some damage to your pitcher.   And his job it to get out there and protect him.  That’s the one thing that nobody’s really talking about.  But A.J. Ellis, he screwed up.”

  

He placed the blame on Greinke:

“I don’t think that Quentin would have gone out there after being hit until Greinke said something.  He’s already ticked off anyway, he’s got him three times.  He got hit the day before.  He (Greinke) walks out there and puffs his belly up a bit.  If Greinke just stands his ground and doesn’t say a word, I think Quentin just moves on his  way.  Quentin, he’s not a guy that is gonna provoke.  I understand why he’s upset, but when Greinke said something, Then it’s game over.”

My comments:

Krukow knows his audience and they are about 95% Giant fans and Dodger haters.  With that being said he rarely ever gives an impartial and unbiased opinion.  He bashes the Dodgers time and time again.  Here we had a situation where EVERYBODY including many of the readers at popular Giant blog McCovey Chronicles know that Quentin is at fault.  It was an opportunity for Krukow to step up and say, “You know?  The Dodgers really got screwed here and this is the reason why.”  But as predictable as this guy is, he doesn’t do that.  He plays to his audience.  He spreads inaccuracies and in the process, bashes the Dodgers once more.

(photo by Lenny Ignelzi/AP)

First off, he is critical of Greinke’s handling of the charging Quentin, saying that you never use your pitching hand to throw punches, (something that Greinke didn’t do).  He actually insinuates that he should have backed away and avoid injury, ("not a good move to hold your ground" when the player is running at you with "a full head of steam."  What was he supposed to do? Run away?).  

The facts are that Greinke did all he could to protect himself and not back down in cowardice from the fight as Guillermo Mota did years ago.  He lowered his body and moved his pitching side away from Quentin in order to protect it.   Unfortunately, Quentin went low too and impact was made. That’s all Greinke could do with the amount of time he had,  I’d really like to know what Krukow would have done differently.

Second, he has the audacity to say this is a big break for the Giants and then in the same sentence make an admission that he’s not happy about that.  To that I call him out and say as (Vin Scully would say), “That’s Bull Fertilizer.”   Krukow is giddy about the Dodger misfortune and if you don’t believe that, you’re dead wrong.  He called it a “good break,” then realized that was a poor choice of words and backtracked stating that he never wants the rivals to suffer injuries.  Yeah, right.  Very believable.

Third, he blames Greinke for the incident for “saying something.”  He never discussed the game situation, 2-1 game, 3-2 pitch.  He addresses the past history between the two that dates back four years.  No mention of the fact that they’ve faced each other 21 times since and never had there been an HBP.  It’s simply an uneducated, one-sided biased opinion.  Ridiculous.

If there is anything I would agree with him on it’s that A.J. Ellis should have got out there faster (and that Belisario looks "spooky").  Ellis should have immediately got between Quentin and Greinke as soon as he the batter took a step or two towards him, but the shock of the stupidity of the move by Quentin caught almost everyone by surprise, including Ellis.

So the injury bug continues to bite the Dodgers hard.  It was announced today that Shawn Tolleson has joined the Dodgers staff, at least temporarily, until the fifth spot in the rotation comes up again.  MLB announced that Quentin has been suspended for 8 games.  Greinke goes under the knife on Saturday and should be out for 8 weeks minimum.