Carlos Quentin hurt Dodgers, Padres by settling score with Zack Greinke

SAN DIEGO--What Carlos Quentin did to derail the Dodgers’ season is pretty ugly. What he did to the derail the San Diego Padres’ season might be worse.

When Quentin threw Zack Greinke to the ground and broke his collarbone, the slugger said he was settling a score from years before he ever joined the Padres.

Quentin appears satisfied, no matter how much pain he inflicted on the team that made him its highest-paid player, a team that had absolutely no quarrel with Greinke.

PHOTOS: Dodgers vs. Padres

The Padres need Quentin now, and desperately. They are off to a 2-7 start. Their starting pitchers have thrown the fewest innings in the National League. They have hit three home runs, or one more than Juan Uribe. Their lineup, offensively challenged even at full strength, is missing two of its most effective pieces in third baseman Chase Headley and catcher Yasmani Grandal.

So what does Quentin do? He probably got himself suspended. Major League Baseball has yet to confirm the suspension, or announce its length, but suffice it to say Quentin has taken himself out of the Padres’ lineup at a time the team can ill afford it.

And speaking of afford ... the Padres’ new owners made their splash with Quentin last year, signing him to a three-year contract that guarantees him $27 million. The Padres did nothing in the offseason. Quentin, who grew up in San Diego, was the answer to the question of what the new owners did for the fans.

That’s a nice “thank you” to the owners. And the fan reaction? Hard to tell, since these were the lyrics heard loudly during the seventh-inning stretch Thursday at Petco Park: “Root, root, root for the Dodgers.”

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