Beanballs set off lengthy Dodgers-Diamondbacks brawl

As far as baseball brawls go Tuesday night's up-close-and-personal between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks was a pro-wrestling cage fight.

First,  Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig was plunked by a pitch in the face by Ian Kennedy then, after Zack Greinke plunked Miguel Montero, Kennedy plunked Greinke high on the shoulder with a 92 mph fastball setting off a seventh-inning melee that involved former major leaguers including Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, coach Mark McGwire, bench coach Alan Trammell as well as D'Backs manager Kirk Gibson.

Mattingly even wrestled Trammell to the ground.

Punches were thrown at that point as a heated brawl involving players and coaches ensued, resulting in six ejections before the Dodgers rallied to beat the Diamondbacks 5-3 at Dodger Stadium.  

Kennedy, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and coach Turner Ward, along with Puig, reliever Ronald Belisario and Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire were ejected after the lengthy scuffle that nearly spilled into the stands.

Greinke hitting Montero was payback for Kennedy hitting Puig in bottom of the sixth - the ball deflected off Puig's shoulder and grazed his nose. It wasn't broken and he didn't sustain a concussion, the team said. Puig didn't appear at his locker after the game to talk with reporters.

"If you can't pitch inside without hitting someone in the head, you shouldn't pitch inside," Mattingly said.

Kennedy said he was just trying to pitch inside to Puig, who came into the game on a blistering hot streak while batting .500.

"I thought I got him on the shoulder, but by his reaction, I figure I got him somewhere in the face," he said. "I definitely did not want to hit a guy with two strikes and put somebody like him on base."

Kennedy then hit Greinke in the upper left shoulder - the ball deflected off his helmet - with one out in the seventh and the game tied 2-all. It was the 41st batter Kennedy has hit since the start of 2010.

"I honestly had no idea that it was that high until I saw the replay," Kennedy said.

Mattingly was outraged. "I thought it was B.S," he said.

After the game, Greinke said he didn't want to discuss the brawl either.

"That's when it kind of got out of hand," Tim Federowicz said about Greinke getting hit. "You can't do that."

Kennedy immediately was tossed and calmly walked toward the Diamondbacks dugout before players poured onto the field and relievers ran in from the bullpens.

"Everything happened so fast," Mattingly said. "It just gets a little crazy out there."

Former major league All-Stars rolling on the turf like kids. Crazy indeed.

Another fan with baseball glove fails miserably

A fan at last night's Dodgers-Diamondbacks game at Dodger Stadium took a roll over the wall along the third base line and landed flat on his back while trying to grab a foul ball.

Another example of a grown man, who brings a baseball glove to a game like a ten-year old, and fails spectacularly.

The epic fail added a little levity to the anticipated pitching match-up between Clayton Kershaw and Ian Kennedy.  The Dodgers went on to win 3-1.

It looked like the fan was trying to do some kind of handstand before hitting the dirt— a really bad handstand.

The tumbling fan immediately scrambled back over the wall to his seat under the glare of a stadium security guard and the only apparent injuries were a spilled beer and the dude's requisite bruised ego.  It's good to know that no Dodger Dogs were hurt during the making of this misplay.

Playing Yankees numbers could have won you $640 million jackpot

If you were a lucky New York Yankees fan— who picked the numbers of Bronx Bomber legends Jeter, Gehrig, Lazerri, Mattingly, Pettitte and Ed Whitson— you are a very happy, and much richer, person today.

Too bad the winning ticket was picked in Cal Ripkin and Boog Powell territory.

The numbers 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and 23 were the winning digits for the world record Mega Millions jackpot of $640 million yesterday.

Congratulations. You can now buy less than one-third of the Los Angeles Dodgers or take care of the Yankees payroll for the next three years and still have enough to buy out the rest of A.J. Burnett's contract.

Heck, you could purchase the Tampa Ray Rays, build a new stadium and buy Derek Jeter's mansion and hire him to be your pool boy.

Everyone who dropped a buck on a ticket with hopes of joining zillionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Mark Cuban— the easy way— faced odds of 1-in-176 million of winning.

In other words, you have about as much of a chance of getting struck by lightning (twice!), seeing Brian Cashman rappelling down a building with Louise Neathway or Joba Chamberlain on a trampoline any time soon.

The odds are so staggering, you have a better chance of getting every pick in your NCAA brackets correct or seeing Louisville and Kentucky fans hug it out after tonight's game.

If you didn't have a thing for Whitson's No. 38, you could have selected another Yankee fan's bane— Curt Schilling.

It would have been the same.

Joba Chamberlain's Dad Claims "Rules" Didn't Help Prevent Son's Injury

In 2007, three young pitchers represented the future of the New York Yankees starting rotation and dominance over the American League for years to come.  Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy were the building blocks to a new dynasty after the Core Four were gone.  Now, only four years later, all three may have seen their better days with the Yankees prematurely slip away for one reason or another.

Chamberlain and Hughes were considered so indispensable, Kennedy was the one traded to Arizona in the Curtis Granderson mix before the 2010 season.  He is now enjoying an All-Star season with a 6-2 record and 3.14 ERA with the Diamondbacks.

The other two fastballers stayed behind and the Yankees tried to figure out what to do with them.

Both pitchers were shuttled to-and-from the bullpen to the starting rotation and the team set limitations on the hard-throwing pitchers' innings.  They became known as the "Joba Rules."

The Joba Rules were put in place to limit pitcher's time on the mound and protect the young hurlers' arms.

Now, even with all the coddling, it looks like Chamberlain's season is over, with Tommy John surgery is on the horizon, for an elbow injury--which could keep the 25 year-old Chamberlain out until the 2013 season-- nobody saw coming.  Nobody except one person.