San Diego Padres president and CEO Tom Garfinkel blamed Zack Greinke for causing the brawl between the Dodgers and Padres last week. During an event with Padres season ticket holders, Garfinkel went on the attack towards Greinke, managing to show his ignorance about several topics in one fell sweep. Yahoo has the audio and the quotes.
"He threw at him on purpose, OK?" Garfinkel told an estimated crowd of 40 or 50 at Petco Park on Friday, a day after the fight. "That's what happened. They can say 3-and-2 count, 2-1 game, no one does that. Zack Greinke is a different kind of guy. Anyone seen 'Rain Man'? He's a very smart guy."
Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. Garfinkel also made a reference to Greinke's social anxiety disorder, which he later apologized for.
Garfinkel also placed the blame for Greinke's broken collarbone on the pitcher.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm 6-3, 225," Garfinkel told the ticket holders. "If Carlos Quentin was running at me, I would not put my shoulder down."
So what does he want Greinke to do, run away from Quentin? If Greinke did that, I'm sure Garfinkel would have ended up mocking up for being a coward not a real man, or something along those lines.
Garfinkel also said that Quentin didn't know what Greinke said before Quentin charged the mound. That makes sense…unsure of what someone says? TIME TO RUSH THE MOUND!
"We don't know what he said," Garfinkel said. "I asked Carlos. He doesn't know what he said. I do know that, I mean, everybody saw the tape. Everybody saw what happened. He didn't say, 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you.' He threw his glove down, stuck his chest out."
That's real bright, isn't it? This is a case of someone trying to defend their own player, but going way too far into the, dare I say, slut-shaming category in order to build up a defense. Garfinkel isn't exactly a newbie to the game of baseball either, as he's served as the Padres president since 2009 and was the COO and executive VP of the Diamondbacks from 2006 to 2009. He's not a fresh off the bus MLB executive who has no idea what's going on. His ignorance about Greinke's anxiety disorder and him absolving Quentin of any blame during the brawl is just ridiculous, especially from someone in such a position of power.
[Yahoo!]
