The LA Dodgers pinned high hopes on the arm and shoulder of $147 million investment, or pitcher, Zack Greinke, who is now injured with a broken collarbone after a San Diego Padre charged the mound and rammed into him.

The pitcher had hit the batter, Carlos Quentin, who has been hit plenty of times and by Greinke before, in the shoulder, prompting the charging and the brawl.

Now, Greinke did duck down and meet the larger Quentin, but I see that as responding to a very real threat. Also, there are mechanisms to deal with intentionally hitting a batter, though no one seems to be saying it was intentional, considering it was a 3-2 count in the sixth inning of a one-run game.



So how does the league handle it? It will suspend Quentin. Dodger manager Don Mattingly rightfully argues Quentin should not play until Greinke comes back. That may curb this. But how about this? The Dodgers, who pay Greinke's salary and now must find someone else to pick up wins as they hope make the playoffs, sue Quentin for something like $20 to $50 million. That might end charging the mound. They may not win... this time, but eventually a team suing may win.

They considered charging players in hockey with assaults for fights, but no one liked that, bringing in an external agencies and entity to make judgments on what should be an on-ice issue. But one team taking the other to court, bringing lawyers into it, just as lawyers end up figuring out who pays for injuries in auto accidents, well, that might get a player's attention.

And it should be a tough gig to make the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Baseball's success comes due to its deep historical roots. The game is the same for the most part, though the players are better. Even with better players, though, the records do not easily fall... except for steroids and home runs, one reason today the Hall of Fame did not see its membership expand.

In football, the NFL season kicks off with a big show at the Hall of Fame. So, they need someone added each year. Favorite players make it. Records count less due to the many rule changes beyond the physical changes and expansions of passing and training.

Baseball gains by having a Hall of Fame that requires 75 percent vote by writers. It's a tough test to pass. A lot of good, worthy players could be Hall of Famers, except it's a tough test to pass. Jack Morris and Dale Murphy are great examples — great players with big numbers.

But you could argue, as I do, that just big numbers do not make one worthy of the hall, which should be for the elite of the elite. The Hall of Fame is forever, and the larger the membership, the less value each member has.

Let's hope it doesn't get watered down because this year could see no new members. And I like the idea that a veteran's committee can rectify wrongs if someone truly worthy belongs inside.

"I love my game but I hate to hell what I'm seeing now."

That's from Ted Lindsay, the Detroit Red Wing great, who is now 87, speaking to the Detroit News yesterday.

He's right. One of the ambassadors of the game, Lindsay has long been a standup guy for the city, the team and the league. Now he is watching the National Hockey League implode with a second labor shutdown that continues to drive away fans and cost the league's owners and players.

It's amazing watching this again. It was just a few years ago that the NHL seemingly lost it all, losing a postseason and championship year due to labor strife. They had lost their deal with ESPN, perhaps one of the most valuable in sports to the exposure, which is doubly important because the teams are seen on games given added importance and featured prominently in the channel's sports news shows, both "SportsCenter" and the "NHL Tonight."

I remember fondly watching Barry Melrose each night during the Stanley Cup playoffs in the 1990s, when both ESPN and ESPN2 showed multiple games. All the hockey a fan could want was on TV, an interest that was born out of the Tie Domi and Bob Probert battles of the 1980s. Then the ownership decided to go for the short-term quick buck, refusing lower revenues and heightened exposure. Sure, it's not fair that ESPN could have them by their shorthairs but hey, we all should know life's not fair.

So they gave up the revenue, then tried to undo the high salaries they'd given and there was a lockout and a lost season. They were on a channel no one watched, but after a few years and promoting itself in the Winter Classic (a game I don't understand people would want to attend... an intimate game taken to a large stadium, who cares?) But nonetheless, they were pushed by NBC and they slowly made their way back, and now it's all lost.

I lost interest after the first shutdown. I didn't miss hockey. There's too much other entertainment. In the 1990s, I watched little network TV. Now, shows are better, by DVR is filled and when baseball and college football ends, I only have weekend football (English Premiere League in the mornings and NFL on Sunday afternoon.) That's plenty. I don't need hockey and really won't watch. I went to a game a year or two ago, saw the Wings beat the Calgary Flames. In two years, I maybe watched a handful, perhaps six or seven, other complete games worth of hockey on TV - in total.

And I'm a Wings and Canucks fan, and I'd check out their playoff games, flipping to them to see what the score was.

Now, if I would care at all, it would be a negative view of their brand, resentment at both sides. But I don't care. Too bad for NBC, which seemed on the verge of challenging ESPN (about the only thing I care about in this sorry story), by using its new sports channel, which used to be Versus (which used to be the Outdoor Channel), to promote the NHL. Now, I am thrilled that Comcast has added the Fox Soccer Channel's high definition channel to my line up. Oh joy. ESPN2 already has HD for its weekly one or two game. (Next, please, Comcast, add Fox Soccer Plus, so I can get the second game on at the same time.)

Some people in my family resented the baseball strike of 1994-95, when MLB lost a World Series, more than a decade later, angry at the lost postseason. "I'll never watch those guys again," I heard. And it was a real anger. This is different. I don't feel that with NHL. And that may be worse for the league, feeling nothing for something that will never matter again.

Oh, and Ted Lindsay is a class act. I remember when he changed his name legally from Theodore, knowing that Ted is how he is known and wanting to use his name and fame to help families in need. Shame the value has been lost in what he could offer, all his hard work flushed down the drain due to greed.

Hey, Jim Joyce blew the call, costing the Tigers' Armando Galarraga a perfect game.

Big deal.

I know it is really a big deal, and it might force baseball to accept what century this is and utilize the technology that the rest of society uses. And if they could get their beer colder, that would help, too.

But it was just a bad call. Mistakes happen and every game could be a perfect game, until pitchers start walking batters, giving up hits or watching their teammates commit errors. That's what makes the perfect game so mythical. Yeah, Galarraga got screwed, but he showed true class to step up and accept the umpire's apology.

And Joyce showed real class by immediately recognizing the error in his call. Too bad he didn't bring the group of umpires together and say, hey, did I blow that? And perhaps one would have said, yeah, it's on the replay and he's safe. (The baserunner, Jason Donald, knew what happened before anyone else, putting his hands onto his head when he realized he was safe). They could have overturned it in the huddle.

But they didn't. I don't think baseball should go back and change the result. They had the chance then.

Everyone makes mistakes, and the mistakes are typically made worse when someone tries to hide or justify their slip up. When I covered courts, I saw many people who were caught doing something wrong and only made it worse by lying (fraud, lying to police), running (fleeing cops), or even assaulting or killing someone as they struggled to get away.

Standing up right away and saying, hey, I blew it, comes from someone well grounded. And I was happy to see Joyce had done that, admitting he missed it later in the night on a radio interview.

Practically speaking, he got in front of the story. But he had to. He couldn't wait until he left town and sometime this weekend quietly admit it.

Instead of changing the results of this game, MLB should just add instant replay. Right now. It's easy. Everyone can do it, why not baseball's billionaires? But now that the politicians are getting involved, I'm very tired of this story.