The MLB L.A. Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks playing at the Sydney Cricket Ground is "tremendous for everyone at the SCG," but "less tremendous for everyone from the Dodgers and Diamondbacks," according to Will Swanton of THE AUSTRALIAN. One could "hear Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke's teeth grinding" Sunday. One could "hear the Major League Baseball corporate machine telling him 'Yo Zack, you can't be sayin' that.'" So Greinke "issued an apo . . . Greinke delivered an apol . . . Greinke finally expressed an apology of sorts." Greinke: "It's a baseball thing. It's an ownership thing, spreading stuff around." The "truth was revealed a day earlier in the comments that led to Greinke being clobbered by the MLB's disciplinary feather" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/25). The SYDNEY MORNING HERALD reported Dodgers President Stan Kasten said that Greinke "is the exception, not the rule, and the Dodgers are for the most past very excited about the trip." Kasten told ESPN LA, "Zack has this endearing, contrarian quality to him that we all know and love about him." Given the amount of money being poured into opening the season at the SCG, organizers in Australia "were far from thrilled with Greinke's comments and fired off a 'please explain' to the MLB and the players' association" (SMH, 2/24).
CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH? In L.A., Steve Dilbeck wrote Greinke was saying what "probably most every player was thinking but not espousing publicly." The trip to Australia is "one major injury away from being a complete disaster." Players have "nothing against wanting to help expand baseball internationally, and certainly nothing against Australia." Dilbeck: "Probably all the players would like to give it a visit. Just not officially begin their season there in a chopped-up start that could leave them less than ready to resume it eight days later." The series is "weird and impractical, and with precious little reason for a player to get excited about" (L.A. TIMES, 2/23).
