Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks have a troubled history

By Michael Chammas
Updated March 20 2014 - 9:28am, first published March 19 2014 - 3:01pm

Los Angeles Dodgers v Arizona Diamondbacks: a timeline of recent troubles

September 13, 2011: In the seventh inning of a match that meant very little to the Dodgers, reliever Hong-Chih Kuo threw a pitch that almost struck Arizona's Gerardo Parra. Parra later smashed a Kuo fastball for a home run, standing at the plate and admiring his strike before taking a slow run around the bases. This angered the Dodgers, in particular superstar pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who stood in the dugout yelling abuse at Parra on his way to home plate.

September 14, 2011: The next night at Dodger Stadium, Kershaw hit Parra on the elbow with a pitch, which was met with a hostile reaction from the Diamondbacks players. Without warning, Kershaw was immediately ejected from the game.

May 14, 2012: The next time Kershaw pitched against the Diamondbacks was again at Dodger Stadium. It appeared then Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy had twice tried to throw at Kershaw and missed. Kershaw later retaliated by throwing one high and tight to Kennedy, but also missed.

June 11, 2013: Major League Baseball served eight Dodgers and Diamondbacks players with suspensions and fined a dozen of them after what was described as the brawl of the season between the two teams. The bench-clearing fracas resulted in Arizona pitcher Kennedy, who has since been traded to the Padres, being hit with a 10-game suspension – the largest MLB suspension in seven years. Tension was already building when Los Angeles' Yasiel Puig was hit by a pitch. The Dodgers then fired back by hitting Miguel Montero. But the incident that sparked the all-in brawl came when Kennedy hit starting pitcher Zack Greinke – the player who said he had no interest in coming to Australia – in the shoulder, narrowly missing his head.

September 19, 2013: The Dodgers clinched the National League West over division rivals Arizona in their own backyard, rubbing salt into the wound by jumping into the outfield pool after the victory. The Dodgers' celebrations angered the Diamondbacks, who took offence to the post-match antics. It was also alleged several Dodgers' players urinated in the pool.

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