Zack Greinke

INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick's return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a stock car ended in a hard crash less than halfway through Saturday's Indiana 250. Patrick, the former IndyCar driver who now races in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series, was running about 20th when the top five race leaders made pit stops. Patrick remained on the track and was running behind Reed Sorenson. As the two entered Turn 1 on lap 39 of the 100-lap race, Patrick's No. 7 Chevrolet tapped the back of Sorenson's No. 98 Ford, sending Sorenson into a spin.

PITTSBURGH - This can't continue, not if the Dodgers have any intention of playing baseball in October. They can't afford to follow every win with a loss, as was the case yet again Sunday, when Zack Greinke and the offense supporting him stumbled in a 6-3 defeat by the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Whatever momentum the Dodgers had from their victory the previous night vanished, and they went into their day off with a 29-39 record. Every other team in the National League West, even the fourth-place San Diego Padres, has a record better than .500.

Quarterfinal action began with a pair of upsets Friday afternoon at the Farmers Classic at UCLA's L.A. Tennis Center. Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania defeated France's fourth-seeded Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 6-4, to reach his first ATP tour semifinal. He is the first qualifier to reach the semifinals at the Farmers Classic since Carsten Ball in 2009. Ball advanced to the championship before losing to Sam Querrey. Rajeev Ram advanced with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

Yasiel Puig didn't get a hit or make a spectacular throw on Tuesday night, but he might have changed the Dodgers' season. Less than three weeks ago, the Dodgers were said by their own manager to lack toughness. But there was no questioning their resolve in a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Puig was hit in the face by a 92-mph fastball by Ian Kennedy in the sixth inning, sparking an old-fashioned brawl in the seventh and setting the stage for an emotional comeback in the eighth.

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke has bought a gated home in Studio City for $4.575 million. The Craftsman-style two-structure compound, built last year, features an art studio, a bar, a gym, a library/study, a media room, seven bedrooms, nine full bathrooms and two powder rooms. The more than one acre of grounds includes a nine-car motor court, a swimming pool and a waterfall with a walking bridge. Right-hander Greinke, 29, pitched a shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his season opener for the Dodgers.

San Diego Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin, who broke the collarbone of Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke in an on-field fight Thursday night in San Diego, has been suspended for eight games. Dodgers utility player Jerry Hairston Jr. was suspended for one game. Quentin was suspended for "his actions, which included charging the mound and inciting the bench-clearing incident," according to a statement from Major League Baseball. PHOTOS: Dodgers vs. Padres Neither of the other two players to get ejected -- Greinke and Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp -- were suspended.

Adrian Gonzalez said the Dodgers' 8-7 victory over the Angels on Monday night could change the course of the season. Manager Don Mattingly was also hopeful that would be the case. "That," Mattingly said, "was a good game. " The source of the sudden optimism was the erasing of a 6-1 deficit in the opening game of the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium, something completely out of character for the last-place Dodgers. Until this night, the largest deficit the Dodgers had overcome on their way to a victory was three runs.

That was a brawl that seemed to come out of nowhere, although it might have serious, lasting repercussions for the Dodgers. Zack Greinke, the Dodgers' $147-million starting pitcher, left Thursday's game after the ruckus in the bottom of the sixth inning, and at first it was unclear if he was injured or simply had been ejected. The brouhaha started in the bottom of the sixth when Padres left fielder Carlos Quentin was hit by a Greinke pitch on the left shoulder. Quentin, who has been hit by a pitch 116 times in his career, including once when playing for the White Sox and Greinke was with the Royals, apparently thought it was intentional.

SAN DIEGO--What Carlos Quentin did to derail the Dodgers' season is pretty ugly. What he did to the derail the San Diego Padres' season might be worse. When Quentin threw Zack Greinke to the ground and broke his collarbone, the slugger said he was settling a score from years before he ever joined the Padres. Quentin appears satisfied, no matter how much pain he inflicted on the team that made him its highest-paid player, a team that had absolutely no quarrel with Greinke. PHOTOS: Dodgers vs. Padres The Padres need Quentin now, and desperately.

PHOENIX - His face is shadowed under an oversized baseball cap. His gaze is often averted to the ceiling or floor. His handshake is distant, his voice is small, his sentences trail off into awkward silence. The first impression of Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke is that, despite having just signed a $147-million deal with a team in baseball's second-largest market, he simply wants to run away and hide. It is a daily act of courage that he does not. "I didn't think there was anything wrong with me," he said Friday.

The Dodgers are already selling Yasiel Puig shirts in their team store. Before the Cuban outfielder played in his fourth major league game on Thursday, he shot a television commercial with Adrian Gonzalez for an upcoming in-stadium promotion. Too soon? Maybe not. Puig has already created more magical moments than some players do in their entire careers, the latest an eighth-inning grand slam in the Dodgers' 5-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium. PHOTOS: The 20 greatest Dodgers of all time The home run was Puig's third since he was called up from double A on Monday and blew open a game in which the Dodgers held a 1-0 lead up to that point.

DENVER - Don Mattingly's best-case scenario for his bullpen Saturday had him calling in a pitcher to protect a last-inning lead. Asked who that pitcher might be, Mattingly hesitated. "The closer," he said before the Dodgers' 7-6, 10-inning loss. The Dodgers manager wasn't being cheeky, he was being honest. After watching Brandon League blow his second save in four tries Friday, Mattingly's confidence in the right-hander was clearing waning. But the next-best candidate, hard-throwing Kenley Jansen , is a pitcher Mattingly prefers to use in crucial situations in the seventh or eight innings - a strategy he thinks gives him a better chance to get to the ninth with a lead.

Adrian Gonzalez said the Dodgers' 8-7 victory over the Angels on Monday night could change the course of the season. Manager Don Mattingly was also hopeful that would be the case. "That," Mattingly said, "was a good game. " The source of the sudden optimism was the erasing of a 6-1 deficit in the opening game of the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium, something completely out of character for the last-place Dodgers. Until this night, the largest deficit the Dodgers had overcome on their way to a victory was three runs.

Unable to send Clayton Kershaw to the mound for a second consecutive night, the Dodgers went back to being the Dodgers on Tuesday. With Zack Greinke giving up five runs in four-plus innings, the Dodgers had no chance against the Milwaukee Brewers, as their inept offense converted 10 hits and five walks into only two runs. The 5-2 defeat at Miller Park felt like many of the last-place Dodgers' 25 previous defeats, as they were three for 14 with runners in scoring position. They had men on first and second with none out in the second inning and didn't score.

If the Dodgers and Manager Don Mattingly dream of building momentum off Monday's 3-1 victory in Milwaukee, they just may have the right guy on the mound Tuesday night. Right-hander Zack Greinke is returning to one of his former haunts, and should be feeling pretty good about it. Greinke, who spent a season and half with the Brewers, has never lost at Miller Park. He is 15-0 with a 2.89 ERA in 24 games at Miller, and the team 23-1 in those starts. This is only Greinke's second start since coming off the disabled list with a broken collarbone and fourth of the season, so grand expectations by the Dodgers might be risky.

Not even Mr. Perfect could save the Dodgers. Fresh off a dominating performance by left-hander Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers sent right-hander Zack Greinke out Tuesday against the Brewers in hopes of building a little momentum. It seemed like a good thing, what with Greinke owning a 15-0 career mark at Miller Park. Alas, the way things have been going for the Dodgers, Greinke could have been 150-0 at Miller and it would not have mattered. BOX SCORE: Milwaukee 5, Dodgers 2 Naturally, Greinke lost.

SAN DIEGO -- The pitch by Zack Greinke that struck Carlos Quentin on the biceps appeared innocent enough. The Dodgers were ahead of the San Diego Padres by only a run. There were no outs in the sixth inning. The count was full. But Quentin charged the mound and sparked a Thursday night melee that could be as costly for the Dodgers as it was temper-igniting. BOX SCORE: Dodgers 3, San Diego 2 Greinke, appeared to be injured in a shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Quentin, was escorted off the field at Petco Park by trainer Sue Falsone.

Yasiel Puig didn't get a hit or make a spectacular throw on Tuesday night, but he might have changed the Dodgers' season. Less than three weeks ago, the Dodgers were said by their own manager to lack toughness. But there was no questioning their resolve in a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Puig was hit in the face by a 92-mph fastball by Ian Kennedy in the sixth inning, sparking an old-fashioned brawl in the seventh and setting the stage for an emotional comeback in the eighth.

As if the pitching-thin Angels need another reminder of what might have been, there it is, on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, New York Mets ace Matt Harvey, the one who got away. The Angels picked Harvey in the third round in 2007 knowing it would take first-round money to sign him out of high school, but when owner Arte Moreno authorized an offer of only $1 million - half of what Harvey wanted - the right-hander went to the University of North Carolina. Harvey signed for $2.6 million with the Mets in 2010 and, armed with a 97-mph fastball and devastating curve, has emerged as a Cy Young Award candidate this season, going 5-0 with a 1.55 earned-run average in his first nine starts.

When Zack Greinke made his last start for the Dodgers before Wednesday, the team had a winning record and was only half a game out of first place in the National League West. Then Greinke wrestled with the Padres' Carlos Quentin, breaking his collarbone, and things took a turn. Three other pitchers followed the right-hander to the disabled list over the next 10 days and the Dodgers lost 19 of their next 31 games, falling to the bottom of a division they were supposed to win. So when Greinke stepped back on a major league mound for the first time in more than a month, the team was hoping for a return to those halcyon days of early April as much as it was hoping for a win. And for one night at least they got both, with Greinke holding the Washington Nationals to a run on five hits over 51/3 innings and driving in what proved to be the winning run in a 3-1 win at Dodger Stadium.