yeah, i know it’s the world series and he’s the starting pitcher, but come on! they throw players out for cursing at the umpire in the regular season - i can see bending that one for the world series - but throwing a jagged, pointed weapon at another player?! if that’s allowed, what can’t you do? they would eject a hockey player for that ferchrissakes!
Funny, I was just going to start a thread about this…
Even more disturbing than the fact that he wasn’t immediately ejected are many of the excuses that have been made for him and by him:
–It was just an emotional reaction
–I didn’t know Piazza was running
–I didn’t know whether I was throwing the bat or the ball
–I was just tossing the broken bat toward the batboy
And my favorite: “He’s just a competitor.”
WTF?
Here’s a story about the game: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/2000/world_series/news/2000/10/22/mets_yankees_game2_ap/
There are also some good articles at http://www.nytimes.com
Ugh. I think that link I posted is bad. The article can be found by going to http://www.cnn.com and scrolling down to the sports section.
p.s. please don’t eject me!
i heard him use that ‘emotional reaction’ excuse. whatever. charging the mound after being beaned is an emotional reaction - this was an unprecedented attack with a weapon.
the umpire should have walked right up to clemens and said, ‘do i even have to say it’ and clemens should have left the ballpark without argument.
I, for one, would have just liked to have seen the umpire let Piazza go after Clemens unrestrained, and without ejecting him.
I’m almost ashamed to be a Yankees fan after that incident.
I would be, but I already hate Clemens … so there!
(seriously, he’s a psycho!)
I’m a Yankee fan, too. I can’t stand Clemens, either. Everytime I look at him, I get that Red Sox bad taste in my mouth. No matter who he plays for or how well he pitches for us, he will always be a Red Sox in my book.
However, I do believe his story. The bat came flying at him, he grabbed it, and tossed it off the field. Who would have thought that Piazza would run on a foul ball? In fact, that was my first reaction - “What the hell is Piazza doing there? It’s foul.”
So, why shouldn’t Piazza have run? He obviously wasn’t sure where the ball went, so he decided to at least run a little. He had slowed down because he must have gotten sight of it and knew it was foul.
Still there is absolutely no excuse for what Clemens did. He just lost control. If he admitted that, people would be satisfied.
He won’t be suspended, but he should be fined. Not only did he endanger Piazza, but he endangered the Yankee bat boys and possibly people in the stands. Would Giuliani still be sporting a Yankee cap if he found a seven inch piece of jagged wood imbedded in his chest?
Let’s not get too carried away here. The chunk of wood bounced on the ground a foot or two from Piazza’s feet. It was in no way remotely close to hitting anyone else.
I can really believe that Clemens was a bit too fired up and was releasing some of his enthusiasm. Maybe he even thought that chucking that piece of wood would be intimidating, but I do not think he expected Piazza to be jogging down the line.
It’s all the other crap that he made up that made him seem like a complete idiot. He didn’t know if it was the bat or the ball… Are we really supposed to believe that a major league pitcher of so many years can’t tell the difference? Besides, since when do you field a ball and then wing it toward the dugout instead of first base? Jackass.
And I am a Yankee fan.
However, the fact that Clemens didn’t throw the piece of the bat very far is irrelevant. The point is that he threw it and he didn’t seem to care where it was going to go. Such behavior could be construed as reckless by some, at least irresponsible.
There was a potential for harm. Fortunately, there was none. If I had reacted like Clemens and then realized what I had done, I would have been quite upset when I discovered what I could have done to someone.
Why didn’t Valentine make a big stink? Even if he didn’t get him ejected, he would have:
a) shown support for Piazza and
b) maybe gotten the Mets riled up enough to do something constructive, like maybe win the game?
A Mets fan’s POV.
Wow, you mean Yankee fans hate Clemens too? As a Sox fan, I have to wonder who does like the guy.
Oh well, at least the Jets are getting shellacked.
It’s a conspiracy by the networks and baseball. They didn’t eject him because they want a team from New York to win.
Wait a minute…
Nah, the umpires were just scared of the crowd reaction and getting batteries thrown at them for ejecting the immortal Clemens. Like a couple of you have said, if it had been ANY other game and ANY other pitcher, there would have been no question.
I agree with whoever else said that Valentine should have used it to psyche up the team…maybe if they would have scored some runs BEFORE the 9th inning, they could have won the friggin’ game.
And I really could care less who wins The Series–I’m just glad the Rams finally lost.
Oh yeah, cause the umps HATE to toss Clemens early. I direct your attention to Exhibit A: October, 1990, and the work of one Terry Cooney.
As a Red Sox fan, I dislike Roger Clemens. I absolutely DETEST Terry Cooney, however.
It’s a conspiracy! And all the umpires are in on it! Steinbrenner’s paying them off! That explains the Yankees’ undeserving good luck!
Wow. I should pitch that idea to Oliver Stone.
From what I saw, it looked like he caught something and threw it towards first base instinctively, but kinda realized that it wasn’t the ball at the same time, so didn’t actually make it to first base. Like I give a shit. As a Red Sox fan, I’m mostly pissed that Clemens is pitching better than he did for his last several years in Boston.
Hee hee hee…
And just what have you got against the Rams? You a Titans fan or something?