Monday, October 23, 2000
Yankees go up 2-0
Clemens dominates; Mets' rally falls short
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEW YORK — The classic prizefights that Yankee Stadium once staged — Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, Rocky Marciano vs. Ezzard Charles — were revived Sunday night in Game 2 of the 96th World Series.
After Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza finished a punchless yet heated skirmish, the Yankees left the ring reeling, squandering most of their 6-0 lead before surviving with a 6-5 victory and 2-0 Series edge.
The Mets threw a ninth-inning scare into the Yankees with a five-run rally, which could give the National League champions some momentum when the Series moves to Shea Stadium on Tuesday. Then again, Yankees Game 3 starter Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who owns an 8-0 postseason record, has a way of blunting any comeback bid.
The Yankees' 14th consecutive Series victory left them halfway toward their third world title in a row and fourth in the last five years. Of the last 46 teams to hold a 2-0 Series advantage, 35 proceeded to bathe in champagne.
“Two-oh wasn't as comfortable as it was an hour ago,” said Yankees manager Joe Torre after the game. “The Mets showed you why they won (the NL pennant). They won't roll over and die. It puts
us in a good position, but not a guaranteed position.”
Victory seemed guaranteed for the Yankees as Clemens blanked the Mets on two hits through eight innings. Scott Brosius and Tino Martinez drove in two runs apiece while former Red Paul O'Neill contributed a 3-for-4 effort with an RBI single.
But Yankees reliever Jeff Nelson failed to protect his team's 6-0 lead, yielding Piazza's two-run homer off the left-field foul pole. Todd Zeile, who had the only hits off Clemens, barely missed another two-run homer when left fielder Clay Bellinger reached above the wall to snare his drive off bullpen ace Mariano Rivera.
Rivera then yielded Jay Payton's three-run, opposite-field homer to right field before striking out Kurt Abbott to end the game.
That didn't finish the controversy Clemens ignited in the first inning. After Piazza hit a broken-bat foul grounder, Clemens picked up the shard of wood that bounded toward him and threw it angrily at the feet of the Mets catcher, who was jogging toward first base.
It perpetuated the fuss raised in a July 8 interleague game as Clemens fired a pitch that hit Piazza's head. Clemens and Piazza had tried to defuse the uproar as the Subway Series approached, insisting that they had put the beaning behind them.
But talk of a feud lingered due to the sheer ugliness of Clemens' pitch, which has been replayed incessantly on television, and Piazza's declaration that he had no respect for the right-hander. The plunking was thought to stem from Piazza's success against the right-hander (7-
for-12, three homers before Sunday), though Clemens, who has a reputation for pitching inside, denied any malicious intent.
Sunday's rematch began innocently enough. Piazza took Clemens' first two pitches for strikes, then a ball. Piazza swung at the next delivery and grounded it toward the Yankees' dugout as the barrel of his sheared bat skipped wickedly toward Clemens.
Then came the ugliness, which never would have surfaced had Clemens checked his emotions. Piazza approached Clemens, prompting home plate umpire Charlie Reliford to step between the pair. Clemens and Piazza were quickly joined by virtually every player and coach from both dugouts. Piazza grounded out when play resumed.
Clemens later said, “Before I let go of the bat, I had no idea Mike had ran and I told Charlie that. There was no intent. I grabbed the bat to sling it toward our on- deck circle where our batboys were.”
Said umpiring crew chief Ed Montague in a statement, “It was an emotional reaction. I didn't think (Clemens) threw the bat at Piazza. There was no intent.”
Piazza said he was more “confused and shocked” than anything.
“I was a little disoriented,” Piazza said. “I had no idea where the ball was ... After he threw the bat, I walked out there to see what his problem was. I was taken aback — it was bizarre. I asked him what his problem was. I was trying to figure out if it was intentional or not. He really had no response. Then, obviously, there was intervention by everybody else.”
Clemens, who shut out Seattle on one hit while striking out 15 in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series last Saturday, fanned nine Mets, walked none and allowed just three balls to clear the infield.
“I think I had similar stuff to what I had in Seattle,” said Clemens, who threw 78 strikes in 112 pitches.
But postgame questions dwelled not on Clemens' excellence but on his confrontation with Piazza. That angered Torre, who briefly left the interview room in exasperation before returning.
“I think we have to ask one other question — why would (Clemens) have thrown the bat? Does that make any sense?”
Said Piazza, “I hate for this to be an incident that will be remembered from what was an interesting ballgame.”
SULLIVAN: Clemens lucky he missed
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