No wonder hitters never know what Roger Clemens will do next.
One day he is playing football in Central Park like just another privileged New Yorker. The next he is throwing lumber around Yankee Stadium like a contestant on one of those late-night “world’s strongest man” cable TV shows … or Jerry Springer. The only thing you can count on is that on game days, the five-time Cy Young Award winner will be one espresso short of Bob Knight.
For the second start in a row, Clemens pitched the New York Yankees closer to a third consecutive championship Sunday night. He used intimidation, as usual, but his method was unusual in a 6-5 victory over the Mets in Game 2 of the Subway Series. Clemens had the Yankees headed for an easy win before the Mets rallied for five ninth-inning runs against the Yankees’ bullpen.
Two high-and-tight fastballs to Alex Rodriguez in the first inning set the tone for Clemens’ one-hitter against Seattle in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. He knew he would be watched closely Sunday because of his July 8 beaning of Mike Piazza, but he nevertheless flung a broken bat just past Piazza in the first inning.
“It was bizarre,” Piazza said. “I was more in shock than anything. When I initially looked at him it looked like he was going to slam the bat in the ground, and then it came in my direction. He was obviously pumped up.”
Luckily for Clemens, Miss Manners was not listed among the celebrities in the crowd of 56,089 on a chilly night in the Bronx. If the game had been at Shea Stadium, Clemens would have at least received the John Rocker treatment.
But with Billy Crystal, Tom Cruise and Regis Philbin in the supportive home crowd, Clemens instead used his 97-m.p.h. fastball to hold the Mets to two hits in eight shutout innings. He struck out nine, walked none and hit one batter.
The Yankees took a 6-0 lead into the ninth, but the Mets rallied against two relievers. Piazza hit a two-run homer off Jeff Nelson. Jay Payton followed with a two-out, three-run homer off Mariano Rivera, bringing the tying run to the plate before Kurt Abbott took a called third strike to end the game.
Todd Zeile, who hit a double off the top of the left-field fence in Game 1, was inches away from a homer in the ninth. Left-fielder Clay Bellinger, who had just entered the game, leaped at the wall to catch Zeile’s drive for the first out of the ninth.
First baseman Tino Martinez was the Yankees’ offensive hero. He had three hits and drove in two runs as the Yankees took a 2-0 edge in the series. They have won a record 14 consecutive World Series games.
If the Mets are going to make their claim on this city series, they’ll have to do it against Orlando Hernandez on Tuesday night at Shea Stadium. Hernandez, who faces Rick Reed in Game 3, has gone 8-0 in the postseason, most recently beating Seattle in the deciding game of the ALCS. No major-league team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
Four pitches was all it took for the bad blood between Clemens and Piazza to start boiling again. While there had been much talk about the lingering animosity from the fastball off Piazza’s helmet, no one could have seen this one coming.
On a 1-2 pitch, Clemens shattered Piazza’s bat. The ball went foul up the first-base line and the bat split into three pieces, with the barrel heading toward the mound. Clemens fielded the business end on a couple of hops and angrily threw it off the field. That might have been fine had the bat not almost hit Piazza, but it nearly did. It sailed just in front of Piazza as he headed toward first.
“Before I had let go of the bat I had no idea Mike had run,” Clemens said. “There was no intent. I was slinging it toward our on-deck circle, where our batboys were. I had no idea Mike was in the vicinity.”
Piazza veered left, walking toward Clemens. The pitcher took a couple of steps toward Piazza but seemed to welcome the intervention of the umpires. Benches emptied, with Mets manager Bobby Valentine leading the way. There were no punches thrown.
“Some guys thought he flung it in that direction and some guys thought he threw it at Mike,” Valentine said, adding that he was watching the ball and didn’t see the incident. “I don’t know how much that had to do with [the game].”
This wasn’t Clemens’ first bit of erratic behavior in the postseason. He was ejected in the second inning of Game 4 of the 1990 ALCS while pitching for Boston against Oakland. That time his shouted profanities gave umpire Terry Cooney little choice but to run him.
Plate umpire Charlie Reliford or crew chief Ed Montague could have ejected Clemens this time. But the umpires decided to dismiss it as a case of temporary insanity. “It was an emotional reaction,” Montague said. “I didn’t think [Clemens] threw the bat at Piazza.”
Said Clemens: “I was extremely emotional in that first inning. I went in after that inning and really had to calm myself down to be effective in the ballgame. … I had to get control of my emotions after that inning. My feet were off the ground.”
Mets starter Mike Hampton didn’t look like the same guy who had held St. Louis scoreless for 16 innings in the National League Championship Series. In six innings he gave up four runs and eight hits, including run-scoring singles by Martinez and Jorge Posada in the first and a solo homer by Scott Brosius in the second.
