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Bat caper Berardino, Cellini on latest Clemens-Piazza flap
Updated: Saturday October 28, 2000 10:18 PM
Prior to the World Series, Major League Baseball held a meeting headed by commissioner Bud Selig which dealt with, in part, behavior of players during the Series. And just two games in, one player is directly on the spot -- New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens after his role in the bat-throwing incident with Mike Piazza in Game 2. CNNSI.com's Vince Cellini and CNNSI.com's baseball insider Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel talked about it at Shea Stadium. Vince Cellini: Mike, everyone knows that Roger Clemens is an emotional pitcher, but he took it to a new level. I mean no one could recall a pitcher picking up a piece of broken bat and firing it the way he did. Mike Berardino: Well, Clemens insists he's done that in the past. No one here can seem to remember it and certainly it didn't happen in the World Series. But you have to wonder if that had been the Mets' Rick Reed or Mike Hampton throwing that bat across the baseline, if the umpires wouldn't have reacted differently. Clemens has those five Cy Youngs and all those 20-win seasons, that buys some leniency. I think he got some from the umpires in Game 2 because they approached him laughing. I will say this about Clemens though, he sees no problems, he says he doesn't need to see the re-play [or] need to apologize. Most people beg to differ. Cellini: Well Clemens did his job pitching-wise. The Yankee bullpen almost did not in Game 2. And their closer... a guy who has been inhuman over the past few years... is looking quite mortal in Mariano Rivera. Berardino: It's very surprising to see Mariano Rivera give up a home run to Jay Payton in Game 2 and a near home run to Todd Zeile. But if you look at how he's been used, it's not that surprising. He's not had to get four outs or more six out of the seven times he's appeared in this post-season. He's already thrown 52 pitches in the first two World Series games. Maybe [there are] some signs of fatigue. {Yankee manager] Joe Torre told me Monday he sees no drop-off in Rivera's stuff, but you do have to wonder. The Mets have to feel good to see some chinks in the armor. Cellini: Well the Mets are looking for hope. They're 0-2 in this series. Maybe hope or a spark is at the top of the order. Where are these guys? Berardino: Well Timo Perez and Edgardo Alfonzo were fabulous in the first two rounds of the playoffs -- they got the Mets here. But to this point in the World Series, they are a combined 4-for-19 with just one run scored. Two of their hits never left the infield. For Piazza, Zeile and [Robin] Ventura in that middle of the order they have to hit with runners on base -- that means better performance from the top two guys. Cellini: Well we'll see what those top two guys can do against the post-season perfecto guy, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, the Game 3 starter for the Yankees against Rick Reed.
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