COMMENTARY : Clemens vs. the Umpire: When the Spoiled Meets a Spoiler, the Game Suffers

JOHN EISENBERG, The Baltimore Sun

Clemens’ ejection stirs two opinions. (1) It is about time someone put the Red Sox’s swell-headed pitcher in his place, and what he said apparently deserved an ejection. (2) He was not sufficiently warned before he was thrown out.

Clemens may be utterly graceless, and by all accounts except his, his cursing of umpire Cooney was awful--he shouted what Boston Manager Joe Morgan called “the magic words”--but the bottom line is that the players should always be given every chance to decide postseason games, and Cooney did not give Clemens every chance.

What we have, then, is a strange situation: Cooney didn’t give a fair warning, but Clemens had it coming. The guy has been acting like a jerk for a long time. He bullies his manager. He stomps his feet like a 2-year-old when he doesn’t get his way.

Clemens clearly thought he could get away with saying anything, that he would never get ejected in such a big game. That’s classic Clemens. He’s a terrific pitcher, but he believes he is above the rules.

JIM LITKE, Associated Press

It was just the most recent--but hardly the most glaring--example of a dangerous shift in power taking place between the white lines.

Depending on whom you believe, Clemens let loose with a stream of expletives, directed or undirected, within earshot of Cooney, and was given the heave-ho, with or without the benefit of a warning. But make no mistake, the standard between what is acceptable and unacceptable exists only in the minds of the umpires. Without something more definite, an already-bad situation is going to get worse.

To the players, the diamond is increasingly less the land of the free. To the umpires, it’s ever more the home of the brave.

Whose game is this anyway?

What was once regarded as comic behavior by the deans of umpiring--a sputtering manager flinging a cap and kicking up dirt--now is regarded as a threat to the moral fabric of society.

The day when a young umpire took his cues from a Harry Wendelstadt, who folded his arms and always backed away from confrontation, have given way to the days of a Joe West, who lives for them.

TOM JACKSON, McClatchy News Service

Thursday, King Roger I discovered the limits of his domain. Two-thirds through the bottom of the second inning, Clemens ran across someone he couldn’t intimidate with his fastball or his regal will.

After three 20-victory seasons and two Cy Young Awards, Clemens has discovered the pleasures of power, which includes winning all disagreements.

Earlier this season, for instance, Clemens, accompanied by Dwight Evans, got the Red Sox traveling secretary of more than 20 years reassigned. Lately he’s targeted the public relations director for revealing how he suffered a late-season injury to his pitching hand (by slamming his fist into a door during an imperial tantrum). Actually, it was Clemens’ teammates who gleefully leaked the news.

Clemens has gotten the Boston media bounced off the team buses, a courtesy extended by virtually every other major-league team. And he has been allowed to dictate his pitching schedule to Manager Joe Morgan.

Call it the education of a prince. Here’s what it comes down to: Whatever anyone thought of Cooney’s hair trigger, for the sake of his team, Clemens should have taken his Great Garbo act to the mound.

ALAN GREENBERG, The Hartford Courant

It was a case of the arrogant, spoiled-brat child prodigy--the kid who thinks the rules apply to everyone but him--being thrown out of the classroom for mouthing off to the teacher.

You should not be surprised. When it comes to baseball, Roger Clemens is no longer used to behaving responsibly. He has been playing by Roger’s Rules of Order for so long, he seems to know no others.

When you are Roger Clemens of the Red Sox, your employer is scared of you. You tell the manager if and when you’ll pitch. You tell the league officials who run this series if and when you’ll talk to the media.

And how did Clemens sum up the incident afterward?

“I have no remorse,” he said.

Spoken like a true jerk.