BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Leiter Apologizes for Hitting Piazza

San Francisco Giant pitcher Mark Leiter, upset that people thought he intentionally hit Dodger catcher Mike Piazza during Tuesday’s game, telephoned him Wednesday and apologized.

“I’m upset, I was shaken a bit,” Leiter said. “I’ve never thrown [intentionally] at anybody in my career. It was an accident.

“The guy [Piazza] is a classy guy. My feeling is that he’s the MVP of the league. Forget [Dante] Bichette and those other guys.

“And this rivalry thing . . . hey, I’ve been in the American League my whole career. I don’t have anything against the Dodgers. I’d rather see those guys win it than Colorado.

“Those guys [the Rockies] are so cocky and arrogant, they think they invented the game. I get to pitch against them twice. I’d love to knock them off.”

Said Piazza: “If he was sincere--and it sounded like he was--I appreciate it.”

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The San Diego Padres were miffed at hearing that the Dodgers are planning on pushing Hideo Nomo back to Monday to face the Colorado Rockies instead of them on Sunday.

“What does that say about what they think about us?” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said.

Gwynn, who’s trying to stave off Piazza in the batting race, won’t face Nomo until the next-to-last game of the season.