Head Games Take Over on the Off-Day

Major League Baseball, the New York Mets (especially Mike Piazza) and amateur psychiatrists in the media spent Monday trying to figure out what’s going on inside the head of Roger Clemens, who managed to sound both apologetic and victimized all at the same time.

Forget Mel Allen and “This Week in Baseball.” The Clemens-Piazza episode from Game 2 in the World Series on Sunday night at Yankee Stadium was fit for Ted Koppel’s “Nightline.”

Did Clemens intend to throw the barrel of Piazza’s bat at the Met catcher? Were the Mets too passive in their reaction? Were the umpires? Should Clemens now be fined, suspended or both. Those were the questions that seemed bigger than the World Series, even bigger than New York.

The Mets (especially Piazza) were still peeved about the incident, in which Clemens broke Piazza’s bat with a pitch in the first inning, then, as Piazza was running toward first base, grabbed the bat and heaved it toward him. Both benches cleared, but order was restored before a fight erupted.

Piazza said he didn’t care for the New York Yankee pitcher’s reasoning in the wake of another Big Apple controversy ignited by Clemens, who hit Piazza with a pitch on his batting helmet in July.

The commissioner’s office announced it is investigating the most recent incident.

“First off, the play was extremely bizarre,” Piazza said. “Secondly, I went out and confronted him and asked him what his problem was. And thirdly . . . whatever.

“If there was any sort of aggressiveness, if he would have said anything else to me at that point, it could have been a different situation. However, there was a little bit of ambiguity as far as the whole situation. It was just bizarre.”

Piazza and Met Manager Bobby Valentine made strong comments this season after Clemens had hit Piazza with a pitch in an interleague game at Yankee Stadium, saying they believed the act was intentional.

Clemens said he phoned Piazza after the July incident to try to apologize, but Piazza declined to speak with the five-time Cy Young Award winner.

The latest incident put Clemens into an uncomfortable position again, trying to explain his act after his second dominant postseason outing in as many starts.

“I told you [reporters] all about it [Sunday] night and I don’t need to see a replay,” said Clemens, who gave up two hits and struck out nine in Sunday’s 6-5 victory. “There was no temper involved. I thought it was a ball coming at me. Once [the bat] was in my hand . . . let’s not revisit that.”

Clemens had said after the game that he didn’t realize he’d thrown the bat toward Piazza because he was emotionally charged about pitching.

“Looking at the videotape, looking at the replay, it looks like he . . . I don’t know whether he was so charged up with emotion, or whatever, that he caught the bat and his first reaction was to throw it,” Piazza said. “Whether he did know I was there, or he didn’t know I was there, I don’t know, that’s all irrelevant to me.

“I went out to confront him about it, and obviously he chose to make whatever his excuse was. He seemed extremely apologetic and unsure and confused and unstable. As far as demanding an apology, an apology is only as good as where the source is coming from. I couldn’t care less about an apology or anything else. Like I said, it was a stupid situation.”

Some Mets, including reserve catcher Todd Pratt, lashed out at the press for portraying the Mets as gutless because they didn’t retaliate against the Yankees or attempt to jump Clemens when benches emptied after the incident.

Piazza also was upset that his teammates were criticized for not charging the mound, saying they were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t.

“Everyone’s opinions are opinions. We can’t change their opinions, but we’re trying to win a World Series game. As far as our team showing restraint, you could argue left and right. I mean, it’s obviously a no-win situation either way for us.”

Valentine second-guessed himself for not demanding Clemens be ejected.

Met pitcher Rick Reed, who will oppose Yankee right-hander Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez tonight, said Clemens should have been ejected.

“There is no room in this game for what he did,” Reed said. “I know a lot of people feel that way--maybe some of his teammates, I don’t know. But it was just uncalled for. . . . Let’s reverse the roles. If Mike throws his little piece of bat at Roger, he’s gone.”

Some Mets questioned whether intent should be the only barometer. The bottom line, they argue, is that Clemens threw a jagged piece of wood toward Piazza and could have done serious harm had he hit the Met catcher with it, whether he intended to or not.

“If there is a warning issued during a game and a batter gets hit by a pitch, it matters not of intent,” Valentine said. “The batter got hit, and the pitcher gets thrown out of the game.”

Met General Manager Steve Phillips said baseball needs to examine issues of intent.

“Is there no intent if you put somebody at risk without hitting them?” he asked. “After I looked at film, I wouldn’t say Roger flipped the bat, as some people described it. I thought he threw it like he throws his fastball. . . . And I don’t buy the explanation that he thought the bat was the ball. That doesn’t make sense.”

The Mets’ Lenny Harris said: “Clemens is already a great player--why’d he have to do something . . . like that and disrespect Mike? Everyone knows Roger is a great player. He should carry himself like one.”

Clemens, a tabloid target since the July incident, does not appreciate being under the microscope.

“I can’t control what people write or what people talk about,” Clemens said. “You can write however you want, I’m not going to group [reporters] all together, but I told you all I called Mike after that beanball to apologize. I told you how tough it is when you have to pitch a guy inside and you don’t want to pitch in and up. What do you want me to say? What do you want me to look for?

“The commissioner’s office can look into it all they want. I was taking a bat and throwing it on to the on-deck circle. I wish it was somebody else’s bat. I wish it was Mike Bordick’s or something, not Mike [Piazza’s].

“Maybe nothing would be made out of this now. This is the World Series. This shouldn’t be bigger than what we’re trying to do.”