All-Star Spotlight Is Charged by a Battery

Turn on your television tonight when Fox airs the All-Star game and you could be treated to a glorious montage of images -- Hall of Famer-in-waiting Roger Clemens starting in his hometown, 500-homer hitters Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa sharing the National League outfield, baseball’s soaring international popularity reflected in an American League lineup that starts with Ichiro Suzuki (Japan), Ivan Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) and Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez (Dominican Republic).

Instead, Fox will undoubtedly insist upon rehashing two incidents from four years ago -- Clemens’ beaning Mike Piazza during the regular season, then tossing a jagged piece of a broken bat in his direction during the World Series.

Your National League battery: Clemens pitching, Piazza catching.

Yes, they can get along tonight, despite whatever images Fox chooses to show.

“I think it’s a little sensationalized,” Piazza said. “I’m not the first guy that’s been hit in the head.”

Clemens, gracious in sharing the All-Star spotlight with other players and in promoting his hometown of Houston, expressed irritation at repeated questions on the subject and said he could not understand why fans might consider the story a riveting one.

In an ESPN interview that aired Sunday night, Clemens criticized Fox for being “reckless with their words” during that 2000 World Series and said broadcasters have more than overdone replays of those incidents.

“It drives me crazy, as well as my family ... when they talk about it and show it over and over and over again,” Clemens said.

“I get tired of it, and I’m sure Mike gets tired of it.”

Piazza and Clemens are not friends. The two have not spoken since the bizarre World Series incident, but each said he would put the past aside for a night, meeting to go over signs and cooperating professionally.

“There really isn’t any blueprint,” Piazza said.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to talk. We’re both grown men, and we all have our own paths in life, and that’s fine ... I haven’t given it a lot of energy, and I’m sure he hasn’t.”

That didn’t prevent Clemens from slipping in a dig in explaining how he would not have to pitch to Piazza tonight.

“I don’t have to pitch to him,” Clemens said, “or pitch at him.”