NEW YORK | October 23, 2000 -- The pitch came inside, right at the hands, not at the head, just where Roger Clemens intended it too. Mike Piazza had no chance. The bat was sawed in half, the head bouncing out toward the mound where Clemens picked it up and threw it back toward Piazza, the fury blazing in his eyes. That pitch had sent a message. Roger Clemens was going to be Roger Clemens.
He shattered Piazza's bat and shattered the Mets hopes. They were not going to hit Clemens this night. He had gone inside to Piazza and grabbed the tone of this game by the throat. The New York Yankees were going to take another step toward the World Series title Sunday night in Game 2, stepping right over the Mets as they did so. The final score was Yankees 6, Mets 5, but it took a five-run ninth by the Mets off relievers Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera to make it that close.
The thought had been burned into the Mets minds. Over the first six innings, all they had was a single by Todd Zeile. Clemens had established the parameters of the game and the Mets were playing right along. They were back on their tiptoes, watching as the Rocket just reared back and threw strikes past them. They couldn't hit him. When he's on like he was Sunday night, just like he was last week in Seattle, no one can hit him.
The Yankees are now halfway home to their third straight World Series crown and their fourth championship in five years. The Mets are now staring up at a large hole because they did not respond when Clemens sent his message. The Rocket went inside to Piazza and waited to see what the answer would be.
It turned out to be silence.
The was the Rocket's game. He threw the piece of that bat back in the direction of Piazza because Clemens didn't think that Piazza would run because the ball was foul. When he saw the Mets catcher still holding the knob in his hand, he raised his arms as if to say, "My bad." That's how focused he was.
"I had to try and calm down," Clemens said after the game. "I was so fired up. I had to try and get my emotions in check. With everything that had been said in the week leading up to this, I was too fired up."
Clemens' fastball had snapped Piazza's bat like a twig. He had gotten his edge. That play put the Mets back on their heels and that was all the Rocket needed.
Much of the talk since the playoff had started had focused on Clemens and Piazza. Back in July, Clemens had come inside during an interleague game and the ball kept sailing higher and higher, hitting Piazza in the helmet, causing a concussion.
The video of that play has been shown over and over since the two teams finalized the Subway Series. Yankees manager Joe Torre said before Game 2 Sunday that he had been watching ESPN in the morning and saw that replay several times during one of the network's shows.
"They kept replaying it over and over," Torre said. "I guess that makes people watch."
It had to stick in the back of the Mets minds. Would he come inside? Would anything happen? They started playing the mind games rather than the game. Which was just what Clemens and the Yankees wanted.
Before he took the mound Sunday night, Clemens was asked about the image of intimidation he seems to project.
"I take it very seriously,' he said. "I throw hard. I'm a power pitcher. I take pride in that. When I'm on the mound, I'm going to try and beat you. Mentally, I'm going to try and beat you and emotionally, I'm going to try and beat you."
Clemens beat the Mets both ways Sunday night. Mentally, they had lost the fight in the first inning after Piazza had the bat sawed off in his hands. That seemed to sap the emotion out of them. If there was a chance to get to the Rocket, it would have been right there at the start. Piazza gets a hit and suddenly, the momentum belongs to the Mets. Then maybe Mike Hampton doesn't unwravel like he did in the bottom of the first, walking two, giving up a couple of hits and finding himself in a quick 2-0 hole. Not only did the Rocket have the Mets in a mental block, he also had a lead.
That was more than enough. By the time Clemens was finished, after eight shutout innings and a 6-0 cushion, he had given up just two hits, struck out nine and allowed only one Mets runner to get as far as second base.
Piazza did crank one off the foul pole in the top of the ninth off of Nelson, to break the shutout, and Jay Payton hit a three-run bomb off Rivera, but it was too little, too late. Clemens had done just what he set out to do. The game would be decided on his terms. He sent a message and the answer he got back was silence. He had shattered Piazza's bat and shattered the Mets hopes.
