Red Sox are in, the Yankees are in. Somehow, the Yanks did it without Roger Clemens, who-except when he was pitching against the Boston Red Sox-was largely ineffective this year (let's hear it again, Suzie!). Seventeen million doesn't buy what it used to, does it? Particularly when you consider that back in the dark ages, the then-legitimate Cy Young winner (sorry, I don't count those post-1997 doped up trophies) was making a lot less money...although even then he was looking for ways to remove himself from big games in which he was getting hammered. In 1990, he was especially creative, and introduced his real self to the world. For all you folks who were just dying to bring the Rocket back the last couple of years, a little reminder of all you have not lost...
Dateline Oct. 11, 1990, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. But much of it sounds like it could have been written yesterday.
Roger Clemens lied. Time and time again, seemingly without reservation or recrimination. Just stood up there, all sweetness and innocence, and lied to hundreds of media people in the wake of his ejection and his team's four-game sweep.
Maybe Clemens, a great pitcher and a lousy guy, is better off keeping his mouth shut.
Yesterday, he got what he deserved. Yes, even in a game of this magnitude. There are lines you can't cross, even in this, the age of the overzealous, self-aggrandizing, rabbit-eared umpire.
And Clemens crossed it.
"All I said to him (plate umpire Terry Cooney) was, 'I'm not shaking my (bleeping) head at you," Clemens said after he was ejected from the second inning of the Oakland's 3-1 ALCS clincher. "That's all. That was the only curse I used."
Sure. What an angel. Then how is it that the A's dugout, Cooney and even right field umpire Jim Evans all heard Clemens verbally abusing the plate umpire?
The incident, at least as recalled by everyone not wearing a Red Sox uniform, went like this:
Clemens walked Willie Randolph, griping after ball three and then shaking his head after ball four. Cooney, reacting like any umpire when shown up, said, "I hope you're not shaking your head at me."
The pitcher responded by saying, in effect, "If you're going to talk to me, take your (bleeping) mask off and come talk to me."
Cooney, who didn't want to inflame the situation, said he kept his mask on and remained behind the plate in the hopes of calming Clemens. "I told him I wasn't going to come out and have a confrontation," said Cooney. "I considered that a warning."
According to the umpire (and several Oakland players), Clemens then called Cooney, "a gutless so and so, and went on from there with a lot of words you can't print or put on the TV."
Lip readers, however, could clearly see Clemens repeatedly calling Cooney names.
"Look," said Cooney, handling questions with elan, "I've been umpiring for 16 years, and I'm one of the most easy-going umpires in this league. I understand the importance of this game. But when he says the things he did, and when they're audible to everyone in both dugouts . . . I had a job to do. Roger didn't do his."
Dave Stewart, whose MVP performance was obscured by yesterday's incident, was asked if he heard the Clemens-Cooney exchange.
"Yes, I heard the whole thing," he said.
And did Clemens' words warrant an ejection?
"Oh, yes, they warranted an ejection," Stewart said.
And did Clemens say the magic word?
"He said the magic word a couple of times," he said.
A's manager Tony La Russa, a fiery fellow with a strong vocabulary himself, agreed with the umpire.
"This umpiring crew is especially good about letting emotion run its course," he said. "But Roger went way too far. You can't say the things he said and get away with it."
Clemens, however, kept doing his "What did I say?" act, giving the impression he did nothing more than inquire about the state of Cooney's health and welfare of his family.
"It's unbelievable," said Clemens. "Maybe these umpires are jealous of the players; I don't know."
Or maybe the umpires are just sick and tired of arrogant, multi-million
dollar prima donnas showing them up at every turn. This is not an isolated incident with Clemens, who has quite a reputation as an umpire-baiter. In Games 2 and 3 he was told at various times to keep his thoughts to himself while sitting in the dugout.
Agreed: the umpires have become too quick on the trigger. Agreed: umpires have become too sensitive, less Solomonic, less Buddha-like in temperament. It used to be that umpires were satisfied to be seen and not heard; no longer. Agreed: umpires cannot expect perfect etiquette and gentility, particularly
from a manic competitor like Clemens.
But the Red Sox pitcher sealed his own fate by refusing to seal his mouth.
"We recognize he can be overzealous," said Evans. "But we're not going to rewrite the rule book for Roger Clemens."
American League president Bobby Brown will investigate the incident. While he's at it, he might also investigate the whereabouts of the Red Sox's bats. This was a quick and dirty series, and it reached a most inappropriate and sad denouement. The A's deserved better; Clemens deserved what he got.
If you didn't see it, it was really a sight to behold-the newspaper articles just don't give this meltdown justice. If memory serves me, Clemens was actually carried off the field all the while screaming at Cooney.
Good times, good times.
Sox can clinch tonight with a win over Minny if Kazmir takes care of the Yanks like we know he can. Let's wrap it up tonight.
(Commentary from The Rocky Mountain News)
