In Praise Of The Rocket's Red Glare

This post hurts. It hurts to write. It hurts to admit. Still, I feel I have to do this. I need to praise Roger Clemens.

As a Met fan, I hate to praise Clemens. Clemens certainly can be a dirty player and the whole Mike Piazza incident in the World Series just added fuel to the fire. In one sense I was glad Piazza did not charge the mound because I think in a New York versus New York World Series, it literally could have caused a riot. Still, I think Piazza needed to send a message back to Clemens; Maybe swing and miss at a pitch, looking like he was fooled by the pitch, that ultimately led to him losing his bat which goes twirling out towards the pitcher’s mound. I think that might have sent a message back, but it never happened and the Mets never ‘recovered’ from the message sent by the Rocket. As a result, if I can bad mouth him, I will and I do.

Still, I have to give praise where praise is due. I understand, and even agree and approve of the way this whole Toronto situation has played out. A-Rod was wrong for yelling at the third baseman in a previous series, forcing an error and I can understand the Toronto pitchers making a statement, defending their players, and throwing at A-Rod.

On the other hand, Clemens needed to show that he was going to protect his teammates and he was absolutely justified (and correct) for throwing at one of the Blue Jay hitters. In this day and age, baseball has made a mistake of getting rid of the revenge pitch. Either allow a team to protect its players by throwing at players from the opposition it they have thrown at your players first, or decide to eject a pitcher, any pitcher, as soon as the umpire feels a player has been thrown out. This way, no one gets a “Free throw”.

Still, the rules say one pitcher can throw at the opposing team but if the opposing team retaliates, the retaliator gets ejected. I approve of Clemens defending his team and am even more impressed by his refusal to appeal the suspension and decision just to abide by the five games.

I cannot believe I am saying this but, I tip my cap to Roger Clemens.