When the World Series became the Subway Series after the Yankees clinched the American League Championship, I was elated. I was thrilled that we would finally see which team was the better of the two. The only thing that concerned me was that we would have a few fans that would drink too much and use their fists to see which team was the better one instead of leaving it to the players. I was hopeful that no matter how the series went and no matter what team would walk away the victors – that the fans of both teams kept cool heads and remembered that old sportsman saying, “It’s not how you win or lose – it’s how you play the game”. Apparently – I should have worried about the players.

In game two of the Subway Series with the Yankees taking the first game in a tremendously fought battle that will long be remembered as one of the best played games in World Series history, the Mets had to win this one in order to avoid heading back home to Shea two games in the hole. Unfortunately – the sportsmanship in this second of a seven game series didn’t even last past the first inning.

With Mets Catcher Mike Piazza at bat, Yankees Pitcher Roger Clemens – who is still remembered on a sour note for hitting Piazza with a wild pitch when the teams met in Interleague Play last July – pitched a shot to Piazza that was so fast it shattered his bat, having a piece of the wood landing near Clemens’ feet. As Piazza made his way to first base – Clemens picked up the piece of the broken bat and threw it – the only problem is he threw it towards Piazza.

The question is, did Clemens purposely throw the bat towards Piazza? While the press, baseball experts and even the Yanks and Mets debate the issue – my mind is already made up – Clemens is wrong regardless.

First of all, Clemens is still not in the clear from the July incident which found one of his pitches almost knocking Piazza cold. So even doing anything that would be taken as a controversial incident involving Piazza was suicide. Second, what was he thinking when he threw the piece of the shattered bat in the first place? Did he think no one would remove it for him? If anything, he should have left it alone. Third, its no secret that Roger Clemens has a hot streak – but this is the World Series – and if you want to play – you have to play nice. What if he was ejected from the game – which many people – both Yankee and Met fans – say he should have been? He would have possibly cost the Yankees last night’s victory. Clemens is one hell of a pitcher – leaving the game with a scoreless seven innings behind him – but if you have a hot streak instead of cool head – you shouldn’t be throwing baseballs at over ninety miles an hour.

Game wise, it was a great contest. The Yankees took the early upper hand this time, scoring six runs by the ninth inning. But when the Mets came up to bat for the last time – they rallied with five runs. Piazza whacked a two run homer off of Jeff Nelson and Payton sent a pitch by Mariano Rivera out of the park for a three run homer. But despite the Amazin rally – it was too little too late. Rivera pitched three perfect strikes to Abbott to end the game at a six/five victory for the Yankees – giving them their fourteenth consecutive World Series win and putting them two games ahead of the Mets in the Subway Series.

My opinion – the fault of the Mets loss lies with Bobby Valentine. He should have removed Pitcher Mike Hampton earlier in the game. When your pitcher gives up six runs and you have none – it’s time to pull someone out of the bullpen. Take a look at Joe Torre – when Nelson gave up a two run homer – he pulled him out before the next pitch – and he wasn’t even in the game for a whole inning yet.

If the Mets really want to win this Subway Series – they are going to have to work extra hard to get out of their two game deficit. Let’s see what happens tomorrow night at Shea.