It would’ve been difficult for anything to exceed the hype of the first World Series pitting two New York teams in 44 years, but the personal clash between the Mets power-hitting catcher and the Yankees’ most renowned starting pitcher did just that.
Few hitters gave Roger Clemens as much trouble as Mike Piazza. The two faced off 25 times. Against a pitcher who would strike out more than 4,000 batters over his lengthy big-league career, Piazza struck out just twice. He batted .364, had an on-base percentage of .440, and a slugging percentage of .955. He hit four home runs, each of them carrying its own importance.
The intensity of this duel of two superstars was ratcheted up ten-fold on July 8, 2000 when Clemens drilled Piazza with a pitch just above the brim of his helmet, concussing the perennial All-Star catcher and prompting strong ill-feelings.
If Game 1’s extra-inning thriller — highlighted by costly Mets baserunning and a late Yankee rally to prevail in the 12th — didn’t offer enough drama, Game 2 brought about the pinnacle of the Clemens-Piazza saga on the ultimate stage.
What took place with two outs in the top of the first is not lost on Mets and Yankees fans alike, re-lived countless times over the past two decades. Piazza broke his bat on a foul ball. The meat part of the bat ended up in Clemens’ grasp. Piazza jogged to first. Clemens flung the jagged piece of wood back in Piazza’s vicinity.
Both benches emptied as Piazza walked towards Clemens, as much perplexed as he was angry. On the field and after the game, Clemens’ claimed he had confused the bat with the ball, which is about as believable as his claim that he never used steroids.
Once the soap opera subsided and “The Rocket” inexplicably was allowed to continue, Clemens proceeded to have a typically vintage outing: eight shutout innings, two hits, no walks, nine strikeouts.
It wasn’t until he was out of the game when the Mets began to hit. Unfortunately, they began hitting after the Yanks had built a 6-0 cushion against Mike Hampton, Glendon Rusch, and Rick White.
Piazza began a furious, but ultimately futile comeback with a two-run homer that caromed off the left-field foul pole. Two singles and two outs later, Jay Payton connected for an opposite-field home run off Mariano Rivera.
A 6-5 Yankees victory was secured when Kurt Abbott struck out looking one batter later, but all anyone remembers from this night — and perhaps from this World Series — is the moment when a brief, but red-hot rivalry reached new and bizarre heights.
