I know that I am the minority here, but I do not think RC was throwing at Piazza at all!!! The bat came right at RC and as a reaction he threw the bat out of the way. I saw this play several times and I do not believe by his reaction and Piazza's reaction that he was trying to throw the bat at him. This is my opinion and I think the umpires used good judgement. Many times you can look at the reaction of the players and if RC was throwing the bat at Piazza, then he would not have been looking for the ball after he almost hit Piazza, he would be prepared to fight. And if Piazza really felt that he was thrown at, he would have charged the mound no matter what. But that is my opinion.
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Originally posted by Hayes Davis
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Originally posted by Virginia Umpire
All in all, I am very surprised how little was made of this incident by both teams. Ordinarilly the batter would have charged the mound and both benches would have emptied and punches would have been thrown. In this case the Mets displayed a relative token protest, Valentine didn't make an extended beef. Even Major League Baseball probably wanted Clemmens in the game.
I would have ejected any pitcher in a High School or College game for this. But, alas, who am I? If I ejected him in the Majors in the World Series I probably wouldn't work again. None of those people in Yankee Stadium came to watch the umpire.
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Perhaps a "bench-clearer" would have helped the Mets. So far they don't really seem motivated. Not that I really care which team ends up winning the whole thing but I'd like to at least see some fire from the Mets and maybe a good series.
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