Cowboy Up

We assist Red Sox fans by showing them what a winner looks like.

New York Yankees' Roger Clemens points at teammates after getting out of a jam in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the American League (news) Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox (news) Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003, at Fenway Park in Boston. (From the AP)

BOSTON (AP) -- Roger Clemens' Fenway Park farewell was memorable, all right.

There was a shoving match in the infield, a fight in foul territory and a melee in the bullpen. The New York Yankees' 72-year-old bench coach ended up on a stretcher and two players could face assault charges.

Oh, yeah, there was baseball played, too: The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven AL championship series.

Pedro Martinez humiliated himself before a national television audience.

AND, due to the fourth-inning unpleasantness, the baseball commissioner's office and the Red Sox immediately cut off beersales in the ballpark in the fourth.

That, plus Roger and Mariano, sobered up the crowd, alright.

Here is the Boston Globe partisan cover-up.

And we repeat the question a thoughtful non-baseball fan asked us: "People always talk about the Yankees - Red Sox "rivalry", but the Yankees always win. Shouldn't they use some other word, like "oppression"?

Exactly so.

Before the final out, however, the teams added a bizarre chapter to their long-running feud. And it ain't over.

``I think when this series began everyone knew it was going to be a battle, it was going to be emotional, a lot of intensity,'' Boston manager Grady Little said.

``I think we've upgraded it from a battle to a war.''

The benches cleared twice during a pitching battle for the ages between Clemens and Pedro Martinez, who grabbed Yankees coach Don Zimmer by the head and threw him to the ground in one of the fights.

These franchises have feuded for decades, and the anger intensified in July, when Clemens hit Kevin Millar, and Martinez hit Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano two days later.

The two likely Hall of Fame pitchers, with nine Cy Young Awards between them, are known for intimidation. And intimidate they did.

In the fourth inning, Martinez threw at Karim Garcia's head, nicking him on the back as he ducked. Garcia then made a hard slide on a double play and Manny Ramirez screamed at Clemens about a pitch that was slightly inside.

``I know Reggie was smiling. Somewhere, Goose and Gator ... were probably smiling,'' Clemens said, referring to Reggie Jackson, Rich Gossage and Ron Guidry, three members of the Yankees' championship teams that brawled with Boston in the late 1970s. ``Great theater, whatever you want to call it. I think it's great baseball.''

Clemens retired 13 of 14 batters after allowing a two-run single to Ramirez in the first, keeping his focus amid all the mayhem.

``I'm as proud of him tonight as I've been any time I've been around him,'' Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said. ``For him to be able to control his emotions and pitch like he did after all that happened.''

Meanwhile, Garcia hit an RBI single in the second, Derek Jeter homered over the Green Monster in the third and Hideki Matsui had a go-ahead double in the two-run fourth, which also included a run-scoring double play by Soriano.

After Trot Nixon hit into a run-scoring double play against Jose Contreras in the seventh, Mariano Rivera retired six straight batters for the save -- he's retired 21 of 22 hitters in the postseason.

The ninth inning was interrupted by a fight in the New York bullpen involving a member of the Boston grounds crew who was cheering for the Red Sox.

Two Yankees might be charged with assault, police spokesman Mariellen Burns said. She did not release the names of the players, but Red Sox spokesman Charles Steinberg said Jeff Nelson and Garcia were the ones involved.

Garcia cut his hand, forcing him out of the game. Yankees president Randy Levine later got into a shouting match with Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations, after the game. Levine contended there weren't enough police and security personnel at Fenway Park.

``I was just warming up and the next thing I know somebody was pushing Jeff Nelson and I just jumped the fence,'' Garcia said.

The series resumes Sunday when David Wells faces John Burkett, trying to put New York within a win of its fifth AL pennant in six seasons.

``It was huge, especially playing here,'' Jeter said. ``This won't mean anything unless we come out tomorrow and win.''

The outbursts began just after Matsui's RBI double put New York ahead 3-2. Martinez's next pitch was behind Garcia's head, and plate umpire Alfonso Marquez ruled that it glanced off Garcia's back before hitting his bat. Marquez issued a warning to both dugouts about throwing inside.

``I don't appreciate when somebody throws at my head,'' Garcia said. ``You're messing with somebody's career.''

Soriano, batting with the bases loaded and no outs, grounded to shortstop, with Boston turning a double play as Nick Johnson scored from third.

Garcia slid hard, knocking down second baseman Todd Walker. The two began shoving each other, and both teams slowly came out of the dugouts, yelling. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, Clemens and Zimmer were among the loudest.

Garcia said he wanted to hit the first Red Sox player he could without getting ejected.

``I'm going to get somebody else'' as retaliation, he said. ``That's the way I play the game.''

Walker was understanding.

``The intent is what I was upset about,'' he said. ``If I was in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing.''

After Enrique Wilson's inning-ending popout, two umpires pulled Clemens aside as he went to the mound for the bottom of the inning.

With the count 1-2 to Ramirez leading off, Clemens threw a high pitch, at the level of Ramirez's head, but not far inside. Ramirez bailed before the pitch even reached the plate, raised his bat slightly and shouted at Clemens, who yelled back.

``The pitch was actually over the plate, I think,'' Clemens said. ``I was OK with it until I looked up and he was coming toward me, mouthing me. Anybody is going to react when that happens.''

Ramirez declined comment.

Both dugouts and bullpens emptied, with Zimmer coming all the way across the infield to the first-base side. The coach headed for the 31-year-old Martinez and lunged at him.

``I think Zim is a little bit old for that,'' Little said.

Martinez sidestepped him, grabbed him by the head with both hands and tossed him to the ground. Zimmer landed face down and rolled over on his back.

Zimmer, the Red Sox manager in the famous 1978 AL East playoff won by the Yankees, declined comment on the fight, saying only: ``We won the game.''

``Zim is fiery,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said. ``These people in Boston know that.''

Martinez, in a rare comment to reporters, said he was defending himself.

``I could never hit him. I would never do it,'' he said. ``I was just trying to dodge him and push him away, and too bad his body fell. I hope he's fine.''

Zimmer, in his 54th season in professional baseball, has a plate in his head, the result of a beaning in 1953. He remained on the ground and Yankees trainer Gene Monahan treated the coach for what appeared to be a cut on his head.

Sitting in the dugout, Zimmer had a small bandage on the bridge of his nose. Later, he was smiling and laughing, but he was taken out of the ballpark on a stretcher after the game and sent to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as a precaution. Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone said Zimmer simply pulled a muscle, and the coach was later released from the hospital.

``I think it was very unprofessional,'' Stottlemyre said, referring to Martinez. ``I lost a little respect tonight.''

After a 10-minute delay following the fight, Ramirez struck out on the next pitch.

But the fighting wasn't over.

In the ninth, grounds crew member Paul Williams waved a white rally flag in the Yankees' bullpen, Nelson said.

``I told him if you're rooting for the Red Sox, why don't you go in their bullpen,'' Nelson said. ``He jumped in my face and tried to take a swing at me.''

It was typical of the night.

``I was very proud of my team,'' Torre said. ``They certainly acted like ateam.''

Notes

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck watched the game from front-row seats next to the Boston dugout. ... Also in the first row, near the Yankees dugout, was former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette. ... To keep the crowd calm, the baseball commissioner's office and the Red Sox immediately cut off beersales in the ballpark in the fourth.

Comments

[Emma]

Oh MAN, it's bad enough you're a Republican--but a Yankee fan, too? (Insert your favorite "evil empire" joke here.)

[jesse]

*Insert random partisan sniping*

I suppose that Martinez would have been more justified if the Red Sox had gone into the Yankee bullpen and thrown Zimmer down before he had the chance to launch an attack on him.

Why do you hate Pedro?

*End random partisan sniping*

[TM]

Emma, just to complete the trifecta, I am a Republican Yankee fan who owns shares in Microsoft. You can only imagine my sorrow at the end of Star Wars 6, when my man Darth died.

But I am keeping hope alive for "The Return of the King"!

And Jesse, thanks for stopping by. I think you need to study the videotape more closely.

Pedro (unlike Saddam) had demonstrated himself to be an imminent threat to the established world order, i.e., the Yankees. I saw a hapless but well regarded older chap attempting to conduct an on-site inspection of Pedro's arms - at first I thought it was Hans Blix, and only later realized it was Don Zimmer.

Pedro resisted, and a multi-national coalition (Matsui, Rivera, and Jeter) disarmed him. As well they should have.

[Pietro]

Sick, sick, sick.
Rivera's a thug who brands his victims with cleat marks (questionable slide into second, cleat marks on Sox groundskeeper after the incident in the 9th).
Zimmer's just a lunatic who finally snapped, like a shell-shocked Vietnam vet who hears a car backfire.
They both cast shadows on the professionalism of the Yankee team.

[Jesse]

Well Since It is very easy to tell that Pietro is a moran. I would like to clarify some things. The manager did not end up in a stretcher becuase Pedro did not attack him. When You getting attacked by a old man you still have the right not punched with out defending yourself. I gues zimmer was mad because they spend more money then any other sports team in the world and they are having trouble beating a wild card team. It would suck to be the shame of a nation.
Cowboy up

[Marcel Perez]

I saw several plays of the Pedro "assault" on Don Zimmer. It sure appeared to me that Zimmer was headed directly at him at a menacingly fast pace (for a 72 year old). Pedro simply played Aikido Master and directed the charging Zimmer's ample girth to the ground.

A $50,000 fine for this act seems awfully excessive unless the amount is based on the miscreant's ability to pay.

Don Zimmer must be making much less since his fine was only $5,000 for his role as aggressor.

Could be that the difference in attitude displayed during and after the game was a consideration affecting the Commisar's (Commissioner's) decision.