October 14, 2003

Zimmer on Clemens Beaning Piazza. Thanks to the delightfully named Kiss My Aase:

USAToday: Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer, hit in the head twice during his playing career in the 1950s and was once in a coma for 13 days after being beaned, said he got a "sick feeling" when Clemens hit Piazza. "There's no doubt he was trying to pitch him tight," Zimmer said. "There's also no doubt that no one felt worse about it than Roger Clemens."

The New York Times: "I don't believe there's a human being in professional baseball who would throw a ball hoping to hit a man in the head," Zimmer writes. "I was disappointed with Piazza coming out and saying Clemens threw at him on purpose. What's Clemens supposed to do? Throw the ball over the plate so Piazza can keep hitting home runs off him -- or make him feel uncomfortable? I've been hit in the head twice, and without the benefit of a protective helmet. The problem you have in baseball today is that hitters don't know how to get out of the way of pitches because pitchers are afraid to pitch inside anymore. ... As for the bat-throwing incident, do you think Clemens was going to throw that bat at Piazza if he was standing at home plate? He had no idea Piazza was in the first-base path. If he were deliberately throwing the bat at Piazza, he would have hit him. Clemens has been made a villain in all of this because he pitches inside. I think that's unfair."

Zimmer is a joke, a clown and a hypocrite.

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