Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, October 19, 2000
Red Lyon Tavern
NEW YORK — The Mets and Yankees don't harbor the same animosity that existed between the New York baseball teams the last time there was a Subway Series.
The Associated Press
Mets, Yankees pal up
Today's players pal around at the city's hot spots, hold charity events together and have friendships off the field. Not quite Billy Martin and Sal Maglie.
Or is it?
"We actually like their team," said Mets backup catcher Todd Pratt. "Well at least 24 of the guys."
Now, who would that 25th player be?
"We all lost some respect for Roger (Clemens)." Pratt said. As much as both teams might try, the match-up between Clemens and Mets catcher Mike Piazza will dominate talk around the first Subway Series since 1956.
"If anybody thinks it's the most important thing going on, they're incorrect," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine. "If they think it is forgotten about, they're also incorrect."
Piazza is 7-for-12 off Clemens with three memorable home runs. That success, say the Metts, prompted Clemens to drill Piazza in the helmet with a fastball on July 8 at Yankee Stadium.
the tensions have cooled, but they are not totally forgotten. The Mets, who didn't let the Yankees use their weight room at Shea Stadium the following day, won't ban the Yankees next week.
"I put it behind me already," Piazza said. "It is irrelevant. My feeling is we are trying to win the game. We've moved on. That's history."
However, no one expects any retaliation, even if Clemens happens to pitch — and bat — at Shea, which is not expected to happen.
"To me this is only about winning," said Mets general manager Steve Phillips. "It's not about ill will or revenge. Every decision we make will be with the thought of trying to win the game. Nothing else."
The Mets began preparations yesterday for their first World Series since 1986. The clubhouse still reeked of champagne from Monday's celebration after winning the NL pennant, but the players were rested from a day off.
Some spent Tuesday watching the Yankees beat Seattle to give New York its first Subway Series since the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers 1956. Manager Bobby Valentine watched most of the game surrounded by Yankees fans at his Connecticut restaurant.
A win against the Yankees will quiet all the critics.
For the Mets, who have played second fiddle to the Yankees in New York the past six years, this series is as much about being the best in the city as it is being the best in the world.
"The Yankees are definitely the team of the city," said outfielder Jay Payton, whose swollen left eye was back to normal after he was hit by a Dave Veres pitch Monday night. "This is our chance to get a place on the map. Whoever wins can walk around with their chins high and have bragging rights for a long time."
That's why the most of the Mets were so happy to see the Yankees win. Some people tried to cheapen their NL pennant by saying they didn't win the division and didn't need to beat the Braves to make the World Series.
"If they beat us, they have the three-beat," Pratt said. "If we beat them, we get their rings. If we do that, Atlanta can't say anything. They had their chance against these guys and couldn't beat them."
Leg surgery will sideline double athlete
By Michael Riggs
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Mario Kiney will have to wait a little longer to become the next Charlie Ward, a former Heisman Trophy winner and a NBA player.
Kinsey, a redshirt on the football team and a walk-on for the basketball team this year, had surgery on his lower right leg yesterday and will miss the next two to four weeks.
The surgery corrected Kinsey's Anterior Compartment Syndrome, a condition that is the result of an abundance of exercise and stress on the leg. Kinsey left the football team on Oct. 13 to practice with the basketball team.
Despite the procedure, Kansas football coach Terry Allen said he wasn't concerned with the stress both sports had on Kinsev's body.
"I'm more concerned with the academic allotment of the time constraints of playing both sports." Allen said.
Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams said in a statement that he planned to limit Kinsey when he returned.
"We're disappointed that this has happened to Mario," Williams said. "He was doing very well in practice, and he has shown that he can help this team. We will be very conservative with him when he gets back."
Kinsey, a freshman quarterback and point guard from Waco, Texas, hasn't played in a football game all season. He made his basketball debut last Friday for Late Night with Roy Williams, when he tallied one assist, one block and two steals in the team's intra-squad scrimmage.
While the added pressure of collegiate athletics contributed to Kinsey's condition, Allen said the fact that he played two sports made him popular in the hospital.
"I don't know if any other athlete has had a football coach and a basketball coach at the hospital with him at the same time," Allen said. "Hopefully, he'll be back as soon as he can."
— Jason Franchuk contributed to this story.
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