Back on the Diamond

Amid all the speculation over possible retaliation [today] when the Yankees meet the Mets without the DH rule in effect, and Roger Clemens, who callously beaned Mike Piazza, is forced to make a plate appearance, let me suggest the ideal scenario.

Clemens steps up to the plate. Met starter Shawn Estes plunks him in the ribs with a fastball. Clemens slowly jogs off to first base. There is no charging the mound, no glaring, no histrionics of any kind. The baseball gods have been appeased and all is well.

David Macaray

Rowland Heights

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Except for allowing games to be played on artificial surfaces, the dumbest thing Major League Baseball has done over the past 50 years has been restoring the unbalanced schedule. The dopes who implemented that scheme should be forced to attend every one of the 19 games between Tampa Bay and Baltimore.

At a time when the game itself is in jeopardy due to such issues as formulating a new labor agreement and steroid/drug abuses, there is a need for leaders with vision to expand the opportunities for fans throughout the U.S. to see the widest variety of competition. This could be done by scheduling 36 interleague games each season and going back to the practice of two visits by each interdivision club.

With a mind-set bent on contraction, I hold little hope that the MLB establishment would provide any consideration for such a proposal.

Sid Skolnik

West Hollywood