07/03: Clemens Wins 350! Yanks Net Much Needed Victory
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees won their series opener over the Twins Monday night thanks to Roger Clemens' masterpiece and some timely hitting from guys who haven't been getting it done the last week and a half or so as their 5-1 victory kept them 11 games behind the Red Sox in the A.L. East race. Clemens retired the last 15 batters he faced and allowed only two hits in eight innings and Bobby Abreu broke a 1-1 tie with a mammoth home run to the upper deck in right field. Abreu came out of his slump with a 3-4 night while Derek Jeter and Melky Cabrera added two hits each. Mariano Rivera closed the game with a scoreless ninth.
There was a major cause for concern in the game, however, as Alex Rodriguez strained his hamstring after tripping over the ankle of Justin Morneau as he hustled down the first base line. Rodriguez would stay in the game for Posada's at bat which followed, but after advancing to second he surrendered to the hamstring injury and was taken out of the game. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. If it is, though, all the A-Rod naysayers will finally get to see how much better the Yankees will be with Miguel Cairo at third base.
I remember back in 2003 how big a deal was made when Clemens was stuck on 299 wins and attempted to get No. 300 several times. There was the game in Wrigley when Juan Acevedo blew Clemens' 1-0 lead on the first pitch in the 7th, and then there was the 16-inning game in Detroit in which his bullpen blew a big lead late. Every day he pitched he was the story of the night and finally when he got it in a victory over the Cardinals the Yankees showered him with a huge celebration and even gave him a Hummer. I bring this up because it seems not as big a deal was made about his last few starts in which he was going for 350. I don't think people realize what kind of an accomplishment this is. The Rocket is only the 8th person every to do it and Greg Maddux might reach it before his career is all said and done, but after that 350 wins is a number that we may NEVER see again in the game of baseball. Clemens is the ONLY pitcher ever to accomplish this feat since teams started routinely going to 5-man rotations in the mid 70's and reaching a number like that nowadays is near impossible. That's the same as seventeen 20-win seasons plus a 10-win season or twenty-three 15-win seasons plus a year with five. I was at the game last night and I gotta say that's one ticket stub worth keeping (and I thought Tony Clark's 3-home run game in Toronto was special).
Also of note: Last night was the fifth straight day in which the Yankees and Red Sox both got equal results. As New York Knicks' color commentator Clyde Frazier always says, you can ill-afford to trade baskets when you're behind.
Series resumes tonight at 7 E.T. Chien-Ming Wang will be going up against Carlos Silva.
There was a major cause for concern in the game, however, as Alex Rodriguez strained his hamstring after tripping over the ankle of Justin Morneau as he hustled down the first base line. Rodriguez would stay in the game for Posada's at bat which followed, but after advancing to second he surrendered to the hamstring injury and was taken out of the game. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. If it is, though, all the A-Rod naysayers will finally get to see how much better the Yankees will be with Miguel Cairo at third base.
I remember back in 2003 how big a deal was made when Clemens was stuck on 299 wins and attempted to get No. 300 several times. There was the game in Wrigley when Juan Acevedo blew Clemens' 1-0 lead on the first pitch in the 7th, and then there was the 16-inning game in Detroit in which his bullpen blew a big lead late. Every day he pitched he was the story of the night and finally when he got it in a victory over the Cardinals the Yankees showered him with a huge celebration and even gave him a Hummer. I bring this up because it seems not as big a deal was made about his last few starts in which he was going for 350. I don't think people realize what kind of an accomplishment this is. The Rocket is only the 8th person every to do it and Greg Maddux might reach it before his career is all said and done, but after that 350 wins is a number that we may NEVER see again in the game of baseball. Clemens is the ONLY pitcher ever to accomplish this feat since teams started routinely going to 5-man rotations in the mid 70's and reaching a number like that nowadays is near impossible. That's the same as seventeen 20-win seasons plus a 10-win season or twenty-three 15-win seasons plus a year with five. I was at the game last night and I gotta say that's one ticket stub worth keeping (and I thought Tony Clark's 3-home run game in Toronto was special).
Also of note: Last night was the fifth straight day in which the Yankees and Red Sox both got equal results. As New York Knicks' color commentator Clyde Frazier always says, you can ill-afford to trade baskets when you're behind.
Series resumes tonight at 7 E.T. Chien-Ming Wang will be going up against Carlos Silva.
