HOUSTON – The handshake is as firm as ever. Roger Clemens still carries himself in that John Wayne kind of way.
The man who was built for pinstripes is home now but his thoughts are never that far removed from New York.
“I’ve got to give Jorgie a call later,” Clemens said last night of Jorge Posada, who suffered a broken nose Wednesday. “I want to call Rob Thomson, too and see how he’s doing.”
Thomson, a Yankee coach, had his jaw broken the other day when a baseball ricocheted and hit him during a session in the batting cage.
The baseball world knows how Clemens, 41, is doing as he continues to build on The Legend of Rocket. He is the best story of the season.
The man who is 7-0 with a 1.99 ERA is on his way to his seventh Cy Young Award and New York will get a close-up view of Clemens Sunday when the Mets come to Minute Maid Park. The game within the game will be Clemens pitching to Mike Piazza, but don’t let the hype of that moment take away from what Clemens has accomplished in his Houston homecoming.
If Clemens’ ERA numbers hold, Cy Young would be the only pitcher to post a lower ERA after his 41st birthday. Only two pitchers, Young and Warren Spahn have posted 20-win seasons after the age of 41.
“It’s going good,” Clemens said as he made his way from the Astros clubhouse to the field. It’s going a lot better than good. Clemens has never been better.
But this isn’t about numbers. Clemens has not just delivered wins. Along with his good buddy Andy Pettitte, he has given these Astros a backbone. That is something that cannot be measured by numbers.
It remains to be seen if the Yankees will find their way back to the World Series without Roger and Andy, the mound version of Butch and Sundance. In the last nine games danger signs have been posted.
The Yankees have won six of those games but opponents are averaging 5.7 runs over that span. At this time last year, Clemens, Pettitte and David Wells were a combined 14-5 for Joe Torre.
Jack McKeon, manager of the World Champion Marlins, has noticed the difference. “The Yankees definitely miss him,” McKeon said last night.
McKeon’s Marlins were beaten by Clemens, 6-1 on Tuesday. McKeon has seen much in his 50-plus years in baseball, but he hasn’t seen many better pitching performances than the one Clemens put together that night. “He’s pitching as good as I’ve ever seen him pitch,” McKeon said. “He’s pitching better now than he did during the World Series.”
You can be sure that come All-Star time, McKeon will name Clemens the National League hometown starter.
“He gives the Astros an aura,” McKeon said. “He’s energized this whole city, the fans are alive. He’s going to make this a tough team. This is the best team we’ve seen so far this year.”
There is a pitching energy the Yankees now lack.
Trader Jack said the Astros’ pickup of Clemens for a mere $5 million, most of it deferred money, “is the best move I’ve seen a club make in years.
“You hope these young guys learn from this guy,” McKeon said of his young pitchers. “The way he goes about his work, his demeanor on the mound, he never gives in, he’s got a plan, he’s always got a plan.”
Right now that plan is getting the Astros to October.
On Wednesday Clemens and Pettitte received their American League Championship rings. Clemens won two World Championship rings with the Yankees.
“It’s not the one we were looking for,” Clemens told reporters, “but I’m still proud of that ring. Once you have a taste for it, once you win your final game and you walk off that field and you’re a champion, you want more of that.”
Champions never rest – even when they go home.