Clemens is Ready

[BS007]

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/r ... dy?mode=PF

Feisty Clemens says he's ready
He's sharp in start -- and with media
By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff | May 29, 2007

MOOSIC, Pa. -- As he signed autographs for more than 45 minutes outside of PNC Field last night, the man who is perhaps the greatest pitcher of his generation said he very much would like to start against the Red Sox this weekend. The reality is that he probably won't start until Monday against the White Sox in Chicago.

What are the Yankees saving Roger Clemens for? Are they trying to protect his future? He's almost 45 years old and he did last night to the Triple A Toledo Mud Hens what he probably could do to the Toronto Blue Jays. Clemens, in what stands to be his final minor league tuneup, allowed two hits and two walks over six innings, striking out six and looking very much ready to join a Yankee rotation that must have him soon.

"Who wouldn't want to pitch against the team that we have to beat to get to where we want to go?" said Clemens after the 2-0 victory for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. "I'd love to pitch in Boston, but that's not my decision.

"I know that people have written that it's my call, but it's not my call. The Yankees have people who evaluate me every time I go out there, and the last time, they decided I needed another start here. So I don't know what to say anymore about that except I think I'm ready.

"I want to get up there and be with my teammates and help us win. We have the greater part of the schedule to go. I'm not the only part of this, but I'd like to see if we can get our staff together and see if we can't turn this thing around."

Yankees pitching coordinator Billy Connors said he spoke to general manager Brian Cashman after the game and declared Clemens ready. Special adviser Gene Michael was also in attendance on a beautiful Memorial Day night at PNC Field, where Clemens received a standing ovation after he mesmerized Mud Hen hitters with an array of offspeed pitches and a curveball similar to the one he had as a young pitcher with Boston. He threw between 89 and 91 miles per hour, and he suspects his velocity will return to the mid-90s as he pitches more.

While he wouldn't say it, he hinted strongly that he was ready to pitch for the Yankees in Toronto last night, and it was clear after he pitched that he could have.

The protection of Clemens by the Yankee brass has been odd considering that he simply worked on his repertoire in his previous outing, at Double A Trenton last Wednesday, and wasn't trying to win the game.

Clemens was still saying nice things about Boston last night, even though it was clear the Red Sox didn't feel the urgency to sign him this year that they did last year.

Asked if he felt the Sox weren't as intense this time, Clemens said, "I don't know that. I just listened to what [agent] Randy Hendricks had to say. Obviously, they're stacked.

"Like I said, if they stay healthy, they're going to be tough to beat.

"You know I'm looking forward to coming up there because I have a lot of friends there that I want to see. I've had a chance to talk to [Curt] Schilling, and one guy I haven't seen for a while is Wake [Tim Wakefield], who I love.

"He's a good, good man and we had a lot of fun when I was there. I know he's got a big charitable thing going on there, and I just think the world of him. I enjoyed being his teammate then and I would have loved being his teammate again.

"But it didn't work out for reasons that I think were business. Like I said, I've always put that business stuff in Randy and Alan's hands, and I rely on them to let me know."

Does he feel time is running out?

"I would never feel that way," he said.

Clemens became a little animated in response to a couple of questions, one of which had to do with the perception that he's a mercenary.

"If I worried about what people thought and said, I would have had trouble staying in this game for as long as I have," he said. "Comments that people make that are not in the know don't affect me one bit. They do affect my family.

"It doesn't pertain to anything I'm trying to do right now. When I did the press conference in New York, I think I stated fairly clearly, if you were paying attention, the different comments that were made by certain teammates that I've worked with here and won championships with here, I heard them loud and clear."

Clemens ended his press conference by pounding the table and walking off when he was asked by a local reporter about some of the negative things that have been written about his comeback. In reality, there hasn't been a lot of negative press, but it seemed to strike a chord with Clemens.

"If you want to be negative, be negative -- I'm not a negative person," he said. "You be negative as much as you want. If I stink and I don't pitch well out there, I know I stink. I don't need you tell me that.

"I have pride in what I do. I'll pull my heart out and set it right there for you to see it. I got that from my mother, so if you want to write and these other people want to write negative . . . everything has to be negative these days.

"I've always been positive in my life. It won't end. I don't want to be around negative people. So I won't associate myself with those people. So if it makes you feel good to write negative stuff, then go ahead, but you've never been in the arena.

"People read your column and associate things with me that are not true. I'll answer it as honestly as I can so that 10-year-old, when he reads about it, won't assume things. You can tell how passionate I am about it. OK?"

Roger. Over and out.

[34Celtic]

Hopefully Rober will have some impact on cough cough Giambi cough cough Abreu cough cough Cano cough cough Matsui.....actually Abreu is the only one who has completely sucked lately, the other three could use to pick it up.

[Jose7]

How come he isnt pitching against Boston?

You guys paying him 100M to pitch against the frigging White Sox?

[Rondo_Fan]

Duh.

Roger's not pitching against Boston because the Yankees are afraid he'll lose.

Let's not overanalyze this.

[34Celtic]

No beacause the Yankees don't wanna push back Pettitte because he has been their most solid pitcher this season. And you know how Mussina is about his routine, break off it and god forbid. I love how people get so much joy out of hating the Yankees, pretty funny...


On a side note, Roid user should be back tonight in the Mets pen

[Jose7]

Pretty acquard, mentoining steroids without Roger Clemens' name in the same thread.......

[34Celtic]

[quote="Jose7

[34Celtic]

Let me rephrase that, i'm not going to get all gungho about getting on a guy for using steroids, they cheated a system Bud fell in love with after MAck and Sammy saved baseball

[Rondo_Fan]

I still think that the Yankees are afraid he'll lose.

Call it the "Team Meeting Theory". Some managers say that you should never call a team meeting, because if you do and it doesn't work, then what? Roger getting beat by Boston would be like calling a team meeting that didn't work. The Yankees don't want to have their last card trumped just yet.

[34Celtic]

I still think that the Yankees are afraid he'll lose.

Call it the "Team Meeting Theory". Some managers say that you should never call a team meeting, because if you do and it doesn't work, then what? Roger getting beat by Boston would be like calling a team meeting that didn't work. The Yankees don't want to have their last card trumped just yet.

I'll call it the chances are you're wrong theory.