Clemens: Why isn’t he starting at Fenway?
May 30th, 2007 by Bill Burt
The airwaves and water coolers can’t get enough of this guy. He is a lightning rod, now more than ever.
Roger Clemens is pitching on Monday in Chicago rather than on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Boston.
I’ve heard everything from “wimp,” to “coddling,” to “he’s not ready.”
Being a Yankee, the first two characterizations are funny, but are they really true?
I don’t think so. The Yankees will bring Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte to face TimWakefield, Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett.
Does anybody think Clemens is more suited at this point in his money-induced comeback to pitch against the Red Sox in Fenway Park? I don’t think so.
Forget about the money. That doesn’t matter with the Yankees (read Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company newspapers on Friday). They don’t look at it as a waste. Their revenues are in the hundreds of millions. It doesn’t matter.
I think most Red Sox fans want to see Clemens get torched, which I’m guessing is a better than 50-50 proposition. They want blood.
I agree with the Yankees decision, though I wish they bit the bait.
I am interested in your opinions.
7 reader comments to “Clemens: Why isn’t he starting at Fenway?”
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1JB said:
I agree witcha - Wang, Mussina & Pettitte are the Yankee top 3. Clemens is somewhat of a gamble in games like these. He can come up big or throw a bat at Piazza. But geez, we’d all love to see it, and at this juncture, there’s maybe more of a need to throw some fuel into the Rivalry.
Nice writing by the way.
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3Blake said:
Hey Bill,
I thought you might be interested in Dave Stewart’s latest knock on Clemens… “The hype surrounding Roger’s return may be warranted, but I still think it’s a joke”…..
http://blog.nbx.com/2007/05/throwin_heat_6.html -
4Alex said:
I agree about Wang and Pettitte, both of whom have been good-to-very good this season, but Moose has struggled badly.
I believe his turn would be Sunday if he started five days after his last tuneup; it’s respectful to Pettitte, and basically irrelevant to anything else, to make Clemens wait one day.
But if the Yanks drop the first two games of the series, I wouldn’t be surprised if Steinbrenner forced Clemens in for Sunday.
As a Sox fan, I want Clemens here because it would be fun to boo him. I love booing people!
I’m making a sign to hold up during Damon’s at-bats that says “We miss you Trot.”
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5John said:
Bill,
We know the NYY Position players own the All-Star team, but if any of those top NYY Pitchers are on the All-Star team. It would be a complete joke.Keep up the bloggin……….
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6Ted said:
I paid $940 for four tickets to the Sox-Diamondbacks game on Sunday, June 10. If Wakefield gets the call for that game I will give those tickets to the first four homeless people I run into near Chase field. When will Francona realize that guy is a loser?
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7Steve said:
Well, now we know. He’s injured. Clemens should give back the money and go home.
