According to Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens rescued the Yankees when he surfaced in June. Now, the Dead Bat Society is begging the likely Hall of Fame lock to do it again tonight in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Indians at Yankee Stadium to avoid being carted out in pinstriped body bags.
Though Clemens went a pedestrian 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA and has pitched twice in the final month due to foot, elbow and hamstring problems, Mussina said he believes Clemens got the Yankees to October.
“He saved the season,” Mussina said of Clemens, who starts tonight with the Yankees nine innings away from being finished since they are down 0-2 in the best-of-five affair. “He put a stop to the fact that we didn’t know what we were getting.”
Mussina was right, because Clemens ended the uneven parade of Kei Igawa, Tyler Clippard, Matt DeSalvo, Jeff Karstens and Chase Wright. Now the stakes are higher. If Clemens doesn’t give the Yankees a chance and their hitters fail to make adjustments, as they failed to in the first two games, they are 3D – definitely done dancing – and change will be everywhere in their universe.
Joe Torre, who avoided George Steinbrenner’s axe a year ago, is likely gone if the Yankees don’t get off the canvas and advance to the ALCS. Even that might not be enough. Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera will be free agents. Alex Rodriguez, in the middle of another October funk (0-for-6; 3 Ks), is expected to become a free agent, and Andy Pettitte holds a $16 million option. The club has a $16 million option on Bobby Abreu.
Can a 45-year-old pitcher with a balky hamstring who has pitched 10 innings in the past five weeks save a season and force a Game 4 tomorrow night? Clemens can.
“Whatever it takes to get it done,” Clemens said. “I’ve got to get the ball to somebody on Monday (Game 4). That’s the bottom line.”
On top of the hamstring, which likely will be wrapped tighter than the Yankees hitters, Clemens will pitch in front of a lineup that has been awful in the two losses. Yankees hitters, who are allergic to power pitchers who pound inside, are batting an embarrassing .121 (8-for-66) and are 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Though Jake Westbrook doesn’t have the velocity or filthiness of C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, each of whom pushed the speed guns to 96 mph in Games 1 and 2, recent history indicates when the Yankees bats enter the cooler they don’t thaw out immediately.
“We have been trying to keep everybody loose, but unfortunately the Cleveland pitchers have been tightening them up pretty good,” said Torre, who adopted the less is more theory yesterday when he canceled a Yankee Stadium workout and let his anemic hitters rest instead of hack. “The only thing you have to concentrate on now is winning (tonight) and get the momentum switched around a little bit. Roger, of course, is certainly capable. He feels good and we feel good about him. Obviously, you have to win three games, but if you think that way it becomes a real huge task.
“But the fact that we’ve been inside this foxhole before this year, so it’s something that I don’t want to say comfortable, but we have done this before.”
Now they are turning to an antique with body parts that aren’t 100 percent and begging Clemens to save their season for a second time in a little over four months. It might be too much to ask if the Dead Bat Society doesn’t disband for the evening.