Roger Clemens had no-hit stuff last night, and hits did not do him in. Instead, a short attention span and a long delivery pushed The Rocket to a no-decision and further away from having a chance of winning the 300th game of his career this season.
In what would be a 4-3 Baltimore victory, Jorge Posada said Clemens “probably had the best [stuff] I’ve seen this year.” With a dominant fastball and split, Clemens got to two strikes on a stunning 22-of-28 batters, including Jeff Conine to both end the first and begin the second – he picked off Brian Roberts to close the opening inning with Conine batting. Clemens struck out 13, reaching double-digits in consecutive games for the first time since September 1998, when he was a Blue Jay.
Yet, Baltimore would manufacture two runs off Clemens. In the second inning, with runners on second and third, Clemens fell behind 3-0 on Gary Matthews, a lefty with whom he was unfamiliar. So he decided to issue an intentional walk to face righty Geronimo Gil.
Despite the darting nature of his split, Clemens had unleashed just two wild pitches before letting his mind prematurely drift to Gil. Clemens said, “I flat out lost concentration.” Intending to flip the ball to Posada, Clemens instead lobbed it way over Posada’s head to permit Jay Gibbons to score.
“I’ve seen it on bloopers, but it’s never happened to me before,” Posada said.
After Nick Johnson’s homer tied the score in the fifth, Clemens permitted a leadoff single in the sixth to Roberts, who would swipe second and third. Clemens, with his time-consuming leg drive, has had 14 steals against him, the AL high for a pitcher. By reaching third, Roberts was able to score on Gibbons’ two-out infield single.
Clemens would be taken off the hook ultimately, but wound up with a third straight no-decision after winning six straight starts. In winning 20 games last season, Clemens enjoyed wonderful run support and won games like last night’s.
But his 2002 record remained 7-2. He needs 20 wins to reach 300, which means he would have to win 13 of what will likely be 21 more starts, health permitting, to attain the milestone.
