YANKEE NOTES
It sure sounds as if Roger Clemens is not going to pitch again until after the All-Star break.
There was nothing official or committal from the Yankees last night, but it was not difficult to connect the dots while listening to Joe Torre. The team has no intention of taking anything resembling a gamble with their 39-year-old pitcher, slowed by a sore right leg.
“The whole thing is his health,” Torre said prior to the Yankees’ 11-8 victory over the Indians. “We can’t have him go out there and be a hero, especially when we’re not up against it. We relied on him too many times when we had nobody else to pitch, but we have other people.”
Clemens is supposed to start on Sunday against the Blue Jays in the final game before the All-Star break. If he cannot make that start, Torre said Ted Lilly would get the call and Clemens would likely start July 11 in Cleveland, the first game after the break.
“I don’t think I missed [a start] yet this year, so hopefully I won’t,” said Clemens, who has just one win in his last eight starts and a 7.09 ERA in his last four games.
Clemens never wants to miss a start. Battling Tuesday night against the Indians in 95-degree heat, Clemens lasted only five innings and 74 pitches before giving way to a right leg that cramped up. It is the same leg that Clemens hurt while running the bases against the Mets.
“It’s not bad, not bad at all, actually,” he said. “I think it’s a little tired, that’s it.”
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Mariano Rivera, pitching for the first time in six days, picked up his 20th save and has converted his last 15 save opportunities without allowing a run (16 innings) . . . Yankees are 11-0 vs. AL Central teams.
Smart move by Torre. After Boston’s Pedro Martinez decided not to go to All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Torre opted to replace him with another member of the Red Sox. Torre yesterday named reliever Ugueth Urbina to replace Martinez. Why get the Red Sox all hot and bothered about any slight, real or imagined?
Raul Mondesi was 1-for-4 in his second game with the Yankees . . . Jack Nicholson, in town to film his new movie, “Anger Management,” was at the game, sitting in the first row, directly behind the plate.
