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Yankees vs. A's |
Mariners vs. White Sox |
Braves vs. Cardinals |
Mets vs. Giants
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Monday, October 9
Yankees can't count on Clemens
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Once again, Roger Clemens came up small in a big
October moment.
With a chance to close out the young Oakland Athletics, Clemens
put New York in an early hole and sent the Yankees on an unwanted
cross-country trip with a 11-1 loss in Game 4 of the AL Division
Series on Saturday night.
Clemens, who also lost the opener of the best-of-5 series,
gave up a three-run homer to Olmedo Saenz in the first inning and
was knocked out in the sixth as the Yankees missed a chance to move
on to the AL Championship Series against Seattle.
Clemens, the only five-time Cy Young winner in baseball history,
has pitched nothing like it in the postseason. He allowed six runs,
six hits and four walks in five-plus innings, dropping to 3-5 with
a 4.32 ERA in 14 postseason starts.
He did pitch the clinching games in last year's AL Division
Series against Texas and the World Series against Atlanta, but
those series were already in hand before Clemens took the mound.
This series was not, and the Yankees needed a win to avoid an
overnight flight before a deciding game in Oakland on Sunday.
Pitching on three days' rest for the first time in seven years,
Clemens struggled from the outset against a patient A's team.
The Rocket walked Terrence Long on four pitches opening the game
and walked the dangerous Jason Giambi on a 3-1 pitch with one out.
Clemens tried to sneak a first-pitch fastball past Saenz, who
turned on it and hit a no-doubt shot into the left-field seats to
put Oakland in control early.
Clemens stared blankly ahead, waiting for a new ball, as Saenz
rounded the bases.
Clemens struggled in the second and third but escaped two-on
jams, then settled down in the middle of the game, retiring nine
straight batters from the third through the fifth.
Then, perhaps tired because of the short rest, Clemens allowed a
leadoff single in the sixth to Eric Chavez and a double to Miguel
Tejada.
Ben Grieve followed with a two-run single to make it 5-0,
sending Clemens to the showers with a mixture of cheers and boos
from a crowd that still hasn't fully accepted him as one of their
own.
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