Major League Baseball
'Rocket' returns to Seattle

By Larry Stone
Seattle Times staff reporter

JED JACOBSOHN / GETTY IMAGES Roger Clemens is 8-0 with the Astros.

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He has made history against them, striking out 20 Mariners back when Ronald Reagan was president.

He has broken their hearts in the playoffs, whizzing a pitch at Alex Rodriguez's head, then completing an utterly dominant one-hit, 15-strikeout shutout victory for the Yankees in Game 4 of the 2000 American League Championship Series.

He has beaten the M's more times than any pitcher in the major leagues — 22 victories and, it turns out, counting.

Roger Clemens is in the midst of constructing one of the most amazing seasons in baseball history. Once again the game's best pitcher at age 41, he is back in town.

He will start tomorrow for the Astros at Safeco Field, and if both past and current history are any indication, he will do something special.

"When he's on, he can be tough on anybody," said Edgar Martinez. "And he was on 20-plus times against us."

The Mariners (who, it should be pointed out, also have beaten Clemens 14 times) thought like the rest of baseball they finally were done with The Rocket, called by Seattle pitching coach Bryan Price "the perfectly rounded, crafted pitcher."

Clemens retired after last year, then abruptly unretired, coaxed back before he ever really left by the chance to play at home with the Astros with his old Yankees buddy, Andy Pettitte.

It hasn't been a sentimental publicity stunt, either. Clemens, already possessing a record six Cy Young Awards, has been the majors' most dominant pitcher with his 8-0 record, 2.27 earned-run average, .198 opponents' batting average and 81 strikeouts in 71-1/3 innings.
 
In Houston, where the Astros are under .500 in games Clemens doesn't get a decision, his home appearances are an event. And so, as surely will be the case tomorrow, have they become on the road, though part of Clemens' arrangement for coming back was permission to skip certain road trips when he wasn't scheduled to pitch.

"The only thing close to a buzz like this in Houston was when we acquired Randy Johnson," said Gerry Hunsicker, the Astros' general manager. "Those were different circumstances. Johnson was a dramatic in-season trade; we already had a good team in first place and were likely on the way to winning the division.

"This time, it was the blockbuster offseason move, and not only adding a premium pitcher that was viewed as the proverbial missing piece on our team, but a Houstonian and fellow Texan. The relationship that created with the fans is extra special."

Clemens' spotless record (which foretells what could be an uproarious All-Star start in none other than Houston's Minute Maid Park, possibly pitching to nemesis Mike Piazza), doesn't even take into account his May 16 start against the Mets, in which he allowed two hits over seven shutout innings while striking out 10, or his May 28 start against the Cardinals, in which he allowed one run over six innings and fanned 11.

Both were no-decisions, or he could be toting a 10-0 record — reminiscent of his 14-0 start in 1986, his 11-0 start in 1997 and his 20 consecutive victories at the end of 1998 and the beginning of '99.

Clemens' 20-strikeout game at Fenway Park on April 29, 1986, at the age of 23, was the first indication that this hard-throwing right-hander out of the University of Texas had the stuff of legends. But to Mariners announcer Dave Henderson, who played center field that night for the M's and whiffed three times, it was all about stuff, period.

"It was early in his career, and one of those things where he was overthrowing," Henderson recalled. "He normally threw 95, 96 mph. When a pitcher overthrows, 98 or whatever, you get a little wild. He didn't. He hit the black, and once an umpire gets into him hitting the black, the plate expands.

"When you've got a guy throwing 97, 98 on the black, you're going to strike out a lot of hitters. We were a strikeout team anyway. You face a top strikeout pitcher that normally gets 12 to 14 strikeouts anyway, you add in the fact we weren't going well, it adds up to 20 strikeouts."

Henderson became teammates with Clemens later that season after a trade to Boston, making Red Sox history with his season-saving homer off Anaheim's Donnie Moore in the ALCS, then enduring their excruciating Game 6 (and Game 7) loss to the Mets in the World Series.

What kind of teammate was Clemens?

"It was easy to go up there and hit when he was on the mound, because you knew you weren't going to get thrown at," said Henderson with a laugh. "I think he's let everyone in the league know you don't throw at my hitters when I'm on the mound. That lets you go out there and really perform highly for a pitcher."

Clemens' intimidation is legendary, topped in recent times perhaps only by that of Dave Stewart, who famously seemed to have Clemens psyched out. Stewart and Clemens went head-to-head 10 times from 1986, when Stewart joined the A's rotation, through Stewart's retirement after the 1995 season. In those games, Stewart had a 10-0 record, including three 1-0 victories and two postseason wins. Stewart had a 1.56 ERA against Clemens, while Clemens had a 5.09 ERA against Stewart.

Clemens is also renowned for his rigorous training regimen, into which he indoctrinated Pettitte and undergoes to this day.

"From the first day, this guy is off the charts as far as preparation," Hunsicker said. "His organizational skills ... I've never been around anyone as structured or more disciplined than he is. He has every hour of every day mapped out."

Toronto's Pat Hentgen witnessed that preparation during Clemens' two seasons with the Blue Jays, 1997-98.

"He led by example with what he did every fifth day," said Hentgen last week when the Jays were in Seattle. "And the days in between, the side days, he taught me a lot about getting good quality sides in, and not just going through the motions. He taught me to practice my mind in between starts, and not just go out there and practice physically."

Added Hentgen: "I used to tease him all the time because his fastball and forkball, the years he was with us, were just electric. I used to tell him, your changeup is my fastball, man. I said, 'Why don't you try to take my stuff out there and win games?'

"When you add in the fact he has pinpoint control — pinpoint control makes good pitchers great, and makes great pitchers the ultimate. That's what it did for Roger."

And now the ultimate pitcher is back in Seattle one more time, trying to make life miserable for the Mariners yet again.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com