Major League Baseball
NLCS: Houston will sit Roger Clemens for Game 6

By Evan Grant
The Dallas Morning News

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ST. LOUIS — Say this for Houston manager Phil Garner: He won't make the same mistake twice. At least not in 10 days.

With the Astros one win from the first World Series berth in franchise history, Garner resisted the temptation of turning to future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to start Game 6 of the National League Championship Series today on less-than-desirable three days of rest. Instead, Garner said journeyman Pete Munro will start.

Clemens, who threw 116 pitches in seven innings in winning Game 3 on Saturday, would pitch Game 7, if necessary.

"I think the best way for us to go is with Pete," Garner said yesterday. "There are a lot of factors, but, yes, the three days of rest was a factor. It weighed heavily."

Garner has already asked Clemens to pitch once on three days' rest in the postseason, and the domino effect nearly derailed the Astros.

Leading 2-1 in the best-of-five Division Series against Atlanta, Garner brought Clemens back. He struggled through five innings but allowed only two runs. The middle of the bullpen, however, could not protect a lead, and Houston lost the game.

The Astros then had to go back to Atlanta for Game 5 with Roy Oswalt pitching on short rest. They won, but it also left Houston with rookie Brandon Backe and Munro to start the first two games of the NLCS while Clemens and Oswalt watched from the dugout. The Astros lost the first two games.

Clemens and Garner said some of the pitcher's Game 4 struggles could be attributed to the aftermath of a stomach virus, but Clemens has rarely pitched on short rest at this stage of his career.

And when he has, the results have been poor. Counting the game against Atlanta, Clemens has done it only four times (twice in the regular season) in the last 10 years. In those games, he was 1-2 with a 7.84 earned-run average.

"Perhaps there were mitigating circumstances, but I did see a difference," Garner said. "He hit the wall quicker. Asking a player at his age (42) who is as intense as he is to come back and do that on three days' rest is just asking a little bit too much. ... The numbers don't suggest (bringing a starter back on three days' rest) works."
 
The way the Astros' rotation is set up, Clemens would be available on regular rest for Game 7, or to start Game 1 of the World Series. Oswalt could then start Game 2, with Backe available for Game 3 in Houston, where the team is 6-0 when he starts.

Munro, with 13 career wins, was overwhelmed when Garner told him, on the team's flight, that he would start today.

"This is just another chance for me to prove myself," Munro said. "I understand that they'd rather face me than Roger. Hey, I'd rather face me than Roger."