from the New York Times
July 24, 2001
YANKEES 7, BLUE JAYS 2
By BUSTER OLNEY
David Wells was New York's favorite son when he departed and Roger Clemens was the ugly stepchild when he arrived. Clemens was treated like hired help at Yankee Stadium: appropriate applause when he won, vociferous boos when he struggled, a simple and cold business arrangement.
But when Clemens passed Tom Seaver for fourth place on the career strikeout list at Yankee Stadium last night, the cheers lingered and swelled, and Clemens's eyes filled with tears. Clemens is creating a thick Yankee chapter in his career, the response warming.
Clemens has a 14-1 record after the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2, just 12 days shy of his 39th birthday. Tino Martinez hit his 250th homer, one of four homers and seven extra-base hits by the Yankees, and when Clemens walked off the mound in the seventh inning, Martinez and the other infielders watched and listened, the crowd honoring him again.
"He deserved that," Martinez said. "He's obviously done things very few people have ever done."
Clemens, in his third season with the Yankees, is probably the leading candidate to win the American League Cy Young award. It would be his sixth; he is the only pitcher to have won five. Clemens has pitched well and consistently this season, throwing into the sixth inning in each of his starts, and, as his teammate Andy Pettitte said, everything has come together for him, a confluence of circumstance.
The Yankees' sluggish offense somehow always seems to generate a generous portion of runs for Clemens in a manner that almost defies statistical convention. The Yankees have scored four or more runs for Clemens in 14 of his 22 starts. When Mike Mussina has pitched, they have scored three runs or fewer in 15 of his 21 starts.
Mariano Rivera has blown four saves in 36 chances this year, but not in a game pitched by Clemens. The Yankees' defense has allowed 10 unearned runs in Pettitte's starts, six when Mussina has pitched, but just five for Clemens. His 14-1 record is his best since he won his first 14 decisions for Boston in 1986.
He and Seaver played together part of that season, when Clemens was just becoming a star and Seaver was in the final year of his career. Clemens was impressed by how Seaver would suddenly pump up his fastball with two strikes, and Seaver was immediately struck by Clemens's raw physical power and intensity. Seaver reminisced this spring and mentioned how remarkable it was that Clemens had managed to remain a power pitcher.
Clemens struck out four batters in the first two innings last night, confusing the Toronto hitters by throwing his slider — rather than his fastball — early in the count, before finishing with his fastball. He whipped a 95-mile-an-hour fastball to whiff Brad Fullmer at the end of the second inning.
Clemens struck out Cesar Izturis to finish the third, and Yankees catcher Jorge Posada rolled the ball back to the mound, not realizing the significance of that particular strikeout. It was No. 3,640, the one that tied Clemens with Seaver, and as the fielders ran off, Derek Jeter noticed the first base coach Lee Mazzilli gesturing frantically. Jeter stopped and retrieved the ball and presented it to Clemens on the steps of the dugout, the crowd cheering. Clemens intends to ask Seaver to autograph that baseball.
The Yankees (58-41) scored four runs in the first inning off Steve Parris (4-6) with four extra-base hits — doubles by Chuck Knoblauch and Posada, home runs by Martinez and Paul O'Neill. Later, Posada and Shane Spencer slugged home runs as the Yankees went deep four times for the second straight game.
Clemens had only one two-ball count in retiring the first nine hitters, and he got ahead in the count, no balls and two strikes, against Jose Cruz Jr. leading off the fourth inning. Clemens threw a forkball in the dirt and Cruz swung, and Posada began throwing the ball around the infield as Elton John's "Rocket Man" played on the public address system, in response to what was presumed to be strikeout No. 3,641.
But home plate umpire Charlie Reliford went rushing out in front of the plate amid the din, signaling with a swipe of one hand against the other that Cruz had fouled the pitch. The at-bat continued and Cruz chopped a grounder up the first base line, where Martinez deftly fielded the ball for the 10th consecutive out. Alex Gonzalez homered and Clemens battled to get through that inning without allowing any more hits, strikeout No. 3,641 still eluding him.
Luis Lopez led off the fifth for the Blue Jays and with an 0-2 count, Clemens pumped a 96-m.p.h. fastball over the outside corner. Reliford pumped his arms, calling out Lopez. The ball went around the infield again, "Rocket Man" was played in its entirety, and the fans cheered.
And they cheered. And cheered. Clemens quickly saluted the pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and Manager Joe Torre, and raised his glove hand in quick acknowledgment of the fans.
The cheering continued. "It wouldn't go away," Torre said. "It stayed there."
Emotion covering his face, Clemens raised his bare hand. More cheers. "It took me aback a little bit," Clemens said. "It was loud, and it continued."
Clemens bent forward and gestured with two hands toward Posada, as if to say, "Let's go." The cheering went on after the half-inning was over, fans chanting Clemens's first name while teammates congratulated him in front of the dugout and inside it.
Clemens, who finished with eight strikeouts for 3,643, pitched into the seventh inning and after he surrendered a two-out single, Torre went out to replace him. Clemens handed the ball over, the crowd reacting again.
"He's a Yankee," third baseman Scott Brosius said. "You show up there and you do all the work, like he has, and you make all your starts. He's a Yankee out there."
