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May 24, 2007

Clemens: Not Up To Speed

According to an ESPN graphic during last night's game, Roger Clemens, in his decidedly mediocre start against the Red Sox's AA club (5.1-6-3-4-5, 102), threw 57 fastballs.

Average speed? 89 mph. Average.

Clemens walked three Sea Dogs in a 30-pitch first inning. Four of the six hits he allowed were for extra bases, including two doubles by Jed Lowrie. (box)

Portland's Clay Buchholz pitched much better (6-7-2-0-8), but the Sea Dogs lost the game 4-3 in 10 innings.

It's up to Fat Billy to decide whether he needs another minor league start or if he's ready to join the Yankees next week.

15 comments:

  1. any word about Gabbard pitching again? I thought he did an excellent job the other night. Nice to see a mean curveball on our side.

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  2. I haven't seen anything.

    The day off today lets them skip the 5 spot, so we've got Dice, Wake and Lips in Texas -- and back to Curt on Monday against Cleveland at home.

    The next night is the the 29th -- Beckett's supposed return.

    Gabbard was sent down on the 20th, so he couldn't be brought up for the 29th, barring a DL move (he has to stay in Paw at least 10 days).

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  3. ironic that he's probably on speed, and not up to speed.

    From progressiveboink.net's preview of the 2004 playoffs (http://progressiveboink.com/archive/playoffpreview.htm):

    "Coming to Atlanta, though, is the hottest team in the major leagues, the Houston Astros. An interesting fact about the Houston Astros is that their stadium was originally named Enron Field, and they scrambled shortly thereafter to rename the park for obvious reasons. The Astros' greatest asset is likely Roger Clemens. An interesting fact about Roger Clemens is that he is a shithead and I want him to die."

    My thoughts exactly.

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  4. There's a nice article in the Herald about Buchholz's outpitching of Clemens last night.

    Forget where I read this, but someone's suggested nicknaming Buchholz "Scud Buster" since he shot down the "Rocket". I'm still trying to decide whether that is awesome or terrible.

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  5. Jackie, no worse than Schilling calling his rottweiller "Patton."

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  6. AP's now saying he'll do another minor league start.

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  7. Adorable but terrible. I think we'll be running out of rocket-destroying nicknames if everyone who pitches against TCM gets one.

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  8. Too much emphasis is being put on speed. 89 now will probably turn into 90 or so by the time he's back. Did you check out schillings readings last night? Around 90. The less speed, the more a pitcher relies on location. Schilling didn't have it and got rocked.

    The same will happen with clemens if he doesn't have his control. But if he does, he can pitch 90 and be successful, just as curt can. The margin for error is just much less.

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  9. Okay random fact. If you look at the Red Sox series wins and losses it looks like:
    WLSWWWLWWSWWWWWL
    While the Mets series wins and losses looks like:
    WLWSWWLWWLWWWWWL
    Yes they line up perfectly. (S means split). I know it's coincidence but thought it was interesting.

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  10. argh, cant go another day without beisbol!

    dice-k tonight, should be a good'ern eh.

    i really hope clemens comes back for the series in T.O. - that way i can head down and personally see him get tuned.

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  11. Wow, so for every series the Sox and Mets have played, if you throw out both results when one of the two split, they've done the exact same thing. In order. For 13 series. I'm headed to retrosheet to see how far back this goes...

    Okay, going backwards from the end of '06, not including playoffs:

    Mets: WLLSL

    Sox: WSLLW

    Throwing out the times one team split, there are two more there. So, it's 15 in a row. This is all assuming Brett's calculations are correct.

    Or, if you consider a split to be a "didn't win" or a "didn't lose," depending on what the other team did in their corresponding series, you can say, "The Mets and the Red Sox both have done the same thing (haven't won or haven't lost) in the same order over each of their last 18 series. Amazin'. Redsock: first time in history? Let me know withint he hour, please:)

    Let's go Mets! WWWWWWWWW

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  12. I should've started that last comment with "check out the big brain on Brett!" Damn.

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  13. Redsock: first time in history?

    Sure, why not?

    :>/

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  14. I think I actually feel most reassured on the days that Matsuzaka and Tavarez are starting these days. Even though in the second case, I understand with the rational part of my brain that the good times can't last.

    Weird.

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  15. I should've started that last comment with "check out the big brain on Brett!" Damn.

    And I would've followed it with "What does Terry Francona look like?!"

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