Clemens’ comeback with ALPB’s Sugar Land Skeeters
Have you ever seen a 50-year-old pitch? Well, natives of Houston have. Amidst the Astros struggling season, the Sugar Land Skeeters – an independent minor league team and AAA equivalent – gave Roger Clemens the ball to start against Bridgeport Bluefish on Saturday night.
That isn’t a typo; it was the Roger Clemens, a man who hasn’t pitched for five years since retiring for the umpteenth time and is just two months removed from being cleared of lying to a grand jury.
Since the acquittal on June 19 he has largely stayed out of the spotlight, but he was right back in it at the weekend in a place he has felt most comfortable for the majority of his life. The Skeeters average over 6,000 fans a game and with The Rocket’s appearance that shot up to 7,724, creating quite an atmosphere.
Clemens threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, where he faced 11 batters and struck out two, including former major-leaguer Joey Gathright. He allowed one hit without a walk and threw 37 pitches.
Facing batters much younger than him, Clemens showed decent velocity, maxing out at 87mph and showed good command with his hard splitter. The performance was good enough to impress scouts from both the Royals and Astros, who were on hand to witness the comeback.
Although the speculation will now be about whether this is the start of a near impossible return to the major leagues, Clemens was quick to state he hasn’t really thought about the huge step up and was simply happy to be on the mound again.
The real test is how the record seven-time Cy Young Award winner recovers from this stint. Clemens will be icing his body for some time after this and hopes to pitch again for the Skeeters if all goes to plan.
The Rocket agreed to join the Skeeters last Monday after throwing a simulated game for team officials, whom he impressed. Considering Clemens’ lack of live pitching before his work with the minor league club, it is a positive sign that he has been able to work twice in one week.
Sugar Land manager Gary Gaetti was impressed with the pitchers outing after such a long layoff and admitted he was a little worried about the proposition considering Clemens’ age and length of time out of the game.
With the Astros moving to the American League next season, it would be a fairytale story for Clemens to return to Houston with the opportunity to face the Yankees, another team he represented for years during his illustrious career.
The 11-time All Star, who is third all time on the strikeout list with 4,672, is someone who can make it a reality.
(Picture: Keith Allison – http://www.flickr.com/people/keithallison)
