From: kbos@carina.unm.edu (Kurt Bose "of Biscayzee")
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: More Rocket Bashing
Date: 31 Jul 92 08:19:49 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico

In article <29JUL92.21531172@vax.clarku.edu> hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu writes:
>Yes, Roger Clemens is probably the best pitcher in baseball -- during
>the regular season.  Stop me if I'm wrong, stat fiends, but I consider
>his post-season performance to be underwhelming.  If he pitched in
>October against a championship team the way he pitches, say, in April
>against the Mariners, I doubt that the year 1918 would hold such
>dismal significance for Red Sox fans.
>
Er...right.  Lots of great players don't even GET to the World Series.  But I'm
sure Bill Buckner is happy that you think Clemens blew the '86 World Series.

Now, I decided to go back and look up Roger's underwhelmingness.  To wit:

1986 1-1, 34 IP, 15 ER, 3.97 ERA.  Not too good.  BUT, Roger's ERA in the WS
that year was 3.18.  Against a team that scored 4.83 runs per game in the
regular season.  WITH a pitcher batting.  That's NOT bad.  It's actually like
a regular season ERA of 2.75.  And of those two games, the Red Sox won the
first and should have won the second (the Buckner game).  Roger's "psychotic"
nature did nothing to hurt his team in '86.

In '88, he only got one chance, and the Red Sox were in it until the ninth, when
Lee Smith lost the game for them.  No, it wasn't Clemens's runner, as he had
left the game in the seventh, and it was only one inning that hurt him.  It was
also expected that the A's would roll in 4, which they did.

In '90, Clemens did well in game 1 (it was the pen that lost it).  Game 4, well,
was game 4.  I won't get into that.  Clemens said the magic word; Cooney was
being adversarial.  Take whichever position you want; the fact still remains
that Stewart shut the Sox down that day.  I believe the runs had already 
scored; Clemens's temper had s**t to do with whether or not the Sox won that
game.  In fact, the ejection *should* have stirred the Sox up to win.

Total playoff performance:

1-2, 48.2 IP, 21 ER, 3.88 ERA.  Underwhelming?  Only when compared to himself.
Whitey Ford was only 10-8 in World Series play, but he's had the best series
in the playoffs in history.  Bob Gibson?  Sure, you can argue for him, but
he lost Game 7 in 1968 (Clemens's teammates never GOT Clemens to a game 7.), 
and had to rely on seven runs by his teammates to win in 1964.

Run totals, playoffs, St. Louis 1964,67,68

3,4,7,2,6,7,4,10,1 for 4.89 Run/9 support.  In the 1960s.
The 3 and 1 were losses, all others were wins.

Run support, playoffs, Boston 1986,88,90

1,3,8,9,5,3,1,1 for 3.88 Run/9 support.

The 8 was a win, the 9 should have been;Game 2, 86 WS - was Clemens hurt?
The 5 also should have been (it was the Buckner game).  If not for this,
Clemens would be 3-2 with 2 no-decisions, and would own a ring.  Would you
be decrying his pressure play then?  

>My prediction is that, unless Rocket Roger somehow gains the
>ability to deal with pressure, he will never get a World Series
>ring.

My prediction is that, unless Rocket Roger somehow gains the
ability to get teammates who are capable of scoring for him, he will never get
a World Series ring.

 I hope I am wrong about this.  My team won in 1986 and
>I promised my Red Sox fan husband that the Sawx could win the
>next time.
>
A-ha!  This explains it!  Your husband is morose, and you're just trying to
shift the blame on Clemens to keep him from blaming YOU!!! (kidding)

>Heather
>HHENDERSON@vax.clarku.edu
>Jack Clark University, Worcester, MA
^^^^^^^^^^^^

(No, Kurt, don't say a word.  Just walk away...)


-- 
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