All but Ponson, who actually had a somewhat similar season, also had fewer strikeouts and allowed more hits per nine innings. The good news is that Daal, Hernandez, Millwood and Ponson suffered no significant arm injuries during their Year After. Here are some candidates, i.e. the pitchers who experienced the greatest increase in workload last season while also hitting reaching a professional high in innings pitched. Leiber, who led the National League in innings with 251, should be old enough to bear such an increase, but still bears watching. I didn't understand it, that's it.
Competition brings out the best and worst of people . . .
Give him credit. He pitched a great game. Listen, the Mets can't stand the guy and have been angling since July to exact payback on him for hitting Piazza with a pitch. Some of them have gone back over the tape and tried lip-reading Clemens. Some have taken his various postgame comments and taken to parsing his words, thinking you can explain his intentions and state of mind at that very moment by his usual rambling monologues four hours later.