Crowning Clemens
I sincerely wish that sports broadcasters and so-called baseball analysts would stop fellating Roger Clemens over his recent start over the Bucs. He lasted six innings with a line of 5 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts.
The Pirates offense is wretched even in comparison to other National League teams:
- 14th in batting average: .250
- last in OBP: .311
- 14th in slugging percentage: .380
- 12th in home runs: 50
- 14th in RBIs: 241
Pittsburgh is 10 games under .500; even a team with losing record like the Yankees should beat them. The table below shows a wide range of pitchers who faced the Pirates and beat them.
| Other Pitchers Who Defeated the Pirates in 2007 |
||
| Pitcher | Date | Line |
| Braden Looper | April 9 | 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3K Final score: Cardinals 3, Pirates 0 |
| Russ Ortiz | April 13 | 8.2 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K Final score: Giants 8, Pirates 5 |
| Jeff Suppan | April 19 | 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Final score: Brewers 7, Pirates 5 |
| Matt Belisle | April 28 | 9 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Final score: Reds 8, Pirates 1 |
| Aaron Harang | April 29 | 8 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 9 K Final score: Reds 9, Pirates 5 |
| Claudio Vargas | May 4 | 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K Final score: Brewers 10, Pirates 0 |
| Jason Marquis | May 9 | 9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Final score: Cubs 1, Pirates 0 |
| Kyle Lohse | May 28 | 9 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K Final score: Reds 4, Pirates 0 |
| Chris Young | May 30 | 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K Final score: Padres 9, Pirates 0 |
Below average and middling pitchers pitched about the same as Clemens and even surpassed him. Exceptional pitchers lasted longer than the Rocket did and had better performances.
Instead of coming up with puns about the Rocket’s reentry or his red glare, here’s the real lead-in: “Yankees offense performs to expectations and bails out its starter. Highlights up next after superfluous mentions of Paris Hilton’s incarceration.”
Comments
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David ∙ 10 June 2007 ∙ 5:03 PM
Great posting, you took the words right out of my mouth. interesting that "the rocket" wasn't ready to start against a pair of sox (pun weakly intended) but he was in game shape for the ahem, pirates. give me a break, that's almost as weak as my pun.
thanks for all the chuckles.
brian ∙ 11 June 2007 ∙ 2:56 PM
The Rocket's laissez-faire
Jolly Roger
Granting Clemens-y
Puns are encouraged here.
Joanna ∙ 12 June 2007 ∙ 1:08 PM