Clemens four-hits D-Backs, collects 338th victory
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PHOENIX (AP) -- Most people at Roger Clemens' age can't get out of bed with a stiff back. The Rocket threw seven dominant innings.
Clemens pitched four-hit ball to earn his 338th victory one day before his 43rd birthday, and the Houston Astros beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 Tuesday night.
Clemens pitched with tightness in his back in his last start, a condition that returned on the flight to Arizona.
"The plane ride wasn't great. Thank goodness I'm standing up out there," Clemens said. "As long as I was moving around it felt fine."
Adam Everett drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning double and Mike Lamb homered for the Astros, who won for the 14th time in 16 games and extended their lead in the NL wild-card race to two games over the fading Washington Nationals.
Chad Tracy hit his 15th homer for the Diamondbacks, who lost for the second time in six games and fell a game behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West.
Clemens (10-4) was dominant after allowing Tracy's home run two batters into the game. He has won at least 10 games in 19 of his 22 seasons.
"I saw it good out of his hand and it was up enough that I could do something with it," Tracy said. "It's good to do something off a future Hall of Famer, but we lost the game so it's all in vain."
Clemens retired 19 of his final 22 batters, striking out the side in the fourth. The right-hander walked one, struck out eight and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.45.
"For the most part I'm staying healthy," Clemens said. "I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to that. But unless it's major this isn't the time to be putting the ball down."
The Diamondbacks' other two hits against Clemens were a two-out single by Tony Clark in the first and a one-out double by Tracy in the sixth.
"Just another seven innings and one run," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "You guys keep putting that in every story and don't have to rewrite it. All you have to do is change the date. It's absolutely phenomenal."
Brad Lidge pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 30 chances.
Arizona starter Claudio Vargas (4-6) was nearly as sharp, scattering three hits over the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth.
Brad Ausmus led off with a single past diving third baseman Troy Glaus. Ausmus went to second on a sacrifice by Clemens, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Craig Biggio's looping single to center to tie the game at 1-all.
Houston took the lead in the sixth when Lamb drew a one-out walk and scored one batter later on Everett's double into the left-field corner.
Lamb's seventh homer made it 3-1 in the eighth.
Vargas allowed six hits, walked three and struck out a career-high nine over 7 1/3 innings.
Game notes
The Diamondbacks became the first team to face 300-game winners in consecutive games since July 24-25, 1987, when Texas faced Steve Carlton and Phil Neikro. Arizona beat Greg Maddux and the Cubs on Sunday. ... Clemens has allowed three earned runs in 66 innings in the road for a 0.41 ERA. ... Arizona's Chris Snyder just missed a solo homer off Clemens in the fifth, bouncing a ball off the top of the fence inches to the right of the right-field foul pole. Snyder instead became Clemens' eighth strikeout victim. ... Vargas's previous career high was eight strikeouts, set June 26 against Detroit. ... Clemens has pitched in every active major league stadium except SBC Park in San Francisco and Pittsburgh's PNC Park. Clemens is scheduled to start in San Francisco this weekend. ... Vargas has allowed four earned runs in his last three starts, a span of 27 1/3 innings. ... The Diamondbacks said more than 7,000 walk-up tickets were sold Tuesday, accounting for nearly one quarter of the announced crowd of 31,696.<
Clemens is NOT human.
His ROAD ERA is now 0.41...the record in baseball is Bob Gibson's 0.81 road ERA.
Roger has almost cut that in half and he is freaking 43 yrs old.
Looks like he will win his 8th Cy Young if Houston gets in the playoffs again.
Just think about what he is doing for a minute.
It's unfortunate that he didn't get the run support to tally more victories at the beginning of the year. When you consider the ballpark and era he pitches in, this has to be up there with some of the greatest seasons of all time.
hmmLooks like he will win his 8th Cy Young if Houston gets in the playoffs again.
last year Randy Johnson had a better ERA but less wins than Clemens, and everyone in here told me why Clemens should win, cause of his victories and what not.
So, why wouldn't that arguement hold up for Chris Carpenter?
Randy Johnson had a gripe last year, but he was also on a horrible team so he never really pitched in any important games. That's a part of the debate that doesn't apply this year.
If Astros get in playoffs..that is the key. Randy's team was last place team...there has never been a Cy Young winner from a last place team.
Carpenter has a chace as does Dontrell. Those are the 3 who can win it.
When will Roger be busted for steroids?
Roger has never done steroids. He has been huge since his HS days in Houston. His son is huge as well.
Apparently his son does roids too.
How so?That's a part of the debate that doesn't apply this year.
If Carpenter wins 22 games (wich is more than plausible) and has say a 2.10 or a 1.98 ERA
but loses to Clemens who is 12 and 3 witha 1.50 ERA.
How is that any different.
Bump.
7 more scoreless innings on the road.
Age?
ERA?
The streak?
Enough said for me...
A 0.37 road ERA
11-4, only 5 behind Carpenter
23 games pitched this year, a TOTAL of 11 hits when runners in scoring position
There is NO DOUBT, Roger will win his 8th Cy Young this year. There is no question who the BEST pitcher in baseball is this year.
Who would you want pitching game 7?
Because Carpenter sucks bag
Carpenter is an excellent pitcher, one of the best in the game this year. Tpark's way of pimping him can make a person not like the cardinals and carpenter, but i will not allow that to happen with me. I respect a pitcher as good as Carpenter, he is very impressive.
I will wait until mid September to start casting my votes as to who the cy young will be.
That is very responsible of you.
How bout those Oakland A's? They are now tied with the Angels for 1st place!
Oh, now you are an A's fan?
Oh, now you are an A's fan?
no. But I am impressed by what they've accomplished.
By stating facts about Carpenter???Tpark's way of pimping him can make a person not like the cardinals and carpenter
Whatever....
yesterday
8 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 10 strikeouts a tough ND.
With intelligence like that, who could argue......Because Carpenter sucks bag
By that type of thing, I am just stating what I see. People would not be hating on Carpenter so much I think if it weren't for you, no offense. I just see that to be true in some cases.
yathink?
It is quite disheartening to see tpark always wanting to get in a rhubarb.
I find it entertaining.
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