Clemens wins 300th, tops 4,000 Ks

Posted 7:26AM on Saturday 14th June 2003 ( 21 years ago )

NEW YORK - The little kid was the last one off the Yankee Stadium mound, wanting to savor every moment. Kody Clemens, all of 7, wanted to scoop up some more of the dirt from his father's landmark night. It was a night like no other baseball had ever seen: After 19 1/2 years as one of baseball's greatest ever, Roger Clemens reached 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts in the same momentous game. "To have these two milestones I was able to achieve tonight, it was really special," the Rocket said Friday night after the New York Yankees' 5-2 win over St. Louis. "Everybody can stop chasing me around the country." Clemens (7-4) was the 21st pitcher to make it 300, and did it on his fourth try. The 4,000-strikeout club is even more exclusive - he's just the third member, joining Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136). Clemens allowed two runs in 6 2-3 innings and struck out 10, raising his total to 4,006 on an unusually cool, damp night. He threw 120 pitches before handing a lead to New York's bullpen for his third straight start. Given a 3-2 advantage, Chris Hammond escaped the seventh-inning jam he created, and Antonio Osuna and Mariano Rivera pitched perfect innings. A sellout crowd of 55,214 cheered while Clemens' teammates hugged him in the dugout after the final out. Clemens jogged onto the field as Elton John's "Rocket Man" played over the public-address system. He raised both arms, tipped his cap to the fans in right field, then left, then touched his heart. He walked back to near the Yankees dugout and Kody, his youngest son, jumped into his arms as wife Debbie gave Clemens a hug. His other three sons - Koby, Kory and Kacy - took their turns scooping up dirt from the mound and putting it in bags as keepsakes, followed by Kody. "That's probably every player's dream, to be out there with your son," said the Cardinals' Joe Girardi, Clemens' former catcher on the Yankees. Many family members and friends had followed Clemens from city to city for the past three weeks, wanting to be on hand for his history-making night. But his mother, Bess, suffering from emphysema and coming off a bout with pneumonia, was well enough to attend only his first try. Clemens got teary-eyed as he talked about her. "Mom, I love you," he said. Flashbulbs popped from Clemens' first pitch. Even though the game was played in a drizzle, the excitement over his quest created a postseason feel for the first game that counted between the Yankees and Cardinals since the 1964 World Series. Clemens, the only six-time Cy Young Award winner, reached the milestones in his 20th and probably final major league season. The 40-year-old right-hander (300-155) became the 21st 300-game winner, the first since Ryan, another Texas fastballer, in 1990. Clemens started strongly, striking out six of his first eight batters. But coming off a 10-day bout with bronchitis, Clemens labored noticeably in the fourth and fifth innings, and twice failed to protect one-run leads. Before the seventh, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre told Clemens he could face just two more batters. Yankees manager Joe Torre was booed loudly when he walked to the mound to remove Clemens with two outs. Clemens, who allowed six hits and two walks, got a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked to the Yankees dugout on the first-base side, twice tipping his cap. "I told Roger after the game, `I used to be popular here,'" said Torre, who has led the Yankees to four World Series titles. Torre waited out at the mound, then was booed again as he returned separately to the dugout. "You can never question what this man does," Clemens said. J.D. Drew bunted for a single on Hammond's first pitch and Albert Pujols singled him to second. Hammond escaped the jam when Jim Edmonds grounded out. "It got a little hairy out there, but I got the third out," Hammond said. "To me, it felt like the seventh game of the World Series." Hideki Matsui, Ruben Sierra and Raul Mondesi all homered off Jason Simontacchi (4-4) to provide the offense for New York, which has won two straight since six Houston pitchers patched together the first no-hitter against the Yankees in 45 years. Clemens got his 299th win on May 21 at Fenway Park, but five days later lost 8-4 to the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The bullpen then wasted leads June 1 at Detroit and June 7 in his first start at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Clemens struck out his first three batters, moving within one of 4,000. Then after allowing Edmonds' homer and a double at the start of the second, he got Edgar Renteria to miss a 3-2 pitch. Catcher Jorge Posada went out to the mound to shake Clemens' hand, and the ball was taken out of play. "I know he's going to the Hall of Fame. I know my name's going to be there, too," Renteria said. NOTES: Clemens tied a season high with 10 strikeouts. ... Only three pitchers took longer to get from 299 to 300, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Niekro and Old Hoss Radbourn reached the mark on their fifth tries, and Early Wynn did it on his seventh - the final victory of his career. ... Tino Martinez was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly in his first game at Yankee Stadium since leaving the Yankees after the 2001 season.

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