Somehow, I knew this was going to happen. Especially after a month where the Yankee pitching staff nearly self-destructed. But, today, it’s official.
Roger Clemens is returning to the Yankees. And, damn, it must’ve been a hell of a time in New York when this happened:
The sun was shining, the Yankees were ahead during the seventh-inning stretch of their game against the Seattle Mariners and it seemed as if the day couldn’t get any better. That’s when the Yankees’ public address announcer, Bob Sheppard, asked the 52,553 fans at Yankee Stadium to direct their attention to the owner’s box behind home plate.
Roger Clemens was standing there, and suddenly the Yankees’ season got a whole lot better.
“It’s a privilege to be back,” Clemens told the crowd. “I’ll be talking to you soon.”
And just like that, Clemens became a Yankee.
And just to make it better, a guy named Darrell Rasner pitched a shutout against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium today:
NEW YORK (AP) — Darrell Rasner pitched the way Roger Clemens hopes to with the New York Yankees. Before Clemens revealed that he’ll return to the Yankees this season, making a dramatic announcement from the owner’s box during the seventh-inning stretch, Rasner limited Seattle to three hits Sunday in a 5-0 victory over the Mariners.
Derek Jeter hit a go-ahead single and Hideki Matsui got his 2,000th professional hit as the Yankees won for the fifth time in six games after losing eight of nine.
The beginning of a turnaround ? I sure hope so.
Meanwhile, a few details on the Clemens deal:
Clemens received a record $28 million deal that will be prorated based on when he joins the Major League roster. The Yankees offered $25.5 million in spring training and wanted him then.
Clemens will receive the same travel privileges he had with the Astros. Brian Cashman and Joe Torre cleared this through the senior members of the team. Basically, with Randy Johnson gone, there was nobody who would oppose it.
The deal was made on Thursday night and finished off on Friday when the Steinbrenner family approved it.
As a fan, I’m thrilled and a bit nervous. Thrilled because Clemens is still a great pitcher and some of the best days the team has had in recent memory were when he and Andy Petitte were in the rotation together. Nervous, because Clemens is older and this could prove to be a boondoggle.
Time will tell.
May 19th, 2007 at 8:30 am
[...] to the Mets last night. There have been some highlights over the past week, the most notable being the signing of Roger Clemens, but things still aren’t well in the Bronx: The Yankees, in the words of one person close to [...]