Sunday, August 06, 2006

The Rocket's Still Got It

Sure, he's getting old. Sure, he started the year retired. However, don't be fooled, Roger Clemens is still one of, if not the top pitcher in the MLB.

In my book, he's the 3rd best starting pitcher of all-time, and he just missed making my list of the 10 best MLB players ever. And he hasn't lost much at all.

His start on Saturday against Arizona was his 9th of the year, and he was able to go 7 innings and give up 3 runs for his 3rd win of the year. This raised his ERA to 2.32. Hey, it's hard to lower an ERA that was at 2.09 coming into the game.

In his 9 starts, he has not given up more than 2 earnedruns in any game. Granted, a lot of his starts have only been 5-6 innings, but that's worth noting. However, the Astros run support has not been too good, as he stands at 3-4.

In 54.1 IP, he has struck out 45 batters and walked 12. He's also given up just 3 HR, all very solid numbers. His WHIP is at 1.07, and hitters have only a .270 OBP against him, and slugging .350.

One thing is clear. Roger Clemens, at age 43, is still one of the best in the MLB, as he moves up higher and higher on these all-time pitching lists. Watch him while you can, because pitchers like Clemens don't come around too often.

2 comments:

SAMO said...

Sure Clemens is good, but I don't think he would be great in the AL. Look at his numbers from a few years ago when he was with the Yankees. I think he choose the Astros over the Rangers, Red Sox, and Yanks because he was a little scared to pitch in the AL.

twins15 said...

Point taken. As the Bronson Arroyo's of the world show, the NL is much kinder to pitchers than the AL... so you have a point, I'm not sure he'd be quite as dominant in the AL, but I think he'd still be a top 5 pitcher. He still gets the Ks, doesn't walk guys, and doesn't give up many XBH. That's a good formula.