RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Sports and Wrestling hows bout those yankees for 2007 - cuz no other team matters

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PJP said:
Joey from Friends is a homo

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PJP said:

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Knutreturns said:
yeah cause the pitching is definitely gonna get better...

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we'll revisit this post in September, so you can eat shit. I'll remember it too.

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Joe Mama said:
Leave it to Rob to argue a compliment meant for both teams. It was a good series FOR THE FANS. FANS were treated to a lot of offense, a decent pitching performance or two, and a great back-and-forth game on Sunday.

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Joe Mama said:
That the Red Sox won the games is a bonus for RED SOX FANS, but YANKEES FANS can come away from this series with the knowledge that their depleted line-up still made a decent showing.

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Joe Mama said:
No one was proclaiming the Red Sox World Series champs.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
people can boo or cheer barry bonds all they want this year, and his legacy or disgrace will march on for yeras and years. ... 8 or 9 of them. cuz, major catastrophes aside (jinxes beware!), arod will be rounding the bases on his 800th homer before 2015.

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Phil Hughes showed promise. A.J. Burnett showed him how it's done.

Burnett dominated the struggling Yankees and outclassed their prized prospect on the mound, sending last-place New York to its sixth straight loss by pitching the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-0 victory Thursday night.

"He's got the capability of doing that every time he goes out there. All we have to do is keep him healthy," Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells said.

Making his much-anticipated major league debut, Hughes received a rough welcome from the hard-hitting Blue Jays and a valuable lesson in power pitching from Burnett.

"I don't think you can really ever know what it's going to be like," Hughes said. "I made a few good pitches, but when you're falling behind so much like I was it's hard to put guys away. I really wanted to stay away from the walks, so when I fell behind I probably made too good of pitches and guys like Wells aren't going to miss those."

Missing injured Derek Jeter, the Yankees (8-12) are on their longest skid since also dropping six in a row from May 28 to June 3, 2005. They managed only four singles and are percentage points behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.
Next up, a three-game series at home against the rival Red Sox, who swept New York last weekend in Boston. The first-place Red Sox already have a 5 1/2 -game cushion over the Yankees, but Johnny Damon said there's no reason to panic -- yet.

"There's going to be panic soon if the winning doesn't start. We have to stay close," he said. "If we can't start getting victories, I'm sure there's not going to be too many happy people."

Wells went 3-for-3 with two walks for Toronto, giving him seven hits in his last eight at-bats and 11 in his past 14. Frank Thomas drove in two runs, and leadoff batter Alex Rios scored three times and knocked in a run.

The Blue Jays have won three straight, all against the Red Sox and Yankees, after losing a season-worst five in a row.

"We played some really good baseball the last three games against the teams we have to beat," manager John Gibbons said.

Still waiting for Mike Mussina to get healthy, the Yankees called up Hughes (0-1) from Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre and handed him the ball Thursday even after a rainout Wednesday night gave them an opportunity to change course.

Considered one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, the 20-year-old right-hander from California became only the second pitcher drafted in the first round by the Yankees to reach the big leagues with New York. The other was Bill Burbach, who was selected in the first amateur draft in 1965.

Hughes, drafted 23rd overall out of high school in 2004, gave up a hard single to Rios on his second pitch. After Adam Lind struck out, Wells hit a loud RBI double over Damon's head in center field. He scored on Thomas' opposite-field single.

Wearing No. 65, Hughes settled down from there until running into more trouble in the fifth.

John McDonald reached on an infield single, though replays appeared to show he was out at first. He stole second and scored on Rios' single.

A single by Wells chased Hughes, and Thomas' sacrifice fly made it 4-0. With his family watching from the stands, Hughes allowed four runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.

"I certainly wasn't disappointed," said New York manager Joe Torre, who wouldn't commit to another big league start for Hughes. "I don't think he was out of his league by any stretch of the imagination. ... His command wasn't as good as it's going to be."

Meanwhile, Burnett (2-1) was cruising to his first career win at Yankee Stadium. Flashing a fastball in the mid-to-high 90 mph range, he struck out five and walked four in seven impressive innings.

"We came out swinging so I started pounding the zone as best I could," Burnett said. "I threw a lot of two-seamers and changeups. I pretty much had control of everything."

Three consecutive walks and a wild pitch by New York's shaky bullpen led to two Blue Jays runs in the seventh. Lyle Overbay had a sacrifice fly.

Jeremy Accardo and Scott Downs completed Toronto's first shutout of the season -- the first time New York has been blanked this year. The Yankees began the day leading the majors in runs with 120.

Notes

Because of a daunting forecast, New York RHP Mike Mussina (hamstring) won't make a rehab start for Double-A Trenton at Harrisburg on Friday. Instead, he will throw 50-60 pitches in a simulated game at Yankee Stadium. ... Burnett has allowed only 10 hits in his last three starts. ... Jeter was a late scratch from the lineup because of a sore left thigh. Miguel Cairo played SS. ... Three starting pitchers have made their major league debuts for the Yankees in the first 20 games of the season. Kei Igawa and Chase Wright are the others. The last time a team had three starters debut so early was 1955, when the St. Louis Cardinals had three pitchers debut in the first 13 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... The Yankees are four games under .500 for the first time since May 10, 2005.

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PJP said:
It was a shitty game....not just 'cause my team lost. The yanks lost 3 last week to the Sox and I honestly enjoyed every game. (ecxcept for the outcome) Still though, I'm not overly concerned about the starting pitching. We need Moose and Wang back and I really like Karstens and Hughes....trade Pavano to the Rockies for their ballboy and we got ourselves a pitching staff!

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Joe Mama said:

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PJP said:
It was a shitty game....not just 'cause my team lost. The yanks lost 3 last week to the Sox and I honestly enjoyed every game. (ecxcept for the outcome) Still though, I'm not overly concerned about the starting pitching. We need Moose and Wang back and I really like Karstens and Hughes....trade Pavano to the Rockies for their ballboy and we got ourselves a pitching staff!

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I agree with you. But Wang's back and Mussina will be back soon enough. Who are your 3 - 5? Karsten? Wright? A rushed Hughes? Igawa pitched his way out of the rotation and there's talk of sending him to the minors to get his stuff (and maybe his confidence) back. We know Pavano's a $40 Million bust, and I don't think he's going to pitch another inning in a Yankees uniform, but I can't see anyone taking him unless the Yankees eat a good-sized chunk of his remaining contract and they still won't get much back for him. They need to make a huge push for Clemens and maybe another pitcher.

Did you get my text message yesterday?

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Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner has not been pleased with the team's early start, but he does not appear inclined to order major personnel changes -- for now.

New York lost two of three games over the weekend to the Red Sox and completed April with a 9-14 record, suffering a 7-4 defeat on Sunday to place them 6 1/2 games behind first-place Boston.

Steinbrenner issued a statement through his spokesperson reacting to the Yankees' recent struggles on Monday.

"The season is still very young, but up to now the results are clearly not acceptable to me or to Yankee fans," Steinbrenner said. "However, Brian Cashman, our general manager, Joe Torre, our manager, and our players all believe that they will turn this around quickly. I believe in them."

The Yankees have lost eight of nine games dating back to their weekend series against the Red Sox, fueling speculation that Steinbrenner might consider replacing Torre from the managerial post he has held since 1996.

It is not the first time Torre's position has been challenged in media reports. The 66-year-old Torre spent a good portion of his postgame press conference on Sunday insisting that his only focus is on returning the Yankees to their winning ways.

"We're going to have to come out of it," Torre said. We're a much better club than our record indicates. You play this thing over 162 games."

The first month of the season was not kind to the Yankees, particularly in a medical sense.

Hideki Matsui, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano and Chien-Ming Wang -- all envisioned to be contributors to the club's success -- were among a cast of players who spent time on the 15-day disabled list with an assortment of injuries.

Matsui and Wang eventually returned, as did injured pitcher Jeff Karstens, but Karstens was struck with a line drive on Saturday and suffered a broken right fibula, sending him back to the disabled list. Pavano and Mussina have yet to return, but Mussina is considered a possibility to pitch this week.

The collective voids left the Yankees' weaknesses exposed, and Torre has admitted he had to lean far harder on his bullpen -- which leads the Major Leagues with a combined 95 appearances -- than expected.

The Yankees used five relievers on Sunday, the 10th consecutive game that five or more hurlers were summoned in relief -- the first time in the last 50 years that has been done, according to research performed by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Several Yankees players jumped to Torre's defense on Sunday, with Derek Jeter saying that speculation is "unfair, and it should stop." Cashman also noted that he takes full responsibility for the Yankees' sluggish start, saying that "this is the team I put together."

Steinbrenner offered his hopes that the Yankees -- who open a three-game road series with the Rangers on Tuesday -- will be able to regain their footing in the American League East.

"I am here to support them in any way to help them accomplish this turnaround," Steinbrenner said. "It is time to put excuses and talk away. It is time to see if people are ready to step up and accept their responsibilities. It is time for all of them to show me and the fans what they are made of."

As always, he also left no question what the team's main objective is.

"Let's get going," Steinbrenner concluded. "Let's go out and win and bring a world championship back to New York. That's what I want."

New York Yankees rookie righthander Philip Hughes left his second major league start with two outs with an apparent left hamstring injury after an 0-2 pitch to Mark Teixeira of the Texas Rangers.

Hughes had not allowed a hit in 6 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and three walks.

Yet another starting pitcher on the last-place New York Yankees got hurt Tuesday night. This one was working on a no-hitter in his second major league start.

Phil Hughes carried his gem into the seventh inning before a hamstring injury cost him a chance to make history. The team's prized prospect is expected to miss four to six weeks, a sour end to an otherwise encouraging night for New York.

Hank Blalock broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff double in the eighth against reliever Mike Myers, but the Yankees responded to criticism from owner George Steinbrenner in a big way Tuesday with a 10-1 rout of the Texas Rangers.

New York (10-14) won for only the second time in 10 games, but Hughes' injury put a damper on the blowout.

"Just one of those freak things that you certainly can't explain," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

Hughes (1-1) became the latest New York pitcher to go down, two starts after he was called up from Triple-A Scranton to fill a spot in the team's depleted rotation. Mike Mussina (hamstring), Carl Pavano (forearm) and Jeff Karstens (broken right leg) are on the disabled list. Chien-Ming Wang also missed the first three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury.

"It's been frustrating," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We seem to be getting hit every day."

Hughes, considered one of the top prospects in baseball, was cruising along in a dominant performance when he winced and grabbed the back of his left thigh after throwing an 0-2 breaking ball to Mark Teixeira with one out in the seventh. He was removed after 83 pitches with a 9-0 lead.

The 20-year-old right-hander said he was trying to finish Teixeira with a hard curveball when he likely overextended over his front foot. Hughes said he felt a pop.

"I was kind of flustered," he said. "It was one of those unfortunate circumstances, and there's not much you can do about it."

Hughes said he wasn't in pain after the game, but he wouldn't have been able to keep pitching. After being pulled, he walked gingerly back to the dugout, where he received a warm reception from teammates.

Hughes struck out six and walked three. When he left, he was eight outs from the Yankees' first no-hitter since David Cone's perfect game in 1999.

"It was going to happen," Torre said. "That was the sense in the dugout."

Ian Kinsler followed Blalock's double with an RBI single. Myers finished the eighth and Luis Vizcaino worked the ninth to complete the two-hitter.

"You want to give credit to the opposing pitcher, but at the same time you have to be unhappy where the offense is," said Rangers shortstop Michael Young, who was 0-for-4. "Getting two hits is not good enough."

New York went 9-14 in April and finished the month 6 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. That roused Steinbrenner to issue his first public remarks of the season Monday, at once throwing his support behind Torre and rebuking the team for its record.

Steinbrenner's vote of confidence in Torre and Cashman silenced, at least temporarily, speculation that their jobs were in jeopardy. But the notoriously demanding owner also termed the start by his $195 million club "clearly not acceptable."

Against the Rangers, Steinbrenner's comments seemed to cajole the Yankees to their most lopsided win of the season. The timing of the rout was similar to a 19-8 win over Tampa Bay in 2005, which followed an even more scathing lashing of his team following a 4-8 start that year.

Robinson Cano broke out of a 1-for-18 slump by going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two doubles. Jorge Posada had three hits, three runs and two RBIs. Alex Rodriguez added three hits to raise his batting average to .371.

The Yankees also took advantage of three Texas errors.

Posada's two-run double highlighted a four-run third against Kameron Loe (1-2) that made it 6-0. New York added three in the fifth on RBI doubles by Hideki Matsui and Posada, and a run-scoring single by Cano.

Before Tuesday's game, Torre said he hoped to hear no more questions about his future. He also blamed part of Yankees' recent trouble scoring runs on players "trying too hard."

Against the Rangers, it seemed as though the Yankees hardly had to try. New York's lineup battered Loe for four-plus innings, getting 10 hits and nine runs -- seven earned.

Before Tuesday's win, New York became the first major league team to use five or more pitchers in 10 straight games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
at least the win was big. but, still... i mean, cripes, the pitching is doomed thus far!

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Dear 2007 New York Yankees:

Welcome to the club.

Sincerely,

The 2006 Boston Red Sox

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PJP said:
they are competing just fine, and they hardly falling apart......I hope none of you guys ever run a sports team. It's FUCKING JUST GETTING STARTED!!! Hughes will be back in 4 - 6 weeks and be just fine....in the meantime all the veterans are back this week. Now is the time to have this happen if you have to go through it, might as well go through it now and not in August and September.

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PJP said:
Oh and if the Yanks don't win the division this year, and the Red Sox do, I won't use injuries as an excuse....and I will still watch the playoffs and my team as long as they are playing.


Unlike Joe last year that gave up on the Red Sox in August and said he didn't watch baseball after that.

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PJP said:
To me, falling apart means the starters(star players) are going out there and getting shelled and beat to shit. That has hardly been the case. In some cases the vetrans haven't pitched well, but the reason they have lost games is injuries.....and that too shall pass. The offense didn't look so great this weekend against the Sox. Also Beckett started out great last year too and ended up falling apart.....injuries had nothing to do with it. Beckett also got rocked against the Yanks, and he was just lucky to win the game. He ain't that good.

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The Yankees lost their top pitching prospect, their strength coach, one day to down-pouring rain yet managed to win both games in a doubleheader Thursday and complete a three-game sweep that spanned four days.

After topping Texas, 4-3, in the afternoon and 5-2 in the nightcap at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, maybe things are really starting to look up for the Yankees. The turnaround could not come at a better time.

"This was great for us. It really was," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I know this ballclub was struggling when we got here. But these two games were really tough. Everybody showed up."

Twenty-five percent of the Yankees 12 wins this year have come in May (and 67 percent of Mariano Rivera's saves after the venerable closer finished both victories Thursday). And aside from the devastating loss of rookie pitcher Phil Hughes to a hamstring injury Tuesday, nobody else was hurt in a freaky mishap this week. What did happen was an effective performance by Mike Mussina in Thursday's finale.

Fresh off the disabled list from a hamstring injury and in his first start since April 11, Mussina allowed one run on four hits in five innings. He threw only 64 pitches, but 49 of them were strikes. Every one of them mattered for a Yankees club looking to rebound from a losing record in April and the bottom half of the American League East.

Mussina was on a 75-pitch limit but tired before reaching the mark.

"I would say that was successful. I was hoping five innings is what I would be able to do," Mussina said. "I had better command than I expected. I might have had a little better velocity than I expected the first day back. I was able to make pitches."

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter did his part, extending his hitting streak to 20 games with a single in the top of the sixth inning. His single to right field as part of a two-run seventh extended the Yankees lead to 4-1. Also in the seventh, Hideki Matsui hit a double and eventually scored from third on a wild pitch from Rangers reliever Frank Francisco for the club's third run of the game.

Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkeiwicz hit a two-run home run in the second inning for a lead his team would never surrender.

"We needed that one bad," he said. "It's nice after what we went through before we got here to come here and win all three against a team that can swing the bats with the best of them."

In the first game of the doubleheader, a hitless Jeter led off an eighth inning tied at 3 with a single. He scored on a double by Matsui to help the Yankees edge the Rangers. Jeter has now hit safely in 59 or his last 61 games dating back to last season.

"Last year, [Jeter] was probably the most consistent of the 11 years we have been together here," Torre said. "He has pretty much picked up where he left off. He's a grinder-type of guy. Whatever the score in the game, it never takes away from what he needs to do at-bat to at-bat. Again, he uses the whole field."

And apparently a little hocus-pocus.

In the eventful eighth, Jeter was caught between first and second on a botched hit-and-run with Bobby Abreu at the plate, but he slid headfirst back into the first-base bag safely. A postgame ruling declared Mark Teixeira was given an error and Jeter was actually charged with a caught stealing on the play.

If Teixeira would have caught the ball, Jeter would have been tagged out easily.

"I saw the ball right away laying there," Torre said. "The umpire was going to call him out, but [Teixiera] never had the ball. Derek knew he was out at second base. We lucked out."

As luck would have it, Jeter trotted home on Matsui's double to the gap in right-center field for the game-winner, and Jason Giambi, who was walked intentionally before Matsui, was thrown out at the plate on the play. Giambi developed leg cramps while running in between second and third base. In the second game of the doubleheader, Giambi was removed from the game in the sixth inning, also because of leg cramps.

"I've been doing as much as I can," Giambi said. "The hardest thing when you are not playing first, you can't really recreate being out in the field. Going around second, it started to cramp up. Luckily, I have played enough on them that I stopped."

Giambi's solo home run in the fourth, his fifth homer of the season, snapped the 1-all tie and gave the Yankees the lead. But it was his defensive play -- including turning the sometimes troublesome 3-6-3 double play -- that drew the most praise after the game. Giambi is supposed to hit home runs. But defense?

He credits recent tips from former Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez and bench coach Don Mattingly for his improved defense.

"Too bad I did not have it years and years ago," Giambi said.

As for Game 1 starter Andy Pettitte, he gave up two runs and five hits in six efficient innings. He walked three batters and struck out five in an 107-pitch outing. He felt something was amiss early but afterward refused to use the fact that three of his starts have been impacted by the weather as an excuse.

"I was out of sync again, fighting myself. It's frustrating," he said. "I felt so good in my previous three starts and I've been really battling through with my command and everything. We got a win, and that makes it a lot better."

The Yankees desperately needed another quality starting pitcher. Roger Clemens didn't want to wait any longer to pitch. It all came together on a memorable Sunday afternoon.

The Rocket has lifted off again in the Bronx, returning to Yankee Stadium and resuming his career in pinstripes, leaving the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox -- Clemens' other potential suitors -- behind in past speculation.

The Yankees announced on Sunday that they have signed Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, to a Minor League contract for the 2007 season. Clemens will earn $28 million on a prorated basis from the first day he is added to the Yankees' Major League roster, and make no mistake: he's in New York for one reason only.

"I'm coming back to do the only thing they know how to do with the Yankees, and that's win a championship," Clemens said. "Anything else is a failure, and I know that."

"This is a huge statement -- don't count us out, because we want to be in it for the long haul," said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, whose club improved to 14-15 with a 5-0 victory over the Mariners on Sunday.

Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, who delivered an impassioned statement on Monday offering his backing for Cashman and manager Joe Torre, released another on Sunday evening trumpeting the acquisition of Clemens.

"As I pledged just a few days ago, I will do everything within my power to support Brian Cashman, Joe Torre and this team as we fight to bring a 27th championship back to New York," Steinbrenner said in a statement released by spokesperson Howard Rubenstein.

"Roger Clemens is a winner and a champion, and he is someone who can be counted on to help make this season one that all Yankees fans can be proud of. The sole mission of this organization is to win a world championship."

The major tipping point in the Yankees' favor was their immediate need for Clemens, said the right-hander's agent, Randy Hendricks.

Hendricks said that the Red Sox and Astros both indicated that they would prefer to wait until later in the season to keep Clemens fresher for potential postseason rushes. The Yankees, with a rotation that has been ravaged by inconsistency and injury, wanted Clemens to be on their mound as soon as possible.

"From my point of view, he's Roger Clemens," Hendricks said. "When he says he's ready to play, I think teams should listen."

Outfitted for his press conference in a Yankees cap, a black T-shirt and checked dress pants, Clemens was all smiles, but his progression to become one of the Yankees' starting pitchers on that projected October road remains hazy.

Clemens had not even officially put ink to paper on the contract when he waved to the Yankee Stadium crowd in the seventh inning on Sunday, telling the fans that it was a "privilege to be back" and that he'd be talking to them soon.

The future Hall of Famer is expected to require at least three rehabilitation starts at various stops in the Yankees' Minor League system, likely beginning at Tampa of the Florida State League.

"I've got a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, and I understand that," Clemens said. "But I have a lot of help here to get this club where it wants to go. Everyone wants to be a champion. In New York, it's a different level, and I understand that."

Cashman did not rule out the first week of June as a possible date, while Clemens, who has kept his arm in shape by throwing early and often to Astros organizational players, said he hoped to be on a mound at some point within a week to 10 days.

"Any chance I could have to get a ball in my hand, I was doing it," Clemens said.

The negotiations, as outlined by Cashman and Hendricks, took on a dizzying pace.

Clemens had a face-to-face meeting with Steinbrenner at Legends Field in March, around which time Cashman said he presented Hendricks with a potential dollar figure to place Clemens under contract. The timing was not right then, he was told.

During the Yankees' sweep of Texas this week, Cashman said that he again inquired of Hendricks if it would be possible to jump from Arlington to Houston for a sit-down meeting with Clemens. That meeting would be impossible, Cashman was surprised to learn, because Hendricks was in Boston at Fenway Park.

"Here I am, trying to get Randy Hendricks on the phone, and he's text-messaging me, 'Can't talk right now. I'm at Fenway Park,'" Cashman said.

Cashman said he had finally had a conversation on Thursday evening with Hendricks that went "very well," reporting as such to Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine.

On Friday afternoon, the Yankees conducted an internal conference call with Levine, Cashman and three Steinbrenners -- George and his sons, Hank and Hal -- during which possible scenarios were discussed. A dollar amount was in the near future.

"As always, we're thankful to have the Steinbrenners do what they do," Cashman said.

But the turns of the recent week hadn't changed the Yankees' stance. Perhaps it just amplified it.

From the winter months forward, even in a tight-lipped discussion with reporters on Saturday morning, Cashman had maintained that the Yankees would be interested in negotiating with Clemens if and when the hurler decided he wanted to pitch in 2007.

"We knew what we wanted," Cashman said. "That was always stated from the start. We had to go through the process."

"Make no mistake about it -- the Yankees were in both my ears the whole time," Clemens said.

The courtship concluded on Sunday, as Clemens and Hendricks boarded an early-morning Continental Airlines commercial flight out of Houston, bound for New York. Some of the passengers on board the flight recognized Clemens, as did assorted baggage handlers, airline personnel and well-wishers.

With Clemens hid from the mainstream press for days, some may have put the pieces of the puzzle together; Cashman's cell phone began ringing in about the third inning, and the Yankees GM, fearful that his well-kept secret might be beginning to leak out, refused to answer the buzzing device.

After a brief pit stop to change out of jeans and cowboy boots at a Manhattan hotel -- Hendricks joked that there was no sense in further perpetuating the Texas stereotype -- Clemens finally arrived at Yankee Stadium in the sixth inning of Sunday's game against the Mariners.

"I was still calling people on my way to the stadium to tell them what's going on," Clemens said.

He was too late to witness a bench-clearing melee between the two clubs, but just in time to steal the show and address a crowd of 52,553 in what will surely go down as one of the more memorable Yankees moments in recent seasons.

As a Yankee, Clemens -- who was originally acquired from the Blue Jays prior to the 1999 season in exchange for Homer Bush, Graeme Lloyd and David Wells -- won two World Series championships and compiled a record of 77-36 with a 3.99 ERA, striking out 946 batters in 157 starts.

On June 21, 2003, Clemens became the 21st pitcher in Major League history to reach the 300-win milestone, while also recording his 4,000th career strikeout in a 5-2 victory over the Cardinals.

Clemens made 19 starts for the Astros last season, posting a 7-6 record with a 2.30 ERA after signing a Minor League contract on May 31, reprising his role as the Astros' in-season acquisition after going 13-8 with a career-best 1.87 ERA in 32 starts for Houston in 2005.

"I don't know that I have anything left to prove," Clemens said. "I still have people that I don't want to let down: Cash and Mr. Steinbrenner. I thank them again for this opportunity."

Clemens, who had said he would pitch only for a team with hopes of playoff contention, will join a Yankees club that has seen its starting pitching suffer through an extended stretch of injuries and struggles.

Clemens' good friend, Andy Pettitte, has twice been pressed into relief action to help out a beleaguered bullpen, while Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Jeff Karstens, Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano have all spent time on the disabled list.

"I've seen what's been going on," Clemens said. "I think I've been as shocked and surprised as anyone."

The Yankees revealed that Clemens will receive the same travel privileges that he enjoyed with the Astros, allowed the option of skipping certain road trips to attend to various family functions or to pursue his passion of helping young players chase their Major League dreams.

The Yankees agreed to such stipulations based upon an internal review of Clemens' uniqueness and the minimal impact it would be judged to have on the club's mostly veteran clubhouse.

"He'll be here at times, he may not be here at times," Cashman said. "But I know one thing: We'll be happy every five days when he shows up on our mound."

Andy Pettitte provided a deep starting performance, Alex Rodriguez homered to pace the high-octane offense and the bullpen made it all stand up.
For at least one night, it played out as envisioned for the Yankees. Pettitte picked up his second victory of the season with seven innings of one-run ball as New York defeated Texas, 8-2, on Tuesday.

"I think we're starting to feel like we're starting to right this thing a little bit and get things straightened out," Pettitte said.

"We're going to be all right," he added. "We've been saying it all along, but you'd like to have some results. This was a good game for us."

The Yankees appear to be turning the page on their sluggish April beginnings, in which the team finished the season's first month 9-14.

Since turning the calendar to May, the Yankees have won six of eight, including all four games they've played against the Rangers.

Indeed, things may be looking up around the Bronx. The Yankees finally mixed and matched their starting pitching with an assortment of productive youth and made a huge splash in landing their coveted prize, free-agent Roger Clemens.

Even the long-dormant bat of first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz is coming around; Mientkiewicz went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the Yankees' victory on Tuesday, extending his hitting streak to seven games and raising his average to .230.

The slow start created a measure of madness particularly for Pettitte, who at one point looked around his team's bandaged rotation and noted that it had been pretty much himself and four rookies.

The reinforcements are back now, with Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina having been activated off the disabled list. The Yankees will finally throw their top three pitchers in a series this week, and the festivities kicked off with Pettitte.

Lacking location on his fastball in the first few innings, Pettitte navigated clear of damage, leaving runners in scoring position over his first two innings before being touched for a run in the third.

The damage was held in the Texas third, as Yankees right fielder Bobby Abreu ranged over to collect Hank Blalock's run-scoring double and hit cutoff man Robinson Cano. The ensuing feed to catcher Jorge Posada was in time to cut down Sammy Sosa at the plate, saving a run.

"That's the whole thing we're talking about -- defense really complements pitching," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "Robbie made a good relay and Bobby got the ball in quickly. It's just nice to stop it -- minimize the damage."

"A big lift," Pettitte said. "That was a great play. Two great throws."

As it turned out, Pettitte had held the Rangers at bay long enough, scattering seven hits in a 108-pitch effort to collect his first victory since April 10.

Pettitte could have more wins if not for ineffective relief efforts, but he said that the most important thing was that Scott Proctor and Sean Henn provided relief on Tuesday, finishing up the eighth and ninth innings.

"You want to get 'Ws,' but I've been around long enough where you realize it's just part of it," Pettitte said. "The Ws are going to come. I'm not very concerned with it. I want to help this team win."

Pettitte said he felt good about his workload, but the same couldn't be stated of Texas starter Mike Wood.

The right-hander was slugged for eight runs (six earned) in four-plus innings of work, surrendering Rodriguez's Major League-leading 15th home run in the fifth inning.

Rodriguez, who tied a big-league record for home runs in April with 14, homered for the first time in 15 days with a two-run shot over the wall in right-center field.

"I've been about six inches off, just reaching a little bit," Rodriguez said.

Torre noted that the opposite-field approach was key for A-Rod, who hadn't gone deep since slugging a pair of blasts in an April 23 game at Tropicana Field.

"I think that's such a key to having him stay in there," Torre said. "That's what he was doing all last month."

Every batter in the starting lineup reached base, Derek Jeter had two RBIs and Cano, who had drawn concern for an unselective approach and was mired in a 1-for-21 skid, ripped a run-scoring double for the Yankees.

But for all the offense, it came down -- as usual -- to good pitching and defense. When the hurlers are putting zeros on the board and balls are being caught, everything else just seems to fall into place.

The Yankees' key will be making sure nights like these are the rule, not the exception.

"It's everything," Rodriguez said. "We can swing the bats as well as we can, but if we don't pitch and we don't play defense, we're not going anywhere."