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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 June 26, 1986 ... No game scheduled June 27, 1986 ... The Baltimore Orioles, a franchise littered with heroes and heritage, drew the second-largest regular-season crowd (52,159) in their history tonight -- because of Roger Clemens. Clemens trailed, 1-0, when Eddie Murray hit a second-inning homer. It was the first time he had been behind since May 14. Two innings later, he started striking out Orioles and was en route to a 5-3 win and a 14-0 record. In eight-plus innings, he struck out 11 and walked only one. Clemens' 14-0 mark is the fifth-best start in major league history. McNally was the last man to go this far. In 1969, McNally was 15-0 before losing to the Minnesota Twins. Now he is one away from tying the AL record for consecutive victories at the start of a season, which McNally shares with Johnny Allen (1937 Indians). Roger has only 30 career victories. No one has won 30 in a season since Dennis McLain (31) in 1968, but Clemens has a chance. He has a chance for everything -- Cy Young, strikeout king, ERA king, MVP, playoffs, World Series. Dick Howser, the manager of the 1986 AL team, already has announced that Clemens will start the All-Star Game in Houston next month. Houston is his hometown. Murray crushed a pair of majestic homers and Jim Rice's left-field butchery produced another run, but Clemens was at the top of his game through the middle innings. Roger reached the 10-strikeout plateau for the fifth time this year and the first time since May 9th at Oakland (11 in 8 1/3 innings). Baltimore's humidity is not unlike Houston's, and Clemens seemed to throw harder as the game progressed. He had only three strikeouts after four innings but got two in the fifth, two in the sixth and struck out the side in the seventh. The seventh inning was Clemens' big test. After fanning Lynn for the third straight time to open the inning, he watched Murray's moon shot drop over the fence in right-center. After Cal Ripken followed with a hard single to left (taking second on Rice's misplay), Jim Dwyner was summarily punched out. Larry Sheets then drove a fly into the corner in left. Rice broke the wrong way, then caught up to the ball and stopped, letting it bounce in front of the fence. Ripken scored and Mike Young came up to pinch hit for Juan Bonilla. Young struck out on a 1-2 pitch. There was more gas in the eighth. With one on and two out, Clemens caught Lynn looking at a 1-2 pitch on the outside corner. Strike three. Lynn had fanned four straight times. He clenched his right fist and stalked off the mound. He had thrown only 108 pitches. Clemens reached 95 m.p.h. on Baltimore's (notoriously slow) radar gun. Perhaps exhausted from recording his laser beams, the Oriole gun broke in the ninth inning. Clemens also broke down in the ninth. Murray made him throw nine pitches leading off the ninth. Baltimore's switch-hitting first baseman fouled off three 3-2 pitches before drawing the only walk of the night. When Ripken followed with another line single to left, it was time for relief. The Baltimore crowd gave him a nice ovation, and Nipper was the leading glad-hander at the top of the Sox dugout. The emotion is going to come from all over the place until Clemens finally loses a game. |
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