I Think It’s Clemens Time

In the beginning of the third inning of yesterdays 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees starting pitcher Mike Mussina pulled his hamstring and motioned to Yanks pitching coach Ron Guidry to remove him from the game.  Granted, Mussina wasn’t exactly having a great game to being with, but two scoreless innings are still two scoreless innings no matter how you spin it.  Still, Mussina got hurt.

For those of you keeping score at home, that is the top 2 Yankee pitchers from last season that are currently out with injuries (Wang and Mussina) and the only possibly reliable fifth starter Jeff Karstens.  That means that the Yanks rotation will be led by Pettitte, Pavano, and Igawa with a battle royal for the final two spots, in which all the Yankees prospects will enter into a wrestling ring, and the last man standing gets to pitch in the 4th spot with the runner up pitching in the 5th.

Of course that is not the case, considering that during the battle royal, a few of the pitchers would probably pull their hammy.

Seriously, do the Yankees pitchers even stretch?  Three similar injuries is all way too eerie.  I wish I could investigate and find out what is really going on, but I’ll be too busy worrying about whether or not the Yankees will be able to get through April without any true reliable starters.  Maybe they could teach ARod or Jeter to pitch.  Obviously Damon would not be a good option due to his poor arm and the easiness of hitting a 70 mph fastball. 

But hey, I guess if the Mets were able to get all the way to the NLCS without any true starting pitchers (except for Glavine, but come on!  El Duque?  John “I can’t cut it in the AL” Maine?) Then I’m sure there is hope for the Yankees.  Especially when the Rocket signs.

Now more than ever the New York Yankees seems to make sense for Roger Clemens to sign with.  Clemens has already made it clear that he would choose between the Yanks, Red Sox, and Astros.  But unlike Houston and Boston, the Yankees actually have a spot in their starting rotation for him to fill.  Hell, they have 2 spots as of now!  And eventually they will realize that Kei Igawa is best suited pitching middle relief or in Triple A. 

So please.  Rocket.  Come back.  Remember those 2 World series rings?  Want more?  Come back to NY and you can make stupid BBQ commercials with Andy Pettitte such as the one below.