A Clemens Post With No Mention of Steroids

My friend Adam sent me an email the other day about the alleged "the greatest pitcher of the modern era" Roger Clemens, and his postseason numbers with the Red Sox. As most of you Red Sox fans know, he had a very mediocre record for the Sox in his postseason appearances of 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1995. His record was 1-2, with an ERA of 3.88. He had only one shining moment in the postseason for the Red Sox: winning Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS to get the Red Sox into the World Series. But he also got hit hard in that World Series in Game 2, but the Sox hit Dwight Gooden harder and won. He pitched decently in Game 6, but he famously asked out after 7 innings (or did he?), as the Mets tied the game in the eighth, and...you know the rest.

His most infamous postseason Sox moment was Game 4 of the 1990 ALCS against Oakland, as he wouldn't shut up on the mound over a call in the second inning and got his ass tossed by home plate ump Terry Cooney (pictured), and the Red Sox wound up getting swept. His record after leaving the Red Sox, in the postseason with New York and Houston, is: 11-6, with an ERA of 3.70. (Of course, this was also the time when Clemens has since been accused of taking, oops, I promised not to mention that word. Sorry.)

Adam sent me a list of Red Sox pitchers who have started and won more than one postseason game since 1975, with the pitchers who've won the most games listed first:

Curt Schilling (6 series/8 GS) 46.2 IP 6-1 3.28 ERA
Pedro Martinez (8 series/ 11 GS/2 RA) 79.1 IP 6-2 3.40 ERA
Josh Beckett (3 series/4 GS) 30 IP 4-0 1.20 ERA
Derek Lowe (8 series/6 GS/ 11 RA) 62 IP 4-4 3.05 ERA
Bruce Hurst (3 series/7 GS) 51 IP 3-2 2.29 ERA
Luis Tiant (2 series/4 GS) 34 IP 3-0 2.65 ERA
Tim Wakefield (9 series/8 GS/7 RA) 51.1 IP 3-6 7.19 ERA
Rick Wise (2 series/2 GS/ 1 RA) 12.2 IP 2-0 4.97 ERA
Daisuke Matsuzaka (3 series/4 GS) 19.2 IP 2-1 5.03 ERA

Tied with Clemens:
Jon Lester (2 series/1 GS/2 RA) 9.1 IP 1-0 1.93 ERA
Oil Can Boyd (2 series/ 3 GS) 20.2 IP 1-2 5.66 ERA

It would have been nice if Clemens had shown up more often than not for the Red Sox in the four postseason years he pitched for them. He could have helped.

By the way, in researching some of Clemens' numbers on the Baseball Reference web site, did you know it costs an amazing $440 to sponsor The Texas Con Man's page for one year? (That's one part of the "Clemens Market Crash" hasn't been affected yet.) And what a surprise, NO ONE is sponsoring it now.