Clemens's next pitch

Representatives for Roger Clemens released a 49 page statistical report, designed to alter the perception that his pitching ability was fading when he left Boston. The La Times reports: Clemens "was far from being in the 'twilight or his career,' or 'washed up,' . . . as some have speculated," the Hendricks report stated."Clemens' longevity was due to his ability to adjust his style of pitching as he got older, incorporating his very effective split-finger fastball to offset the decrease in the speed of his regular fastball caused by aging." The report also analyzes Roger's performance in the context of notable peers Curt Schilling, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.



I am not qualified to dissect reams of charts, graphs and statistical analysis but here's someone who is noted Stat Guru, David Pinto from Baseball Musings: "The most interesting graphs to me, however, were the ones showing the yearly fluctuations in Rogers ERA margin compared to Johnson and Schilling. Roger's bounces up and down throughout his career. Both Johnson and Schilling start off below their career averages, have a long steady period above their averages, then fall and don't recover. The fact that Clemens bounces around a lot means he suffers years of unexpected poor performance that Schilling and Johnson don't. Those might be the times Clemens is tempted to use steroids."


The report is the latest salvo in a public relations campaign designed to alter public perception. It started with the 60 minutes interview, presided over by Roger's pal and Yankee fan Mike Wallace. Next was the defamation suit, the disclosure of a taped phone conversation and an agitated press conference. The bottom line is nothing has changed. It's too late to alter public opinion or ease his pain. Roger Clemens has a date with Congress when he is scheduled to take an oath to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The events of that day are the only report that matters.




Photo: Baseball Almanac.com