« Memorial Day | Main | Killing Axioms »

May 26, 2003

Stupid Milestone Tricks

Joe Torre put Roger Clemens at unconscionable risk today in his attempt to win his 300th victory. While I'll confess I am looking forward to seeing Clemens win number 300 (although I'm glad he didn't do it today, against the Sox), Joe Torre's job isn't to get his hurler a win. It's to get his team a win, and more importantly, to get the Yankees to the playoffs. Letting Clemens throw 133 pitches today not only did him no good, it may well hurt Clemens eventual chance at the record and the Yankees' playoff hopes.

Clemens is going to win 300 games, barring catastrophic injury. He'll get at least 20 more starts this year, so there's little concern about his reaching the milestone. And as long as Clemens is healthy, the Yankees have to be considered favorites to win the AL East again. But every time Clemens throws an excessive number of pitches, it raises the chances of his suffering a career-threatening injury. It will be interesting to see how well Clemens throws in his next start, after today's overexertion. It would be a real shame if Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, fell short of 300 because his manager failed to take care of him.