Roger Clemens Topic Page

One of the more memorable moments from the 2006 season was the game in late June in which Francisco Liriano faced off against Roger Clemens in his season debut for the Houston Astros. Liriano stole the spotlight from Clemens as he allowed just 2 runs through 8 innings on his way to his seventh win of the season.

The Twins continued their winning ways by taking 5 of 6 games in interleague play last week. Impressively, they beat pitchers Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens and Mark Prior. The Twins outscored their opponents 31-15 as their pitching was solid and they continued to get timely hitting. The only bad thing to say about week 12 was that the two teams in front of the Twins—the Tigers and White Sox—did just as well as the Twins.

Roger Clemens was the talk of baseball coming into his Thursday night season debut against the Twins. However, once the game started Francisco Liriano became the true star of the game. Roger Clemens struggled with his pitch count—he left the game after 5 innings with 100 pitches. The Twins managed 2 runs in the second off Clemens, and that was all he gave up. In total, he allowed 6 hits and 2 walks in the five innings he pitched. While Clemens was pretty good for a first start of the season, Liriano was better.

The Twins 8-game win streak came to an end with a 5-3 loss on Wednesday night in Houston. Carlos Silva put together another quality start, but the lack of run support and a shaky outing from Kyle Lohse combined for the loss. Silva gave up a solo homerun in the 1st inning but then put together 4 scoreless innings before allowing 1 run in the 6th and walking the only batter he faced in the 7th. Juan Rincon came in and threw a wild pitch and gave up a double which tied the game.

The Twins have roled off 7 straight victories and improved to .500 for the first time since April. Due to the success, some fans are surely starting to dream of a playoff run. I decided to give a look at just how realistic the thought of the Twins making the playoffs would be. Obviously what's going to make it tough is the two teams that are ahead of the Twins, Detroit and Chicago. Both continue to win game after game, so all the Twins have been able to do is try not to lose more ground.

The Twins pulled off their second straight sweep and improved their record to 34-34 with a late inning offensive rally against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon. Johan Santana, as usual, was strong—allowing 1 run through 7 innings. It looked like he might again fall victim to a lack of run support, but the Twins rallied for 4 runs in the top of the 8th inning.

Nobody could've guessed that the Twins would sweep the Red Sox, but they pulled it off Thursday night as they continue to play their best baseball of the season. The sweep was a crushing blow to the Sox who came into the series neck-and-neck with the Yankees. This week has by far been the biggest week of the season for the Twins. They have not only won 4 straight and 6 of their last 7, but they've also ridded themselves of Tony Batista and Juan Castro. Juan Castro was traded Thursday to the Cincinatti Reds for a low-end prospect. Also, young players like Jason Kubel, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have shined and Jason Bartlett is now getting his chance.

Roger Clemens has agreed on a pro-rated $22 million contract with the Houston Astros and will pitch in a couple starts in the minors before joining what will be a much improved starting rotation.