In This Dream, K’s Mean Kan’t For Gooden and Clemens

This was to be the Dream Matchup, a reprisal of their All-Star Game confrontation but with considerably more at stake.

Dwight Gooden vs. Roger Clemens in Game 2 of the World Series.

As the New York Times headline read: “The Stars at Center Stage.”

By the end of the fifth inning, however, one of the stars had exited right, the other left.

The Dream Matchup had disintegrated into a nightmare of base hits, full counts and managerial impatience.

The duel between the New York Mets’ Dr. K and the Boston Red Sox’s Lord of the Ks had struck out on its own terms.

The Red Sox won, 9-3, to take a 2-0 lead going to Boston.

Clemens pitched 4 innings to no decision, making 81 pitches. He gave up five hits and three runs. He struck out three and walked four, twice his regular-season average for nine innings.

Gooden pitched five innings and drew the loss. He gave up eight hits and five earned runs. He struck out six and walked two.

Said Boston Manager John McNamara: “You come to the park expecting the two pitchers to dominate and both have an off night. It doesn’t happen very often.”

Said Clemens: “Dwight didn’t have the good fastball he had at the All-Star game but neither did I. I had good enough stuff to get people out, but I didn’t have any rhythm. I was completely out of synch. I wasn’t really comfortable with the mound or myself. After the third inning it felt like every pitch was taking something out of me.”

Clemens made 33 regular-season starts, all on four or five days rest. He was 24-4.

Now he has made four post-season starts, the last three on three days rest.

He is 1-1 for the four starts, yielding 27 hits and 14 runs in 27 innings. He has 20 strikeouts and an uncharacteristic 11 walks in that span. He had made 370 pitches in the three playoff starts against the Angels. Did it catch up to him Sunday night?

“I was getting behind a lot and forcing the ball,” he said. “I thought my adrenalin could carry me, but my legs were shot.

“Maybe it is the three starts on three days rest, I can’t be sure. I don’t know what the plans are now, but I’ll come back again on three days if that’s what they want.”

McNamara said he would decide today, meeting with Clemens and pitching coach Bill Fischer.

The initial plan was to have Clemens start Game 5, if it’s necessary, which would mean he would pitch again on three days rest.

The 2-0 lead gives the Red Sox some leeway. Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd will pitch Game 3 Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Bruce Hurst, the winner of Game 1, will come back in Game 4 Wednesday night--maybe.

McNamara seemed to imply that a 3-0 lead might prompt him to give Hurst an additional day of rest, which would move Clemens back a day and move Al Nipper into the Game 4 start.

“We can adjust to Games 4 and 5 depending on what happens in Game 3,” McNamara said.

Of Clemens’ performance Sunday night, McNamara said: “He wouldn’t admit it, but I think it’s now possible that he’s worn down from the last three starts. This was the most inconsistent I’ve seen him all year. He had trouble with the mound from the very start and never found a groove.”

The Red Sox led, 6-2, with one out and two on in the fifth, when McNamara summoned Steve Crawford, who got the win.

McNamara said he would’ve liked for Clemens to have gotten two more outs and the win, but he said that when he went out to the mound he explained to Clemens “that this wasn’t just a win for him, it was a win for everybody. That part of it (needing the two more outs to qualify for a win) wasn’t a factor in my decision. He was struggling. He didn’t have his normal control or velocity, and we still had four innings to go.

“In fact, the first thing we had to do was get out of that inning.”

Said Clemens: “I could have gone on, but I wasn’t going to insist on it. I didn’t want to jeopardize our chances. We had a leg up on 2-0, and that’s a good feeling. A lot of people didn’t think we belonged here.”

Could he have been caught up in the duel with Gooden?

Clemens shook his head and said “that didn’t figure into it. It was just frustrating falling behind with my control, but I was having fun just being out there and just getting a chance to go to the plate.”

Clemens sacrificed once and reached base on a fielder’s choice when first baseman Keith Hernandez fielded his bunt and threw wildly to second base, drawing an error that helped trigger a three-run third inning.

A NOT-SO-CLASSIC CONFRONTATION

ROGER CLEMENS

IP H R ER BB SO 4 5 3 3 4 3

DWIGHT GOODEN

IP H R ER BB SO 5 8 6 5 2 6