Clemens Says He’s the Same : Red Sox Pitcher Wants a Few Breaks Thrown His Way

While much of the nation sits riveted to their televisions in hopes of finding out how much the President knew about the sale of arms to Iran, fans of the Boston Red Sox search for the answer to what they consider a more pressing arm issue: What’s wrong with Roger Clemens?

Clemens, last year’s American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner, blew his second big lead in 11 days Monday night and is a ho-hum 7-6 with a hardly-awe-inspiring 3.64 earned-run average.

Clemens claims he’s the same pitcher who was 15-2 at the All-Star break last season. Well, maybe a little less lucky.

“I just need to get one or two breaks here or there,” Clemens said Tuesday. “I’ve been throwing above average most of the time.”

His manager and coaches say his spring-training holdout over a contract dispute hurt his control, but he hasn’t lost the velocity that helped him strike out a major league-record 20 Seattle Mariners last year.

“He missed spring training and that had to have hurt him,” Manager John McNamara said. “But he’s throwing hard and he’s the same competitor.”

And those who have to bat against Clemens say he hasn’t lost much . . . if anything.

“Yeah, I see a difference,” Angel third baseman Doug DeCinces said, smiling. “Last year, he threw 96 miles an hour and this year it’s 95. And that off-speed forkball he struck me out with twice (Monday night) is new too.”

But how long can Clemens’ travails be attributed to misfortune and the fact he missed a few weeks in Florida?

Consider: In his first 33 starts last season, Clemens was 24-4. In 23 starts since being hit on the right elbow by Baltimore’s John Stefaro in the last regular-season game of 1986, he is 8-7.

Clemens, who did not miss a start after the incident (he lost to the Angels in the opening game of the playoffs five days later), laughs at the possibility he is still suffering any ill effects.

“I drink lots of milk,” he said. “My bones are real strong. No, that is not a problem.”

Clemens thinks he knows part of the problem, and it has more to do with the guys standing behind the plate than the ones in the batter’s box. He doesn’t think umpires are giving him the high strikes they did last season.

“I’d rather not comment on that (the umpiring) right now,” Clemens said. “I just want to weather this storm. Yes, I’ve noticed a little difference, but once you start talking about it, it gets worse.

“I don’t know if something has been said (to the umpires) or what, but I need them to be consistent and on the top of their game to help me. All I can say is that you have seen me enough to know that if I pitch nine innings and don’t get a punchout . . .”

Clemens was referring to a 6-2 complete-game, six-hitter he pitched July 1 against Baltimore in which he did not record a strikeout. But he could hardly blame the umpires for the 9-0 lead he let evaporate June 26 against the Yankees, when he yielded eight earned runs in 2 innings.

And what about that 7-0 advantage over the Angels he squandered Monday night?

Just bum luck.

“I had good velocity and a pretty good fastball left near the end (the Angels’ radar gun clocked him at 93 m.p.h. in the seventh inning),” he said. “I pitched as well as I could pitch. It came down to a play that just didn’t happen.”

Boston left fielder Jim Rice got his glove on a ball hit by Wally Joyner with two out in the seventh, but dropped it when he bumped into the wall. Joyner was credited with a two-run triple and when DeCinces followed with a homer, Clemens was looking at a shower instead of a shutout going into the eighth.

“He didn’t pitch nine innings every game last year, either,” said Bill Fischer, the Boston pitching coach. “It’s just that everything is magnified in comparison to last year’s performance. Physically, he’s fine. His confidence may not be where it was last year, but his stuff is just as good.

“Hell, he’s struggling and he still has a chance to win 20 games.”

Clemens, and the Boston fans who would like to see the Red Sox a little closer than 12 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees, still would have preferred a 1986-like start. Clemens even more so than the fans.

The contract he signed before the season opener included $300,000 in bonuses if he made this year’s All-Star team.