Clemens, Schilling Are Old Friends--Sort of

Tonight in Game 7, it will be Roger Clemens against Curt Schilling in a duel that began 10 years ago in a Houston weight room.

That’s right, one winter day, Clemens noticed that Schilling was following him around during a workout.

Clemens had heard about this young pitcher for the Astros with the cocky attitude, so he cornered him.

And for nearly an hour, Clemens, a mother hen to young power pitchers, lectured him about growing up.

Remembered Schilling: “He felt at the time that I was someone who was not taking advantage of the gifts God gave me,” Schilling said. “That I did not respect the game the way I should. That I didn’t respect teammates the way I should.”

Remembered Clemens: “It got pretty heated.”

That spring, Schilling was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he suddenly became the pitcher everyone expected.

Said Schilling: “No question, [the talk] had a big impact on me.”

Said Clemens: “I was hoping that I was not going to waste my time.”

Now, it seems, when it comes to big games, the tutor has overtaken the master.

Although Clemens was on the mound for the Yankees series’ clincher against the Atlanta Braves in 1999, his big-game abilities still require certification.

When starting in postseason games in which his team is leading or tied in the series, Clemens is 2-4 with a 4.12 ERA.

When starting when his team is leading the series, Clemens is 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA.

Schilling is 2-1 career in World Series games, and has dominated this postseason with a 4-0 record and 0.88 ERA.

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Arizona Manager Bob Brenly backed off his insistence that Byung-Hyun Kim would be his closer regardless of the situation, and in so doing essentially admitted he erred by not allowing left-hander Greg Swindell, who retired Martinez with runners on first and third to end the eighth inning of Game 5, to pitch to Jorge Posada to open the ninth Thursday night.

Posada is a switch-hitter who has more power from the left side, but Brenly went to the right-handed Kim, who gave up two devastating home runs in Game 4 the night before, a game-tying, two-run shot to Martinez in the ninth and a game-winning solo shot to Derek Jeter in the 10th.

Trailing by two runs again in the ninth Thursday night, Posada, batting from the left side, opened the inning with a double off Kim. Two outs later, Scott Brosius hit a game-tying, two-run home run off Kim, and the Yankees went on to win, 3-2, in 12 innings.

Asked before Saturday night’s game whether Kim was his automatic closer, Brenly said, “He is the closer, but you know, should [the Yankees] have a couple of lefties leading off an inning, we may go to Swindell, who has done a nice job on their left-handed hitters in this series. But if they have some right-handers stacked up and we need someone to close the game, then Kim would be the guy.”

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Randy Johnson’s first-inning strikeout of Jeter on Saturday night gave him 412 total strikeouts for the season, 372 in the regular season and 40 in the postseason. That broke Sandy Koufax’s combined major league record of 411 strikeouts in 1965. ... Arizona hit .207 (six for 29) with runners in scoring position in the first five games, the Yankees .115 (three for 26). ... Arizona has used six cleanup batters in its 16 postseason games, Reggie Sanders, Danny Bautista, Colbrunn, Finley, Matt Williams and Erubiel Durazo. The six combined for two RBIs entering Saturday. ... New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani traveled to Phoenix for Game 6 with approximately 25 family members of emergency personnel lost in the Sept. 11 attacks.