Astronomical Conversion

By Ross Newhan

Feb. 23, 2004 12 AM PT

KISSIMMEE, Fla. —

The bond between them is so strong, as friends, semi-neighbors, workout zealots and brothers in arms, that it is almost as if they were programmed in some distant laboratory by some madcap pitching coach.

It is almost, Roger Clemens suggested of his relationship with Andy Pettitte, that they came off the same robotic (to use his word) assembly line.

“I think most people know by now that I wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t,” Clemens said.

Joined at the hip?

Well, there they were again, sitting next to each other Sunday, answering questions for several dozen reporters after their first official workout as members of their hometown Houston Astros, having flown to Florida together on a private plane Saturday night, having put their new uniforms on at adjoining lockers and having left the New York Yankees pretty much in tandem.

The circumstance differed, the scenario has been chronicled.

The bottom line is that Clemens ended a retirement that had just begun to follow his best bud on an adventure that was anything but programmed.

“I don’t think Andy or I would trade our experiences in New York for a minute,” Clemens said, “but we’re not looking back.

“I just hope we can create a few of those same memories [with the Astros]. If we can just get a piece of that, I’ll feel very good about getting off the couch.”

The expectations have already turned the football city that is Houston bonkers over baseball, and who could have ever predicted or programmed that?

After all, said General Manager Gerry Hunsicker, hadn’t the club’s limited resources created the perception, unfairly or otherwise, that the Astros weren’t committed to winning and hadn’t the club too often teased fans by reaching the playoffs only to never get past the first round?

“The city is starved for a big winner, not just a successful team,” Hunsicker said, “and life has changed in Astroland. We’re not flying under the radar anymore, nationally or locally.

“We may not have the tradition and history, you don’t see the banners that you do in New York and Los Angeles, but we have a special opportunity to turn Houston into a great baseball city.”

The opportunity is reflected by the fact that it took only 15 minutes to sell the 54,000 opening-day seats after the two hometown boys had signed.

The season sale is up about 3,400 from last year’s 15,000, and the Astros have a chance to draw 3 million for the only time other than 2000, their first year in what was then Enron Field.

Even Kissimmee is buzzing.

An estimated 300 fans, more than twice the usual number, lined the fences to get a glimpse of Clemens and Pettitte during the Astros’ workout, and almost all seemed to wait in line as Clemens patiently signed autographs later.

A winner of six Cy Young Awards and 311 games, he had retired at 41 to be able to watch his sons play, among other considerations.

Then Pettitte, on his way to eclipsing the Yankee record for wins by a left-hander, a taller and harder-throwing Whitey Ford, was inexplicably snubbed by the team for which he had just finished 3-1 in the postseason and 21-8 in the regular season.

Seven teams made free-agent offers. The Yankee offer was the lowest.

Or as Clemens put it Sunday:

“It came so late that you can’t really call it an offer. The same thing happened to me when I left Boston. It was just one of those ‘we’re trying to make ourselves look good’ deals.”

With the Astros having offered $31.5 million for three years and the Yankees refusing to guarantee a third year, Pettitte -- never totally comfortable in the neon lights of Manhattan -- opted to bring his family home and began lobbying Clemens to join him with the Astros.

The short version is that a resistant Rocket finally relented as his family and Pettitte’s spent a two-week Hawaiian vacation together -- of course -- in January.

The Astros had informed him at the beginning of the off-season that they would have interest if he chose to reconsider his retirement, and Clemens ultimately signed a one-year contract for $1.5 million with $3.5 million deferred and a reasonable shot at a $1.4-million attendance bonus.

He also has a verbal understanding that he can leave the club to see his sons’ games when it doesn’t interfere with his pitching schedule.

Clemens called Houston veterans Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio to make sure he wouldn’t be creating clubhouse problems.

“I wouldn’t advocate this as a trend,” Hunsicker said, “but we felt this was a unique opportunity for the team and one way that Roger would feel better about coming back.

“He’s also not the type that’s going to come in and flaunt it.”

What are the Astros getting as Clemens and Pettitte join Roy Oswalt, Wade Miller and Tim Redding in what should be one of baseball’s best rotations?

Well, the Yankees won four American League pennants and two World Series titles in the five years Clemens and Pettitte were teammates in New York.

They combined for 159 regular-season wins -- more than any other pair of teammates in that span -- and were 16-8 in the postseason.

Asked repeatedly in the news conference why he thought the Yankees failed to respond after his impressive season, Pettitte had no definitive answer other than to say that he thought, “I had a good relationship with George Steinbrenner and other people in the organization, but I guess you never know.”

The Rocket, 17-9 during the regular season, went out blazing.

What was intended to be the last of his 632 starts came in Game 4 of the World Series. He gave up three runs in the first inning but pitched six shutout innings after that.

His last eight pitches in a season of 235 innings were all clocked at 91 mph or higher, another reflection of the rigorous workout regimen that Pettitte also soon began to follow after Clemens signed with the Yankees.

“I created something of a monster,” Clemens said.

“If Andy wants to be a power pitcher until he’s 40, he has a program with which he can do that. He’s found out what his threshold is.”

On a day that Clemens said he felt akin to a senior citizen amid the young pitchers in the Astro camp, he also said that one retirement is enough for the time being. It’s now full speed ahead.

“I have a tough six or seven months ahead of me,” he said. “I’m going to be 42 [in August], and now that we’ve sold some tickets it’s time to win some games.

“I mean, I have too much pride to be just another pitcher. I made a commitment to this team and this man [he nodded at Pettitte] and I don’t want to let them down.

“I have a lot of things to balance, including the commitment I made to my boys. I’ve been able to do a lot of things in my career, and this will be another challenge.”

As in all things, however, he will not be alone. Clemens and Pettitte come bonded.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Dynamic Duo

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte were a great lefty-righty combination for the New York Yankees the last five seasons. Clemens won his sixth Cy Young award in 2001:

*--* Year Clemens Pettitte 1999 14-10, 4.60 ERA 14-11, 4.70 ERA 2000 13-8, 3.70 19-9,4.35 2001 20-3, 3.51 15-10, 3.99 2002 13-6, 4.35 13-5, 3.28 2003 17-9, 3.91 21-8, 3.94

*--*

Party of Five

A look at the 2003 statistics of this season’s starting rotation for the Houston Astros, with the addition of former New York Yankees Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The Astros open the season against Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants in Houston on April 5:

No. 1 ROY OSWALT

* A 19-game winner in 2002, he was on the disabled list three times last season.

*--* IP W-L ERA SO BB 127.1 10-5 2.97 108 29

*--*

No. 2 ANDY PETTITTE

* Hometown boy signed a $31.5-million, three-year deal with the Astros in December.

*--* IP W-L ERA SO BB 208.1 21-8 4.02 180 50

*--*

No. 3 ROGER CLEMENS

* Went to same JC in Texas (San Jacinto) as Pettitte; signed for $5 million for one season.

*--* IP W-L ERA SO BB 211.2 17-9 3.91 190 58

*--*