Clemens Shows It’s Not Over

This didn’t feel like a send-off to the Hall of Fame. More like a prelude to the World Series.

Roger Clemens, hoping for at least one more postseason start before fashioning the first draft of his induction speech, turned in a vintage performance Saturday at Minute Maid Park during the Houston Astros’ 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 3 of the National League championship series.

Increasingly relying on a devastating split-fingered fastball the deeper he pitched into the game, Clemens held the potent Cardinals scoreless over the final five innings of a masterful seven-inning outing before closer Brad Lidge pitched the final two innings for the save.

“As the game went on,” Clemens said, “I was sharper and my split was a little more violent.”

Clemens recorded four of his seven strikeouts in his final two innings, getting pinch-hitter Roger Cedeno to chase an 89-mph splitter to end the seventh.

“When he knew he was close to the end, he got stronger,” said Houston Manager Phil Garner, whose team trails in the best-of-seven series, two games to one.

“He didn’t get in trouble, he got them out. That’s what he’s been doing so well for us right there, just stopping it and not letting it go any further.”

Entrusted with a 3-2 lead, Lidge pitched a scoreless eighth before Carlos Beltran and Lance Berkman hit solo homers in the bottom of the inning to give the closer a bigger cushion.

Lidge almost needed that cushion after he issued a leadoff walk to Jim Edmonds in the ninth and hit pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson with a pitch with two out, putting runners on first and second. But Lidge struck out pinch-hitter John Mabry on an 89-mph slider to complete an outing in which he needed 42 pitches.

Clemens said Lidge was “another guy that if I would have had for a long time in my career, there’s no telling how many wins I would have had.”

If the Astros can win Game 4 today or Game 5 on Monday, they would probably bring back Clemens on three days’ rest in Game 6 on Wednesday in St. Louis. Clemens did not receive a decision after pitching five solid innings on short rest in Game 4 of the NL division series.

“It doesn’t stop here,” Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell said. “We can’t be satisfied now.”

Having squandered early leads in the first two games of the series, Houston tried a different approach after falling behind in the first inning on Larry Walker’s solo homer to center.

The Astros, who stranded 11 runners in Game 2, appeared on the verge of frittering away another opportunity when Cardinal starter Jeff Suppan induced a double-play grounder from Bagwell in the bottom of the first, leaving Beltran on second with two out.

But Berkman hit a run-scoring single to center and Jeff Kent followed with a two-run homer to left, giving Houston a 3-1 advantage.

Edmonds hit a solo homer into the Astro bullpen in right-center leading off the second, making it 3-2, before Clemens began to locate his rhythm and his nasty splitter.

“When it was 3-2 and you get into the middle of the game, I think we felt like we were in a spot to get something done,” Cardinal third baseman Scott Rolen said. “To his credit, he didn’t give us that opportunity.”

The only threat St. Louis could muster against Clemens the rest of the way came in the fourth, when a two-out walk to Reggie Sanders put runners on first and second. Clemens then struck out Mike Matheny on an 84-mph slider to end the inning.

“His concentration is unsurpassed among anyone I’ve caught,” Houston catcher Brad Ausmus said of Clemens.

Lidge’s performance in his series debut was a boost for an Astro bullpen that had gone a combined 0-2 while giving up 10 hits and nine earned runs in 6 2/3 innings in Games 1 and 2.

When Lidge trotted toward the mound from the bullpen before the eighth, the scoreboard marking the occasion by flashing Brad “Lights Out” Lidge, it marked the first time the Cardinals had faced a closer in a save situation in seven postseason games.

“Hopefully, we can give him the day off [today] and let him rest,” said Rolen, who struck out chasing an 88-mph slider from Lidge in the eighth.

An even more disheartening sight for the Cardinals would be that of Clemens taking the mound again in the series.

Said Garner: “I don’t think this is the last game he’s going to pitch.”