Astros Will Go With Munro, Not Clemens

Saying it wasn’t in his team’s best interest to use Roger Clemens on three days’ rest for the second time in three postseason starts, Houston Astro Manager Phil Garner said Tuesday that he would start journeyman Pete Munro today in Game 6 of the National League championship series.

Garner’s decision surprised many among the St. Louis Cardinals, including slugger Albert Pujols, who only minutes earlier had told reporters he figured the Astros would go with Clemens in a game that could clinch Houston’s first trip to the World Series.

Even Munro, who opened the season in the minor leagues, seemed somewhat taken aback.

“I’m sure that they’d rather face me than Roger,” Munro said of the Cardinals. “I mean, I’d rather face me than Roger.”

Garner said Munro, who gave up three runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings during a better-than-expected performance in Game 2, which the Astros lost, 6-4, was simply a better alternative than Clemens on short rest.

Clemens gave the Astros five solid innings while pitching on three days’ rest in Game 4 of the division series against the Atlanta Braves, but Garner said he noticed that the veteran right-hander “hit the wall a little quicker than I’ve seen him hit the wall before.” The Braves rallied for four runs after Clemens departed and won, 6-5.

Clemens will pitch Thursday on normal rest if the Cardinals force a seventh game.

Munro had a 4-7 record and a 5.15 earned-run average after signing with the Astros in June.

“We have a lot of confidence in Pete,” closer Brad Lidge said. “Sometimes he gets overlooked, but every time he goes out, he gives you a chance to win the game.”

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Lidge would be the story of the postseason in the NL if it weren’t for Houston’s Carlos Beltran and his record-tying eight homers.

The hard-throwing reliever put the finishing touches on the Cardinals in Games 3, 4 and 5, throwing 77 pitches in five scoreless innings and recording two saves and a victory.

“He deserves to be placed among the best closers in the league this year, there’s no question,” Garner said.

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St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa said he expected relievers Julian Tavarez and Steve Kline to be available today. Tavarez broke two fingers in his glove hand when he punched a dugout phone after yielding a go-ahead homer in Game 4, and Kline aggravated a torn tendon in a finger of his throwing hand in Game 2.