Clemens Rockets His Way Past Seaver

Roger Clemens clearly recalls the days in 1986 when he sat beside Tom Seaver on the Boston bench, trying to absorb everything the aging ace taught him about pitching.

Now, Clemens is no longer next to Seaver. The Rocket is ahead of him.

Clemens moved past Seaver into fourth place on the career strikeout list, winning his 10th consecutive decision as the New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2, Monday night.

“Tom Seaver is just a tremendous name, and a tremendous pitcher and a tremendous person,” said Clemens, who has 3,643 strikeouts. “He was a teammate, and in the short time he was, I was able to learn a lot from him.”

Clemens (14-1) tied Arizona’s Curt Schilling for most victories in the majors. His 274th victory put him ahead of former Yankee Hall of Famer Red Ruffing for 27th place.

Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, Jorge Posada and Shane Spencer homered for New York. For the second consecutive day against Toronto, the Yankees tied a season high for homers.

Posada homered in the fourth, and Spencer hit his first home run since June 27, a two-run drive in the seventh.

Jose Cruz Jr. and Alex Gonzalez homered for the Toronto runs.

Clemens is unbeaten in 11 starts, and his winning streak is the longest by a Yankee pitcher since Jimmy Key won 11 in a row in 1994. Clemens is 9-0 at Yankee Stadium.

Cleveland 2, Chicago 0--Rookie C.C. Sabathia took a shutout into the seventh inning and Juan Gonzalez homered, lifting the Indians to a victory over the White Sox at Cleveland and into first place in the AL Central.

Sabathia (10-3) gave up two hits in six-plus innings as the Indians won for the sixth time in seven games and took over the division lead for the first time since June 26.

Gonzalez hit his 26th homer in the second inning off Mark Buehrle (7-6) and added an RBI single in the eighth off Gary Glover.

Seattle 3, Minnesota 2--Jamie Moyer (10-5) gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven as the Mariners completed a four-game sweep at Minneapolis.

Minnesota has lost nine of 12 since the All-Star break. Brad Radke (10-7) lost his third consecutive start, giving up three runs--one was unearned--and nine hits in eight innings. He struck out seven.

Oakland 7, Kansas City 2--Tim Hudson won his fifth consecutive decision, giving up two runs and five hits in seven innings at Kansas City, Mo. Hudson (12-5) is 5-0 with a 2.11 ERA in his last six starts and is a major factor in helping Oakland (53-46) get back into the wild-card race after an 8-18 start.

Ron Gant hit his first homer for Oakland, a three-run drive in the second inning.

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Movin’ On Up

Career strikeout leaders:

1. Nolan Ryan: 5,714

2. Steve Carlton: 4,136

3. Bert Blyleven: 3,701

4. Roger Clemens: 3,643

5. Tom Seaver: 3,640