More to Story for Clemens

HOUSTON —  The guy the Houston Astros are counting on today probably could fool a teenage movie clerk into thinking he qualifies for the senior discount.

He is also the only player in the clubhouse who can empathize with the flaring arthritis felt by his 55-year-old manager, whose career overlapped his own.

Yet, the only time Roger Clemens said he feels 42 years old is about 25 minutes after he is removed from each game.

“Few more bags of ice on my body,” Clemens said Friday.

Clemens may feel the weight of the baseball world on his broad shoulders today when he starts for the Astros, who need a pitcher-perfect performance to get back into the National League championship series after the St. Louis Cardinals clubbed them during victories in Games 1 and 2.

That’s fine with Clemens, whose every October start at this point could be his last.

“The last month and a half we’ve been doing it, we’ve been pitching with the back of our hair on fire, trying to put it together any way we can,” said Clemens, who was 6-0 in his last nine starts -- all Houston victories -- to help the Astros clinch the wild-card berth on the last day of the regular season.

Still, Clemens says he expects to be anxious today when he takes the mound for Game 3 at Minute Maid Park against a St. Louis lineup that hit .318 and scored an average of 7.5 runs in the first two games of the series.

“At least six guys in the lineup can hurt you with the long ball if you make a mistake,” said Clemens, who was 2-0 with a 2.36 earned-run average against the Cardinals during the regular season. It is Clemens’ grit, not his statistics, that makes Houston Manager Phil Garner confident his ace can help resurrect his team’s sagging postseason fortunes.

“He is one of the most intense competitors I’ve ever seen or ever been around,” said Garner, who retired after the 1988 season. “I think he pulls everybody up. What he definitely brings to the game, to our team, what he himself feels, is that he’s out there to win the ballgame, he’s going to do everything he can.

“But it’s not sort of a YMCA, ‘I’m-going-to-go-out, play-the-game-and-have-fun kind of deal.’ That’s not what we’re talking about. This is, ‘I love this game, yes, but we’re going to win or somebody’s going to die.’ ”

Clemens acknowledges there are times when he feels lethargic while warming up before a game, only to know things will change once he takes “the main stage with the electricity and the adrenaline rush that you’ll have.”

Garner said Clemens has maintained his effectiveness over a 21-year career despite a loss of a few miles per hour on his fastball because he takes “such great caution in studying the lineups, understanding how hitting works, knowing what he wants to do and knowing himself as well. There’s absolutely no drop-off in his ability to win ballgames or to get people out.”

Clemens credited some of the younger players in the clubhouse with helping him stick around for what will be his 29th postseason start. Andy Pettitte, also his teammate and friend on the New York Yankees, often tags along for the two-mile jog from Minute Maid Park to Interstate 10.

“I’ve had some really nice teammates who enjoy to work extra hard and not be embarrassed about doing it,” Clemens said.

The only one Clemens isn’t dazzling with his longevity is St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa, who cringed last off-season when he heard Clemens was joining the Astros and the NL Central.

“That was one unhappy day,” La Russa said, “just like [today] is not our happiest day, with him pitching.”

Clemens declined to address his thoughts on next season when prompted to do so by a horde of national media. He has too much left to ponder this season, he said, especially since he continues to field messages from friends and former teammates in New York and Boston about a potential matchup with the Astros in the World Series.

As for his dream goodbye, that tear-jerking send-off? Already had it.

“To share my emotions and the feeling I had last October with the fans in Florida, the World Series fans, the Yankee fans and the type of atmosphere that has been created here at home ... that’s why I enjoy so much what I do and why I work so hard to do it,” said Clemens, who came out of retirement this season to join his hometown Astros.

“I’m not going to look in the rearview mirror. If and when this is all done, I’ll have a big smile on my face. I didn’t leave anything behind, and I’m not going to be one of those guys who wishes they could keep going.”

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Clemens in the Playoffs

Roger Clemens’ postseason record:

*--* Year Team G IP W-L BB SO ERA 1986 Boston 5 34.0 1-1 13 28 3.97 1988 Boston 1 7.0 0-0 0 8 3.86 1990 Boston 2 7.2 0-1 5 4 3.52 1995 Boston 1 7.0 0-0 1 5 3.86 1999 N.Y. (A) 3 16.2 2-1 6 8 3.24 2000 N.Y. (A) 4 28.0 2-2 10 34 3.21 2001 N.Y. (A) 5 26.2 1-1 12 32 2.36 2002 N.Y. (A) 1 5.2 0-0 3 5 6.35 2003 N.Y. (A) 4 23.0 2-0 3 19 3.52 2004 Houston 2 12.0 1-0 8 12 3.00 Totals 28 167.2 9-6 61 155 3.44

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