Saturday, June 2, 2007 Yanks' Clemens scratched for debut against White Sox ESPN.com news services
BOSTON -- Roger Clemens was scratched from Monday's start against the Chicago White Sox because of a fatigued right groin.
Clemens first experienced the pain during his last minor league outing, for Triple-A Scranton on Monday. Rather than risk additional injury, he decided to be cautious, the Yankees confirmed during Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox.
Clemens believes he needs an extra four to five days to recover, keeping him out of the four-game series at Chicago, and that this is not a major injury.
That timeframe would put him in line to face the Pirates in Yankee Stadium next weekend.
For now, the Yankees will send Clemens to Class-A Tampa for rehab and evaluate him day to day.
He informed the Yankees of the injury on Saturday. The decision was first reported by The New York Times on its Web site.
Manager Joe Torre, speaking before Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox, said Clemens was still in Houston.
"As of right now, he's still scheduled," Torre said.
The 44-year-old, seven-time Cy Young winner came out of retirement to take a prorated share of a $28 million salary to help New York overcome a double-digit deficit in the AL East. The Yankees considered having Clemens pitch this weekend when they played the AL East-leading Red Sox, but decided to ease him in without the hubbub surrounding their biggest rivalry.
New York entered Saturday's game trailing Boston by 12½ games.
After one start at Class-A Tampa and one at Double-A Trenton, the Rocket made his final minor league start Monday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He allowed two hits and struck out six over six scoreless innings.
"You have arguably the best pitcher of our generation coming in, a guy that won championships and a guy won all kinds of awards," center fielder Johnny Damon said. "He knows what it takes to win championships and be at that next level and be a better player. His personality will be very instrumental to us."
