Clemens Collects His 350th Win
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by user Romiezzo
It took three tries for The Rocket's mission to be accomplished. He finally reached another milestone: to achieve 350 wins. The 44 year old right hander pitched great against the Minnesota Twins, as he allowed only one run, two hits, walked one, struck out four, and threw only 97 pitches through his eight innings of greatness. He also retired the last fifteen batters he faced. He was definitely the main factor of last night's game as the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 in Yankee Stadium to send the home crowd going home happy.
"I just feel really blessed. I don't know any other way to put it. To be linked with some of these guys that they're linking me with is just a neat event, and I appreciate it. Everything that's happened to me since 2003 has come my way as a blessing. I hope this is something that my body is telling me, that I'm getting stronger."
Clemens became the eighth player in history to reach the 350-victory plateau and the first since Warren Spahn did so for the Milwaukee Braves on Sept. 29, 1963. Yankees' manager Joe Torre recalled also catching Spahn's 300th victory, an event that the left-hander helped commemorate by offering Torre his glove from the game, an historical article that disappeared when it was stolen from a personal storage unit.
After Greg Maddux, who has 340, Torre said that 350-game winners could soon be lost forever.
"You probably won't see it," Torre said. "It's getting tougher and tougher to play this game, with all the attention and microscopic stuff that goes on. It's going to be a lot for a pitcher to put up with."
Congratulations to Roger Clemens for pitching a gem and earning his 350th victory. He did amazing against a good team to send a message. The Rocket can do it, after all of these years, he's proved to everyone that Clemens still has a little bit of fire left in him.
