Selasa, 25 September 2007

CLEMENTS WILL BE ABSENT ON TUESDAY UNTIL AT LEAST THE WEEKEND

TAMPA -- Yankees right-hander Roger Clemens was scratched from his scheduled start against the Devil Rays on Tuesday and will not pitch until at least the weekend, the team announced.

Clemens, 45, had been pushed back to Tuesday after feeling a tweak in his left hamstring while performing conditioning exercises last Thursday during the club's off-day.

While the Yankees remained cautiously optimistic that Clemens would be able to pitch on Tuesday, manager Joe Torre had said that if there was any doubt about the state of Clemens' hamstring, he would be removed from the start. An official announcement was made at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Left-hander Kei Igawa was inserted as New York's starting pitcher as the club prepared to open a three-game series at Tropicana Field, hoping to clinch a playoff berth with their magic number at one entering play.

Igawa last pitched in relief on Saturday against the Blue Jays, recording one out. He has not started a Major League game since July 26 at Kansas City.

Clemens is 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) for the Yankees since agreeing to a pro-rated one year, $28 million contract in May.

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner has made just two starts in September due to ligament damage in his pitching elbow and the hamstring injury, though the club hopes to have him make at least one regular season appearance -- which would have to come at Baltimore over the weekend -- before lining up for a potential playoff start.

source: Bryan Hock/MLB.com

Tidak ada komentar: