20 20 Hindsight

That title is a a labored pun indeed, for a post that is, in fact, about the 20th anniversary of Roger Clemens' (first) 20 strikeout game. (Coming up April 29.) NESN replayed it the other night - they do from time to time. I have seen parts of it, but this might have been the first time I watched the whole thing. I didn't in 1986. I read about it the next day, in awe, how else can you read about something like that? 20 K - 0 Walks. Watching it, it's clearer - he made about 1 bad pitch all night, to Gorman Thomas, who lost it.... otherwise - I mean.... Looking at this game, watching Clemens on the mound, especially comparing him to his opponent, Mike Moore, who was supposed to be a star himself, but never quite made it (though he had a nice run with Tony LaRussa's A's), you can see why Clemens is Clemens. He exudes confidence. He expects to get people out. Moore? pitched a very good game that night himself (and was a decent pitcher, after all) - but he looked nervous, worried, as if things were weighing heavily upon him. Maybe I shouldn't make too much of that - but one of these pitchers is the greatest pitcher ever, and one is not.

Is Clemens the best? Given his era? It's an interesting fact - there might be, active, now, 3, 4 position players among the best ever to play the game: Bonds; A Rod; and though it's easy to forget lately - Griffey. Pujols is off to that kind of start (better than any of those guys - better, in fact, that just about anyone ever.) (From a positional point of view, a case can be made for Piazza and Pudge Rodriquez, as well.) But on the hill, the pitchers are even better - Clemens, Johnson, Maddux, Pedro - that's 4 of the best right there, with numbers not far off the all time greats - pitching in a notorious hitters era. And, except for the Rog, going strong - and the odds are good Clemens will land somewhere before the season's up. He's due for another 20 K game, after all...

Is he the best? Yeah. He's been better longer than any of those other 3 - outpitched all of them except Martinez (who's 9 years younger) last year... They've all had better seasons - Pedro has the single best pitching season ever (2000) (part of a string, from 97-02 (though hurt in 01) as good as anybody's ever), Johnson in 04, Maddux in the strike years - all better than anything Clemens offered, even '86 - but Clemens has been at it forever, never really hurt, and able to reestablish himself whenever he starts to look a bit long in the tooth. And - he has those 2 games - 20K; 0 walks - twice! Kerry Wood's 20K night might have been even better (1 hit; against a better class of team, the Astros with Biggio and Bagwell and Alou), but Roger did it twice - 10 years apart - as part of a career that lives up to it. That 1986 game - is, basically, when people realized, for sure, what they had. Not just a promising young stud - a guy moving from promising to legit. With that game, he became the best pitcher in the game, and though other people have been better over certain 3-4 year stretches, he's always been around to resume the role. What can you say?