Clemens Returns as His Old Self

Yankees 5, Tigers 2

Roger Clemens, who turned 45 this month, must have been conscious of every wrinkle on his face during the top of the fifth inning yesterday at Yankee Stadium. Staring back at him from home plate was Cameron Maybin, the highly acclaimed 20-year-old who made his major league debut Friday for the Detroit Tigers.

In a battle of the ages, if not for the ages, youth prevailed. Maybin hit his first career home run to give Detroit a lead.

prevail v. 戰勝

But Clemens never style="background: Wheat"buckled. He routinely pitched out of jams, relying on years of experience to keep the score close.

buckle v. 垮掉，讓步

The Yankees' offense took it from there, erupting for four runs in the sixth inning to secure a 5-2 victory over the Tigers.

erupt v. 噴出

“I expect him to give us a chance to win,” Manager Joe Torre said of Clemens, who tied a season high with eight strikeouts over six innings. “He did more than that today.”

The Yankees (69-54) have apparently fully rebounded from their three-game losing streak this week, beating the Tigers on consecutive days in convincing fashion.

Like a fine wine — or a 40-something pitcher, for that matter — yesterday’s victory needed some time to reach its peak. When Clemens walked off the field for his final time of the afternoon, after pitching the top of the sixth inning, the Yankees trailed, 2-1. But Bobby Abreu's two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning put them ahead for good and put Clemens (5-5) in line for the victory.

“Talk to our hitters; they're getting the job done for us,” Clemens said. “They did it again today.”

So did Clemens, who pitched well for the second consecutive time. His last outing was Aug. 7, when he hit Alex Rios in the middle of the back in a 9-2 victory in Toronto. He was ejected for throwing at Rios and suspended for five games.

But there were few signs of rust on this sunny afternoon. Clemens allowed 2 runs, 10 hits and no walks. His stuff was not overpowering, but he struck out two batters in each of the first three innings. Clemens was replaced after throwing 108 pitches, the last of which induced Curtis Granderson to pop out to shortstop with the bases loaded.

The Yankees took a lead in the second inning, when Jorge Posada hit a solo home run against the right-handed starter Chad Durbin (7-6). But Clemens gave away the lead on Ryan Raburn's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the fourth.

The score was still tied at 1-1 in the fifth when Maybin faced Clemens, who won the second of his seven Cy Young awards the year Maybin was born. The leadoff homer by Maybin barely sailed over the wall in center field, and it bounced backward, landing on the outfield grass.

“I'm facing a lot of guys that are younger than me these days,” Clemens said when asked about Maybin, who collected his first major league hit, a single, in the third inning.

Clemens’s fifth strikeout, against Granderson in the third inning, was his 1,000th as a Yankee. No. 1,001, also in the third, was much more impressive. With runners at first and third, Marcus Thames went down swinging for the second out. Maybin, who was on first base, attempted to steal on the play.

As Posada threw toward second, Brandon Inge, who had been on third, headed for home.

The ball, however, never reached second base. Clemens intercepted it, then chased down Inge, tagging him between third and home plate for a double play. Was it by design? It depends on who one asks.

Clemens said he and Posada worked on the play a few years ago in spring training, but that this time he just reacted spontaneously. Posada indicated that there was more planning involved.

spontaneous a. 無意識的，不由自主的

Either way, the play kept a run from scoring. But with Durbin holding the Yankees in check between Posada's homer and Abreu's, retiring 10 of 14 batters, the Yankees were unable to capitalize.

That changed in the sixth, when Derek Jeter led off with a single. The next batter, Abreu, turned Yankee Stadium into a giant pinball machine, launching a two-run homer that caromed off the left-field foul pole and landed in foul territory. The hit gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

carom v. 碰擊而反跳

“It was great,” Torre said of Abreu's at-bat, which included four pitches from Durbin that were fouled off.

The Yankees added two runs after Durbin left in the sixth. Robinson Canó and Andy Phillips hit run-scoring singles, putting the Yankees ahead by three runs.

The bullpen did not miss a beat after Clemens departed.

Kyle Farnsworth pitched a perfect seventh inning; he even struck out Gary Sheffield, much to the delight of the crowd of 54,802.

Sheffield, whom the Yankees traded to the Tigers in the off-season, finished 3 for 5. He was booed before and after each at-bat.

“Just an out to me,” Farnsworth said when asked about his encounter with Sheffield, who attracted headlines recently for saying that during his three seasons with the Yankees, Torre favored white players over black players.

Luis Vizcaíno allowed one hit in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 20th save, distancing himself from a handful of poor outings last week.

“I don't have to prove or show anything,” Rivera said. “I know what I'm capable of doing.”

Rivera is 37, which may seem young to Clemens. Like Clemens, he is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning. But they each pitched as if they were in their youth, holding yesterday's victory in place like bookends.