Yankees, 4, Red Sox, 2
Friday night, valuables from Boston Garden's past were auctioned. Yesterday at Fenway Park, the Red Sox put out for sale two of their valuables from the past. All bidders are welcome.
The sale began at the end of the eighth inning against the Yankees. Some 33,612 fans were at Fenway to see Roger Clemens walk from the mound in the top of the inning. Mike Greenwell jogged in from the basepaths in the bottom half.
An era of Boston baseball ended. Clemens pitched against the Yankees, gave up home runs to Mike Aldrete and Bernie Williams, and lasted until the eighth. He lost what may have been his last game as a Red Sox, 4-2. ``It was a tough day,'' said Clemens.
Clemens tipped his hat to the cheering - if not, nostalgic - fans as he walked off. He grabbed a handful of dirt from the mound to keep ... as a memory. Clemens came back out of the dugout and waved to the fans in an encore. Afterward, he said, ``I've enjoyed it; the fans have been beautiful.''
And, he said, ``I kind of wish this day had never happened.''
The past tense is used because that is what Clemens used. Time and again. Clemens said he does not know what the future will bring but, more clearly, he said he wants most of all to play for a team that will win the World Series. Clemens' words, his body language, all pointed to what seemed his belief - that team is not the Red Sox, no matter how much or how little money Boston offers him.
``I pitched hard here,'' said Clemens, ``and I tied a great name here [Cy Young's career Boston record for wins].''
Clemens was very anxious to get this final 1996 start against the Yankees started. He went out to the bullpen in right field, threw his warmups and began the walk into the dugout. ``I was a little emotional there,'' he said, ``and I had to collect my thoughts.''
On the mound for his first few warmup pitches, ``it was the same thing.'' He stood before facing Tim Raines, New York's leadoff batter, looked around Fenway ``and tried to absorb everything.'' He then struck out Raines.
In the second inning, though, Aldrete homered to center on a 1-1 count after Charlie Hayes singled to right (``The ballpark seemed to be playing pretty small today,'' said Clemens). In the third, Williams took Clemens to the bullpens.
By that inning, Clemens was noticing that he was seeing a lot of the fans. ``I don't usually see the fans ... so it was real hard to focus on the Yankees. I was trying to absorb the moment as much as I could.''
By the eighth, Clemens was out of steam. Kevin Kennedy came to the mound, suggested that it might be a good idea for Clemens to last until the ninth, have him take his warmup pitches for the final inning and then step off the mound without throwing a pitch. But Clemens couldn't get out of the eighth when the Yankees scored a run and built a 4-1 lead.
He departed to a roar. Thousands stood. So did some Yankees.
``We had some guys on the bench, we had guys giving him a round of applause when he left,'' said Yankees manager Joe Torre. ``You appreciate watching somebody like Roger Clemens pitching. If there's somebody who's a throwback, somebody who says, `Give me the ball, it's my turn to pitch and you'll get your money's worth,' it's him. In the days of trickery with pitchers, Roger's still a one-on-one-type guy.''
In the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox scored a run, loaded the bases and the departing Greenwell stepped to the plate.. Greenwell hit a soft liner that New York shortstop Derek Jeter fumbled, allowing a run to score.
``I thought about [a grand slam],'' said Greenwell. ``It was a great setting, but unfortunately it didn't work out.''
Then Kennedy removed Greenwell from the game. The left fielder tipped his batting helmet to the cheering fans as he jogged the short jog from first base to the dugout.
``I'm sad that my time here is done,'' said Greenwell. ``I told Roger and Kevin before the game that if I had a way of ending my career here, I'd want it to be with Roger.''
Which it was. But not just for one of them, seemingly the two of them.
This story ran on page c8 of the Boston Globe on 09/29/96.