Roger Clemens has a warning for anyone who steps into the batter’s box to face him the rest of the season.
“I’m going to have to pitch inside more,” he said. “There’s too many guys leaning out over the plate, so I’m going to have to start whistling balls inside and get strike one.”
He threw 59 of his 100 pitches for strikes over five innings but lost 4-2 in his 2006 debut Thursday night against the Minnesota Twins.
“I felt good,” Clemens (0-1) said after giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. “I think overall it was positive. My body felt better than expected and I hope and expect to get stronger each time I go out there.”
Clemens, 43, traveled with the rest of his teammates to Chicago for a World Series rematch against the White Sox ready for grind of pitching every fifth day. He said his focus before making his next scheduled start Tuesday at Detroit is to get even stronger. After that start Clemens will pitch July 3 in Houston against the Cubs.
Several Twins, including leadoff hitter Luis Castillo, were nearly on top of home plate facing Clemens, who believes it’s time to make some players feel a little uncomfortable.
“I’ve got kids half my age putting their nose on the outside corner,” he said. “That’s how it is. Take a couple of Advil and go get them.”
Clemens was welcomed back to the majors with the largest crowd (43,769) in the six-year history of Minute Maid Park.
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As was often the case last year, Clemens’ teammates couldn’t mount enough offense to back him against Twins lefthander Francisco Liriano, who was only 7 months old when Clemens started his big-league career.
“I’ve got a lot of work that’s in front of me,” he said. “If it entails throwing up zeroes, that’s what I have to do.
“I think I’ll have more stressful games than tonight. I felt pretty comfortable with what I was doing.
“I’m trying to fight off age as best as I can.”