Roger Clemens (0-0), “The Rocket”, will take the mound for the New York Yankees against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Yankee Stadium today (1:05 p.m. ET) for the first time since the 2003 season, a year where he went 17-9 with a 3.91 ERA. Following the 2003 season, Clemens announced his retirement only to join his friend Andy Pettitte with the Houston Astros in the 2004-06 seasons. Clemens won the Cy Young Award in 2004 while with the Astros. In May Clemens announced he would return to the New York Yankees, a team in desperate need of pitching help.
The Yankees, winners of four straight games, will face Pirates lefty Paul Maholm (2-8, 5.35 ERA). Maholm, of Greenwood, Miss., came to the Pirates via the 2003 draft out of Mississippi State University as the 8th overall selection. Maholm has started 48 games in his career and has a 13-19 record with an overall era of 4.54.
The Yankees, sitting in third place of the American League East Division 10.5 games behind the league leading Boston Red Sox, will try for their second win of the weekend three game series vs. the Pirates.
The Yankees won Friday’s game 5-4 on a Derek Jeter game-winning infield single in the 10th inning. Chris Duffy put Pittsburgh ahead 4-2 in the seventh with a two-run, inside-the-park homer that sailed over center fielder Melky Cabrera and bounced to the wall, but New York tied the score in the bottom half when Jeter chased Tom Gorzelanny with an RBI single and Jorge Posada hit a run-scoring single off Salomon Torres.
Oddsmakers favor the Yankees today with a money line price of -240 while the Pirates are getting +210 ml juice. The total is holding at 9.5. Early money shows 85% of the wagers going on the OVER 9.5 while 72% favor the Yankees on the ml.
