At an emotional postgame news conference, Roger Clemens said he pitched Wednesday night because it's what his mother wanted him to do. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
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HOUSTON -- No one who has known Roger Clemens or knows anything about his long, well-awarded and decidedly drama-packed career was surprised in the least when the big right-hander, hobbled by a lame leg and grappling with a tragedy of the most personal sort, strode up the mound at Minute Maid Park to take his regular turn in the rotation. In the culture of professional athletics -- of which Clemens is a devout and unquestioning believer -- playing hurt is simply part of the price you pay.

If Clemens hadn't stepped out here Wednesday night against the Marlins, in front of 30,000 or so of his supporters in his adopted Texas hometown, that would have been a press-stopper. If he had decided, like so many of us probably would have, that going to work on a day of mourning was just too much to ask, then we might have been surprised.

But Clemens pitched, and he pitched well, and when he left in the seventh inning to a cheering crowd and a dugout full of awed and appreciative teammates, we all knew why he did it.

He pitched because that's what Clemens does. It's what he's done all of his life. It's what he knows how to do. It's what he believes.

Most importantly, it's what Bess Clemens wanted him to do.

"I told her I needed to go to work," the son said of a conversation he had with his mother Tuesday night, "and she told me to go to work."

Roger Clemens never knew his father, and the man who raised him as his own died of a heart attack when Roger was 9 years old. The one constant in his life was his mom. Bess was there when he first started playing baseball. She was there for many of Roger's biggest accomplishments. She was always around to talk to him about his latest start or his place in the game's history.

When Clemens decided, after the 2003 World Series, to postpone his retirement and sign with the Astros instead, he was thinking of Bess. Part of the reason he agreed to a deal with Houston was so he could pitch with his buddy Andy Pettitte while remaining close to his mom, who was frail and ailing with emphysema. It was a perfect fit.

Bess' health had been failing for years, for perhaps as long as a decade. In the last two weeks, though, she took a turn for the worse, and Clemens prepared for the inevitable. At about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, after a long night with Roger at her bedside, Bess Clemens died of complications from her disease.

Roger was there, and not long after her death he let it be known that he'd take the mound Wednesday night, as scheduled.

"She wanted him to keep playing, you know?" Pettitte said.

Clemens means so much to the Astros, in so many ways. He's been the team's steadiest pitcher over the past two years, winning a record seventh Cy Young Award last season. He's been a working inspiration to the team's younger pitchers, even as he's been away for days at a time. He's the team's biggest ambassador in the community. And, let's not forget, he puts butts in Minute Maid Park's seats.

Wednesday night, his team needed him more than ever. And he needed the team. The Astros started the week a half-game ahead of the Marlins in the National League wild card standings, but the Marlins won the first two games of this crucial four-game series, dropping Houston 1½ games behind. Clemens, the NL ERA leader, needed to be the stopper.

"I told them there was no way I was going to run out on them," Clemens said in a heart-rending postgame news conference.

Clemens had a rough start, walking the Marlins' first batter and giving up a first-inning run. But he settled down and got into his rhythm (in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, he threw a total of 26 pitches), the Astros scored a few runs and, when he left the game after 6 1-3 innings, limping slightly and sweat dripping from his brow, Houston held a 3-1 lead.

The Astros have struggled to score all season long, but they poured on seven more runs after Clemens' exit to win 10-2 -- more runs than they've produced in the Rocket's last six starts combined. Clemens earned the win, raising his record to 12-7 and lowering his ERA to 1.77.

"He went out and did his thing," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "He does what he always does."

Clemens had spent the last several days shuttling between Houston and Georgetown, Texas, as Bess' condition deteriorated, and many wondered before the game how he'd handle the accumulated stress. His mental state was only part of the problem. Clemens, who had his worst start of the season last weekend in Milwaukee, also is nursing a sore hamstring and feeling the effects of a 30-start season and nearly 200 innings on his 43-year-old body.

We never should have bothered to wonder. Few athletes, in any sport, rise to the occasion as Clemens has over the course of his unparalleled 22-year career. There have been lapses and controversies in that time, certainly, setbacks to go with all those Cy Youngs.

For the most part, though, Clemens has shown that he will climb the mound and take his turn. He will play hurt. He showed it again Wednesday night in the most important, most inspirational start of his storied career.

Just as Bess wanted him to do.