Rocket gives Yanks expected boost in 2007 debut

	RELATED • Clemens leads Yankees to fifth straight win

NEW YORK -- It wasn't until after his 108th and final pitch that the Yankee Stadium crowd felt comfortable showering Roger Clemens with the appreciation that been building since his last visit to the Bronx, when he announced his return to pinstripes. And that pitch was vintage Clemens, a splitter biting down and away from the flailing swing of Pirates lefty Ryan Doumit, preserving a one-run lead after six innings of work.

The Yankees cued Elton John's "Rocket Man," and the fans stood in a thundering ovation that roared through most of the mid-inning break and picked up again in the bottom of the sixth when the Yankees tacked on two more runs for a 6-3 lead en route to a 9-3 win.

It was the type of moment Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner likely envisioned when they signed Clemens to an exorbitant deal, and after the game, Clemens gave the endorsement that was as important as the win: a clean bill of health.

"I think, health-wise, I came through about how I expected, just for the fact that everything came so fast," he said. "Now I can settle into a routine."

After all the budding hype, however, the start itself wasn't extraordinary, save perhaps his strikeout total, on a pitching line of 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 7 K, 2 BB. Clemens did, after all, allow a run in the first inning on a two-out single by Adam LaRoche, and he yielded two more in the fourth, when Jack Wilson belted a fastball for a two-run double to the opposite field. That pitch, more than any showed that Clemens's velocity isn't what it used to be and might at times be a cause for concern.

The Yankee Stadium scoreboard credited the Rocket with one 92 mile-per-hour fastball on an afternoon when he was otherwise consistently in the 89-91 mph range, meaning there was less speed discrepancy between his fastball and his 84-86 mph split-fingered pitch. Whether it was the groin problem or simply the recognition of the advanced stage of his career, Clemens didn't seem comfortable relying on the fastball as an out pitch (though he remained unafraid to pitch inside).

"He knows he doesn't have the power and the strength he once did," manager Joe Torre said. "I think the intelligence to understand that is the reason he's still pitching today. As far as I'm concerned, he still has a variety of stuff to deceive hitters and more importantly understands himself."

Against the Pirates' lineup, of course, his splitter -- mixed with some sinking two-seamed fastballs, an occasional slider and an every-once-in-a-great-while curve -- were more than ample.

"What I saw was good enough," Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said. "[He] kept us in the game. He threw very good splitters, the slider was off the plate and the arm speed is going to get there."