Yes, it's Clemens vs. Maddux tonight at 7pm, Central. I so want to go to the game, but it's hard to rationalize driving three hours each way just to watch a three hour game. Especially one where the main attractions will both be gone by the seventh or eighth inning; with Maddux probably gone after six.
As marquee as the matchup sounds, it's still a 42-year-old pitcher who's still very good but could fall off a cliff at any time against a 39-year-old pitcher who's still somewhat good who quite possibly is currently falling off that cliff. This definitely isn't 1997 anymore...
Anyways, lets hope the Astros can finally get the Rocket a win. He has four incredibly pitched games, but only one win to show for it. (And yes, I know wins are an extremely overrated stat.) It would be great to see him get to 350 wins--or maybe even, ahem, 363--but with the Astros' anemic offense, he might have to pitch until he's 50 to get there.
Anyways, here's an interesting tidbit I just learned recently that very well might only interest me: After their respective age-41 seasons, as calculated by BB-Ref, Clemens had 328 wins after winning 18 in his age-41 season, and Warren Spahn had 327 wins after winning, yup, 18 in his.
Spahn was actually about 8 months younger during his age-41 season and the following year he won 23 games thanks to his Milwaukee Braves featuring the third best offense in the league--a far cry from Houston's current second-to-last ranking--so the road ahead will be tough for Roger. But a couple solid 14- or 15-win type seasons followed by a six- or seven-win 2007 curtain call in his age-44 season (when he actually turns 45) will get him past Spahnny.
And if he can somehow churn out three straight 15-win campaigns, he'll be in some very select company indeed...
But that's dreaming. Here's hoping for number 330 tonight.
Comments