Sports: Clemens might miss next start

Clemens might miss next start

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times wires

Roger Clemens is questionable for his next scheduled start, Thursday against the Devil Rays, because of a bruised right hamstring. He was hit Saturday by a sharp grounder off the bat of Detroit's Brad Ausmus.

Manager Joe Torre has to decide if it's worth starting Clemens if he's not feeling 100 percent -- unable to push fluidly and without pain off his right leg.

"We have enough bodies to pick from. We're not up against it," Torre said. "Our first priority is to make sure he's all right. ... Obviously, it didn't hit a bone or anything like that. For a bruise, especially on his push-off leg, it's just a matter of getting the irritation out of there."

If Clemens misses Thursday's start, he'd have 10 days off before he starts Game 1 of the playoffs.

"You don't want to rest somebody for 10 days," Torre told the New York Post. "It could affect your sharpness. But you have to do what you have to do. I want him out there, but his health is first."

He said he would know which way to go by today, after Clemens throws in practice one day later than usual.

INTO THE BULLPEN: Former Rays pitcher Dwight Gooden, having replaced David Cone on Monday in the Yankees rotation, will return to the bullpen for the playoffs to replace injured Ramiro Mendoza. "I'd rather have him in the bullpen without Mendoza," Torre said. "He gives us a little more experience there."

Cone, taking Gooden's place in the bullpen for the moment, has struggled in two starts since dislocating his left shoulder while fielding a popped-up bunt on Aug. 30. "You know Coney, it's more guts than anything as far as him enduring the pain," Torre said. "Maybe in the bullpen, it'll benefit him. I'm just not too sure that David's too comfortable right now.

"It's sort of a reversal of roles for Coney and Doc. We've pretty much kept the two of them on the same schedule."

With the playoff rotation shrinking from five to four, Cone is the odd man out, but he thinks he still has a chance to make the post-season roster, "so I have to try to show that I can still get hitters out and help this team."

OUT OF THE BULLPEN: Mariano Rivera pitched against the Tigers Saturday and Sunday, the first time the Yankees won two in a row since beating Toronto Sept. 12-13. Torre said it was good to have a reason to summon him, and even better to see him back in his old form, not allowing a baserunner in three innings and striking out four of the nine batters he faced.

"You lose six games in a row, you don't get to see your closer," Torre told the New York Daily News. Rivera couldn't help the Yankees during their six-game skid last week because they did not have a lead in any of them.

Although Rivera's performance has dipped slightly this season, Torre still calls him one of the Yankees' biggest weapons. "You take certain things for granted," Torre said. "It's easy to criticize him because he's not living up to what he's done in the past, but he's still very high on that totem pole."

ALSO IN THE BULLPEN: Torre said setup pitchers Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson "have pitched very consistently for us," and Stanton, criticized recently by owner George Steinbrenner, said the bullpen is ready for another title run.

"You go through a whole season, and you have two rough weeks, that's what people think most of," Nelson said. "I think we're the same as we've always been."

CHANGING PLACES: Chuck Knoblauch has been the designated hitter the past few games and Torre has indicated that he may keep him there, at least against right-handed starters, allowing Luis Sojo or Jose Vizcaino to play second base.

The only thing that makes that decision difficult is that it keeps Glenallen Hill and ex-Ray Jose Canseco on the bench. "Taking nothing away from Glenallen or Jose, but you try and generate things when you have a lot of contact guys," Torre said.