Afternoon Baseball

I saw Clemens pitch on his 39th birthday back in 2001 against the Angels. I attended the game with Arnauld (stealing Mike's tickets, I believe, because he was in Europe). Clemens pitched 7, left with a 3-2 lead, which the Yanks gave up in the 8th. But Tino Martinez, in the middle of his last great season (34 and 113 that year), hit a 2-run go-ahead HR for the second consecutive night in the bottom of the 8th. I always felt like Clemens had a lot left in the tank, but that he'd never pitch that long -- just hang around for 300 wins.

Well, since he turned 40 (Aug. 4, 2002), he is 50-20 in 98 games with a 3.13 career ERA matching his lifetime ERA. (Actually, that ERA was 3.19 before joining Houston 2 seasons ago.) He has struck out 8.6/9 inn. since hitting 40, with a K-to-BB ratio of 3:1.
By comparision, Clemens, in his 30s, was 142-80 in 301 starts with 30 CG and 8.9 K per 9, but only a 2.66:1 K-to-BB ratio and a 3.44 ERA.
(Thanks to Baseballmusings.com and its Day-by-Day database)