Clemens is back - part 1 - correcting the errors

Well so many words have been written about the return of the prodigal Yankee, and I guess the sane way for me to break it down is to take it into smaller parts - otherwise you are reading a 10,000 word essay that will spiral between an emotional response and a factual analysis - both of which I will try and get to.

However, one of the ways to respond is to look at some of the more ridiculous statements that have been made today... although sadly I cant give you a link to Michael Kay turning to Al Leiter in the YES booth tonight and asking, sincerely, 'So Al, what is the difference between the AL and the NL?'... and then even more remarkably, the letters D and H didn't feature in Al's response!

They just had horrendous pitching. Until now, that is.

SI.com

That all said: There's no question that the Yankees are a better team today than they were Friday morning

Buster Olney

I appreciate these guys are going for hyperbole, but they do know that the Yankees roster is exactly the same today as it was yesterday right? Well not quite the same.

Any Red Sox fan that tells you this doesn't make the Yankees a more dangerous opponent in a month's time is fooling themselves - but lets be honest here - a lot can happen in a month. In the same way that in the first month Wang, Mussina, Pavano and Hughes found out what the DL looked like, they could all do so again in the next month (except Hughes of course, who is likely to still be on it in a month)... and equally, so could one or all of Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield etc... and if the Yankee scenario plays out, then Roger, regardless of how he pitches, is not able to keep filling rotation spots. Nor does any of this account for the fact that Roger himself can get injured as he readies himself for the big leagues.

And given that his return is a month away, where will the Yankees be in a month? We have four more weeks of the number 4 and 5 spots in the rotation being an absolute question mark every single time out - and it needs to be remembered in these 'better days' for the Yankees, that they are currently feasting on two of the worst teams in the worst league in baseball - hey not my assessment, Buster said so in that same chat today. When the Yankees finish this two week stretch, they will have to face the White Sox, the Mets, the Red Sox (possibly twice), the Angels and possibly the Blue Jays before his return - that is a number of very decent offenses that will enjoy the non - Wang / Pettitte / Mussina nights.

But the best response to the signing came from one of Boston's own finest:

After the Sox beat the Twins in Minneapolis yesterday, Schilling was asked his reaction to the Rocket's re entry into the Yankees clubhouse. Ever the blowhard, Schilling declared, "We don't need him" -- a comment of stupefying arrogance that is sure to come up a couple of million times between now and the end of the 2007 postseason.

Boston Globe

I mean quoting the guy properly would have been too difficult?

"It would have been nice to have him, but we didn't need him. We DON'T need him"

AP Sports / Yahoo

I appreciate that every Red Sox blogger has said this at some point in time, but the "author" of that article is the biggest hack that Sox fans have to put up with on a regular basis - why does the Globe believe that his talent is worth the utter garbage that he spews out on a regular basis?

Anyway, remember when I said I would break this into bits so that it wasn't a 10,000 word esay... maybe I should have said, break it down into a series of 10,000 word articles...