Roger Clemens’ son took dad deep on the Rocket’s first pitch of spring training, crushing a trademark fastball over the left-field fence Monday.
“That was probably one of the harder fastballs I cut loose,” Roger Clemens said after throwing to Koby and other Houston Astros minor-leaguers. “He got my attention.”
Then the Rocket got Koby’s. The next time his oldest son came to the plate, Roger buzzed him high and tight with another fastball. The younger Clemens dodged the pitch and then smiled at his father.
“He was like, ‘Sorry about that pitch inside. I was trying to change the view of the ball for you a little bit,'” said Koby, a third baseman who was drafted by Houston last summer. “I said, ‘I knew what you were doing.'”
Aside from the only normal human reaction —- ie. I’ve seen “The Great Santini” once and I really don’t need to see it a second time, thanks — this incident brings us two points to ponder ;
1) If an 18 year old is taking the Rocket deep, perhaps Team USA should look elsewhere for pitching help
2) If an 18 year old is taking the Rocket deep, why hasn’t the former been recruited for Team USA’s WBC squad?
If an 18 year old is taking the Rocket deep, that’s pretty disturbing.
Just kidding, I love the KKK.
That’s what his kids are called, right?
Actually, with the Clemens kids it’s the KKKKK…
Now, I wonder: Since it was a simulated game, and Clemens pere thought fit to brush back Clemens fils his next time up, was there anyone at the game hoping Clemens fils would have the chutzpah to launch a simulated bench-clearing brawl?
Good call on The Great Santini reference; this story is basically the Duvall vs. O’Keefe basketball game, but with a glinty-eyed sportscaster twist that somehow makes it cute. I’d love to find it charming that Roger brushed back his kid, but anything that ends in Clemens is anathema to me. He’s authentically weird and probably legitimately mildly crazy by this point, but giving him credit for that and liking anything about him are two different things.