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Clemens Scratched From Monday Start

Posted on: Saturday, 2 June 2007, 18:00 CDT

By JIMMY GOLEN

BOSTON - Roger Clemens was scratched from Monday's start against the Chicago White Sox because of a fatigued right groin. Clemens first experienced the pain during his last minor league outing, for Triple-A Scranton on Monday. Rather than risk additional injury, he decided to be cautious, the Yankees confirmed during Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox.

"Roger has kept us informed," manager Joe Torre said during the television broadcast. "He wasn't sure yesterday that it was going to keep him from starting, and today we got the news that he's going to need some extra time."

The injury is not believed to be serious. It is not clear when Clemens will pitch, but he will miss the four-game series at Chicago.

Kei Igawa is likely to start on Monday.

"He's definitely a possibility," Torre said. "He may be not quite where we want him to be yet, but in search of a starter as opposed to bringing somebody back on short rest is probably the way we'd like to go."

The decision to scratch Clemens was first reported by The New York Times on its Web site.

The 44-year-old, seven-time Cy Young winner came out of retirement to take a prorated share of a $28 million salary to help New York overcome a double-digit deficit in the AL East. The Yankees considered having Clemens pitch this weekend when they played the AL East-leading Red Sox, but decided to ease him in without the hubbub surrounding their biggest rivalry.

New York entered Saturday's game trailing Boston by 12 1/2 games. Clemens will lose $153,006 for each day he's not added to major league roster.

After one start at Class-A Tampa and one at Double-A Trenton, the Rocket made his final minor league start Monday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He allowed two hits and struck out six over six scoreless innings.

"You have arguably the best pitcher of our generation coming in, a guy that won championships and a guy won all kinds of awards," center fielder Johnny Damon said. "He knows what it takes to win championships and be at that next level and be a better player. His personality will be very instrumental to us."

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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