Clemens is Coming
by Mike Ashmore

To find out what the mood in the Trenton Thunder front office will be like today, you only need to look as far as yesterday's box score.

If everything went according to plan, Roger Clemens toed the rubber last night for the Thunder in the second of what is supposed to be a three-stop tour of the minor leagues.

Clemens, 44, signed a $28 million contract to pitch for the Yankees three weeks ago, and is making several appearances in the minors to prepare for his return to the big leagues, similar to what he did last season when he joined the Astros late in the first half of the season.

After a successful outing in Single-A Tampa last Friday, the seven-time Cy Young winner was scheduled to make Trenton the next stop on his journey back to the Bronx last night.

Despite no official announcement from the Yankees or the Thunder, fans have bought every ticket available for the possible appearance by "The Rocket" and several officials say they expect to set a new single-game attendance record.

Major leaguers draw huge crowds to Trenton, as is evidenced by when 8,729 fans packed the park on May 10th, 2003 when Derek Jeter was on a rehab assignment, setting the soon to be broken record.

The Democrat was in the Yankees clubhouse the day after Clemens announced his return, and veteran pitcher Mike Mussina didn't exactly seem to be welcoming the future Hall of Famer with open arms.

"He hasn't been around Spring Training, and he hasn't been around for any amount of time up until now, so the guys in this clubhouse have only talked to us and spent time with us," Mussina said.

"The guy is going to get respect as soon as he walks in the clubhouse, but that doesn't necessarily mean the younger guys are going to feel like they can just walk right up and talk to him when we already have some sort of relationship with everybody in here."

Some of those younger pitchers on the Yankees staff -- like Thunder alumni Phil Hughes, Matt DeSalvo and Tyler Clippard -- can only benefit from having someone like Clemens around, even if he's only there on the days he pitches.

"The most important reason to bring Roger in is to win games," said Yankees GM Brian Cashman. "But the fringe benefits are to have him around guys like Phil Hughes, and he'll get a chance to talk to him."

Thunder Notes: Tyler Clippard became the third member of the 2006 Thunder starting rotation to make his Major League debut, starting the final game of the Subway Series against the Mets on Sunday.

Clippard got his first big league win against the Mets, allowing just one run in six innings of work. He also got his first Major League hit, sending a double to the gap off of opposing starter John Maine.

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