Number 299 is in the book. It wasn't the prettiest win Roger Clemens has ever pitched. There aren't many times in Clemens' career where he has given up more hits than innings pitched (tonight 9 hits in six innings). But he hung in there and only gave up two runs and he did strike out seven in his six innings. He pitched damn well for a guy going against a very good...well...they're great...hitting team in the Red Sox.

I have watched Clemens for his entire career. I was in New Hampshire when he broke in with the Red Sox and watched the games on affiliates of Channel 38 out of Boston. I moved to Maine by the time he went to Toronto and was able to watch his games there on Canada's Channel 6 (CBC). And now, through the power of the Internet, I can watch him pitch for the Yankees. In all the times that I have ever watched him pitch, I have never once seen him look comfortable doing so.

I watch other great pitchers: Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, and they always look comfortable and in control. They look like pitchers that know what they are doing. Clemens fidgits and tugs at places and hitches and pulls at his uniform and sniffs and makes faces. He just has never looked like he enjoyed pitching or looked like he was in control. And yet, he is one of the best ever. Who knows, maybe it hasn't made the batters too comfortable to see him so uncomfortable.

One more win. Just one more and I think this will become a more balanced place to read about baseball. I'm wrapped up in this story and I can't let it go until Clemens' conclusion to his odyssey as a player is the same as mine as a fan.