Haven't done one of these in awhile.

Bill James, in his latest Historical Abstract says that, though he didn't rank Roger Clemens as the greatest pitcher ever to play the game of baseball, there's a darn good argument for that view. I'm beginning to think that as the years move on, it's becoming more and more clear that he is the greatest ever. Now, for those of you who know me, this might come as a bit of a shock, as I've done my fair share of "ROOOOOGGEERRRRRRR" yelling (mostly at my TV) in the past. But I think that nowadays most Red Sox fans have been able to make their peace with Clemens.

Look at the numbers for this year alone. His K-numbers are relatively modest; he's got 123 strikeouts in 135 innings. He's got only a 3-1 K to BB ratio. But his earned run average is 1.40. ONE POINT FUCKING FOUR ZERO. MLB.com's stats page is screwing up, so it's not giving me the season ERA leaders like I want, but I can bet, if the season ended today, that would be among the lowest ERA totals since the War. I mean, Bob Gibson beat it, pitching in a dead-ball era with a higher mound. People talk about Pedro Martinez's 2000 campaign as being the best season since Gibson's, but Clemens has a better season going right now. Better. The guy is mind-boggling. It's totally incredible. I can only imagine that whatever argument for Clemens James was citing is only getting better and better, and with this season, I would have a very difficult time seeing how he wouldn't be in at least the top two.

That is all.