Elias Says ...

A daily glance inside the numbers from the world of sports.

Updated: March 17, 2006, 1:22 AM ET
By Elias Sports Bureau, Inc. | Special to ESPN Insider
A daily glance inside the numbers from the world of sports:

Baseball

• On Wednesday night, Team USA manager Buck Martinez said, "There's no better big-game pitcher in baseball than Roger Clemens." But 24 hours later, Clemens was the losing pitcher as Mexico eliminated the U.S. from the World Baseball Classic.

The fact is, the Rocket has never excelled in those situations. He has a career record of 1-2 with a 4.76 ERA in six starts with his team facing postseason elimination, and Clemens' only such win was nearly 20 years ago, in Game 7 of the Red Sox's memorable ALCS win over the Angels. His losses came in the 1990 ALCS for the Red Sox vs. the A's and in the 2004 NLCS for the Astros vs. the Cardinals.

• Clemens allowed six hits in 4 1/3 innings vs. Team Mexico, two more hits than he allowed to Mexican-born players over the last 20 years of his MLB career. Since 1986, players born in Mexico are 4-for-61 vs. Clemens in regular-season MLB play (.066, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 20 SO). Five players on Team Mexico's roster faced Clemens in MLB: Benji Gil, 1-for-15; Geronimo Gil, 2-for-14; Erubiel Durazo, 0-for-6; Alfredo Amezaga, 0-for-3; and Juan Castro, 0-for-3.


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