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Announcement by Clemens overshadows Yankees' win

May 6, 2007 - 11:56 PM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Just as the New York Yankees have started to right the ship, Roger Clemens is apparently entering the fray.

A seven-time Cy Young Award winner, Clemens announced that he is returning to the Yankees, who captured their fifth win in the last six games with a 5-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.

In the middle of the seventh inning with New York leading, 3-0, Clemens made the announcement over the public address system from the owner's box, declaring that it was "a privilege to be back."

The return of Clemens, who helped lead the Yankees to World Series titles in 1999 and 2000, could not come at a better time for New York, which has struggled with its starting pitching for most of the season.

"I came back to do the only thing they know how to do here, win a championship," Clemens said. "Anything else is a failure. It's like coming back home. You feel like you are welcome. It's great to see this staff getting healthy. That makes me more excited." Due to injuries to Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang and Carl Pavano, the Yankees have been forced to already start 10 pitchers, including five rookies this season - a first in the illustrious history of the franchise.

"It makes us a little more secure," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "We have been reminded many times about the 10 starters we have used already. Roger will add a lot of stability. Once we get healthy, we will have enough starters where we can try to take care of every one of them with an extra day's rest here or there."

One of those young pitchers that the team has had to rely on is Darrell Rasner (1-1), who threw 5 2/3 strong innings on Sunday. Called up from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Rasner allowed three hits, issued two walks and struck out four en route to his first win of the season.

"He (Rasner) did a great job today and gave our offense a chance to break through," Torre said. "We just need to keep control of the games and give our offense a chance to make a difference.

"You are going to know early with Rasner. He is either going to be able to locate or not. When he gets the ball down, he can frustrate a ball club because he changes speeds enough and moves the ball in and out."

The solid outing came a day after Wang carried a bid for a perfect game in the eighth inning before settling for an 8-1 win.

The Yankees got the offense going in the fifth as Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu both singled home a run against Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn (2-3).

Josh Phelps, who scored on Jeter's hit, barreled into catcher Kenji Johjima on a play at the plate before the ball arrived, leading to some heated moments later.

"He kind of went out of his way to upend him," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "I don't know why."

In the sixth, Phelps was hit with a pitch by Washburn before both benches were warned by plate umpire Mike Everitt. Yankees reliever Scott Proctor answered back in the top of the seventh when he threw behind shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt with two out, getting ejected along with Torre after both teams flooded onto the field.

Clemens' then made his surprising announcement before the bottom of the frame, when Abreu ripped an RBI double and Hideki Matsui added an RBI single to complete the scoring.

Matsui finished with two hits in the game, becoming the 46th Japanese player to collect 2,000 career hits. Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki is among that group.

"I think it's remarkable what this young man has accomplished in two countries," Torre said. "To be recognized in Japan with the equivalent of our Hall of Fame, he certainly deserves it. I was happy for him because when individual goals get in the way of team goals, it's tougher to do it."

Abreu and Jeter also had two hits for the Yankees, who captured their eighth win in their 11 meetings with the Mariners at home.