Sure I do! http://nytimes.com/2005/05/29/sports/baseball/29yankees.html
And here's an article from the same rag.
Clement Makes Pavano's Woes Difficult to Ignore
By MURRAY CHASS
THE Evil Empire bombed last October, and it's beginning to look as if it might have bombed last December, too.
The Red Sox humiliated the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and went on to win the World Series, too. They left themselves less time to make off-season plans for this season, but based on the first two months of the season, the Red Sox appear to have made smarter plans.
Working on a budget about two-thirds the size of the Yankees' "budget," Larry Lucchino and Theo Epstein just might have outmaneuvered George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman. If that turns out to be so, it will be Cashman, not Steinbrenner, who pays the price. Steinbrenner is already paying the price ($200 million), and he is not spending that amount of money with the idea of not winning.
The Red Sox battered the Yankees, 17-1, with a 27-hit barrage yesterday, and the performances of the starting pitchers epitomized the two-month results of the teams' winter plans. At this juncture, it appears that the Red Sox' brain trust outperformed the Yankees' brain trust. Or maybe it was just dumb luck.
Last winter, the Yankees identified starting pitching as the reason for their downfall last season. Adding capable starting pitchers, at whatever cost, was their No. 1 priority. They believed they had accomplished their mission when they signed Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright as free agents and acquired Randy Johnson in a trade.
The Red Sox also added three pitchers, all as free agents: David Wells, Matt Clement and Wade Miller. Wells has been injured and a disappointment, and Miller hasn't pitched enough since coming off the disabled list to indicate how valuable he will be to the Red Sox.
But Clement has pitched well enough to allow the Red Sox to feel they plucked the best starter out of the market. Clement, pitching six shutout innings, raised his record to 6-0 and lowered his earned run average to 3.06. Carl Pavano, the first pitcher the Red Sox shelled yesterday, gave up 5 runs and 11 hits in three and two-thirds innings, his record dropping to 4-3, his E.R.A. rising to 4.18.
The interesting aspect of their matchup was that Pavano was the free-agent pitcher the Yankees aimed for last winter while they basically ignored Clement.
"During the winter meetings," Barry Axelrod, Clement's agent, said yesterday, "Brian chatted with me several times and said, 'I may want to talk to you.' That's when they were doing their dance with Pavano, waiting to see how things played out with him."
The Red Sox also pursued Pavano, a Connecticut kid who grew up between the two hotbeds of American League East baseball. Had Pavano chosen the Red Sox, they most likely would not have also tried to sign Clement. Their budget was not limitless.
But Pavano opted to sign with the Yankees, leaving the Red Sox in the market for Clement, a 30-year-old right-hander whose won-lost record never matched his potential. In fact, his victory yesterday evened his career record at 75 victories and 75 defeats after he went 9-13 last season.
"It's probably my fault," Clement said of his career record before this season. "Last year was such a strange year. Things didn't go as well as they should have. I threw the ball last year as well as I have my whole life. The record didn't show it. You look at yourself in the mirror. Was it my fault, or something else? Could I have controlled it better? I could've controlled it better. I take responsibility for what my record was in the past."
As for the Yankees' lack of interest, he said: "I had enough interest. They had a plan that they wanted to do. They went out and got their guy early."
But Clement was talking about Johnson, not Pavano.
"I know that Randy Johnson was their No. 1 priority, which would have been mine, too," Clement said. "The Yankees did what they did. They did what they or their scouts or whoever felt would fit in here best. That's fine that they didn't call."
Eleven starts into the season, the Red Sox agree. They have an 8-3 record in games Clement has started, including their 4-3 loss to the Yankees in the second game of the season. Pavano was the Yankees' starter that day.
"The first time I was here, it was a blur," Clement said. "I had never been here before. You come in and you're getting used to your surroundings. I was probably a little overexcited that first game."
The Yankees' record in Pavano's starts is 6-5. Pavano has been as inconsistent as the record.
"I don't think his fastball is where he needs and likes it to be," said John Flaherty, who caught Pavano yesterday. "And when it's not, your location better be pretty good to get by. He's a big guy for us, and we're looking forward to his next start."
So was Pavano, though first he was looking forward to today.
"When you wake up in the morning, how you feel about yourself is how you go on," the dejected Pavano said. How did he expect to feel when he awoke today? "Tomorrow's a new day, and I'm looking forward to that day because this was very disappointing for me."