What the hell did Clay not earn? HE PITCHED BAD IN TWO MEANINGLESS GAMES. Focus and pressure have a direct correlation. If the meaningless games he's pitching in are... meaningless, and he knows it, why would he waste bullets by giving his 200% in a meaningless game, and not try some new things, perhaps?
How the hell has Dice-K earned to pitch game 3 but Clay hasn't? Seniority? Please. He's been injured a huge chunk of the year, and most of when he hasn't been injured he's pitched very poorly. But four non-bed-s***ing starts at the end of the season, one of which in a completely meaningless game (read: unimportant. the results are not at all telling or indicative of players' true selves), and another largely unimportant since the division race was over but not formally finished.