Roger Clemens Fallout: Legacy? What Legacy?

In light of the steroid allegations in the past few months, Roger Clemens may never recover from his now tarnished reputation.

Long before the Mitchell Report came out implicating Clemens for involvement with steroids, the Rocket was looked upon as a sure-fire Hall of Famer and the greatest living pitcher in baseball history.

Long before the denials and the congressional hearings, Clemens was applauded every time he won a game to move up on baseball's all-time wins list—where he currently sits eighth with 354 wins.

He is remembered for his great accomplishments, many of which came after he left the Boston Red Sox in 1996.

Sure, Rocket Roger shocked the baseball world with a pair of 20-strikeout games in a Boston uniform 10 years apart, no less, but what followed was more impressive.

The Rocket followed that up with two Cy Young Awards in his only two seasons in Toronto, when most thought that he was washed up.

But that wasn't all.

Clemens then won a couple of World Series rings in Yankee pinstripes, and would have won a third if not for Arizona's miraculous ninth-inning comeback in Game Seven in 2001, a game in which the Rocket pitched brilliantly.

Mixed in there was that great 15-strikeout one-hitter against Alex Rodriguez's Mariners in 2000.

Clemens also made history by getting his 4,000th strikeout in his 300th career win.

Yes, yes. Great moments for the Rocket.

Sure, there were some in the media who criticized Clemens for his seemingly "prima donna" antics of not wanting to travel with the Astros and Yankees so that he could spend more time with his family during the season, and his annual retirements followed by comebacks.

But for the most part, Clemens was untouchable.

Well, for Red Sox fans, he would forever be remembered as a traitor, a guy who left the Red Sox to go to a divisional rival, Toronto, instead of trying to win a World Series with Boston.

After all, the Blue Jays had won back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993.

But when the Toronto experiment didn't work out, the Rocket demanded a trade to the Yankees, of all places.

Of course, New York had won two championships in the previous three seasons.

Yes, I was one of the many who were sucked in during the 2007 season, when Rocket Roger was reportedly contemplating a comeback with the Red Sox, among other teams.

Had he signed with Boston, I thought, all would be forgiven. All the bitterness would go away.

Of course, those of us who actually thought the Rocket would land again in Boston were sorely disappointed.

And good riddance too, considering his lackluster performance when he did return to the Yankees.

Yes, Clemens was successful in the postseason after he went to the Yankees and Astros. But what about in Boston? What was he in Red Sox postseason lore?

A choker, that's what.

At a time when others like Bret Saberhagen (1985), Frank Viola (1987), Orel Hershiser (1988), Dave Stewart (1989), and Jose Rijo (1990) were leading their respective ballclubs to World Series titles with MVP-pitching performances, the Rocket was always grounded in postseason play.

Who could forget Game Six of the 1986 World Series, when the Red Sox were six outs away from winning it all for the first time in 68 years?

Long before the Calvin Schiraldi-Bob Stanley-Bill Buckner nonsense, Clemens came up with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand with the Series on the line. There was a lot of controversy as to who made the fateful decision to remove Clemens from the game, but still, the fact remained that the Red Sox blew that game and lost the Series two nights later.

And there was Game Two of the 1988 ALCS against the Oakland A's at Fenway, with Boston already down 1-0 in the series.

Boston had to win in order to have a shot, with the next three games at the Oakland Coliseum, where the Sox had lost 14 of 15.

The Red Sox gave Clemens a 2-0 lead, and there he was, unable to hold it, giving up a three-spot in the seventh. Jose Canseco took the Rocket deep for a two-run shot. Clemens then balked a runner to second, wild-pitched him to third, and gave up an RBI base hit to Mark McGwire.

The Red Sox went on to lose, and ended up getting swept in four straight.

Game Four of the 1990 ALCS in Oakland? Getting ejected from the contest with the Red Sox down three games to none and already behind 1-0 in the second inning?

Another sweep by the A's.

There was that Clemens-Stewart head-to-head matchup too, where the Oakland righty owned the Rocket. Clemens had a paltry lifetime mark of 1-7 against his Oakland adversary.

In 1993, the Red Sox didn't make the postseason, and shockingly, it was Clemens who couldn't get it done in the regular season.

In a year when Danny Darwin and rookie Aaron Sele surprised the Red Sox by winning 15 and seven games respectively, the Red Sox had a shot at the East, staying close to the Blue Jays for a while (they had a share of first place as late as July 25th).

But Clemens, an 18-game winner a year earlier, was only 11-14 with a 4.46 ERA in an injury-plagued and inconsistent '93 season. Boston collapsed in the second half, and didn't make it.

In the opener of the 1995 ALDS, Clemens shut down the Cleveland Indians for five innings and had a 2-0 lead.

However, in a game similar to the 1988 outing against the A's, Rocket Roger couldn't hold it. Albert Belle's double drove home a run and the tying run scored when catcher Mike Macfarlane couldn't hang on to the relay throw at the plate.

Tough break, but Clemens couldn't bail out the Red Sox, as he immediately served up a go-ahead RBI single on the very next pitch.

The Red Sox went on to lose in extra innings, and like 1988 and 1990, got swept.

And when the Rocket returned for a postseason start at Fenway for the first time as a visitor, it was with the Yankees in 1999.

FOX, which carried the game, foolishly labeled it as the "Game of the Century," as it pitted the old ace (Clemens) against the new one (Pedro Martinez) in the third contest of the ALCS.

Red Sox fans surely enjoyed that one, as John Valentin took Clemens deep in the first inning, and the Red Sox never looked back, blasting New York 13-1.

Yes, we were all bitter when Clemens won his two World Series rings in 1999, a couple weeks after that 13-1 loss, and 2000.

I know I was.

That 1999 ALCS against the Yankees was devastating, especially given the bad calls that went in the Yankees' favor throughout the series.

How could Roger become a traitor and win with the century-long rivals?

I certainly enjoyed the Yankees' loss to Arizona in 2001, and in what was a roller-coaster ride, was enraged two years later when the Yankees' eighth-inning comeback in Game Seven against the Red Sox not only let Clemens off the hook but also paved the way for Aaron bleeping Boone.

But now, after a dozen years since the Rocket's departure, it's time to move on.

The Red Sox have won two titles of their own, in 2004 and 2007, to match Roger's own individual feat.

Meanwhile, the Rocket has finally been exposed.

His legacy is gone forever.

It's time to bury the bitterness and just move on. It's time to forget about the Rocket.

Roger who?