The dream came true for Anthony Claggett. The call-up to the major leagues, to the Yankees , came Friday.
But the dream took a decidedly nasty turn for the 24-year-old, who drove yesterday morning from the Yanks' Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre affiliate, got to the Stadium early and took a long, awe-filled look around. End good part. The day was beyond nightmare. This was batting practice, a trip to the Ninth Circle of Hell. The final score was 22-4, and it wasn't Tony's Barber Shop over the Kiwanis. This was Indians over the Yankees , containing Claggett's eight-run, nine-hit 12/3 inning major league debut that was painful to watch.
"It went by pretty fast. I was just trying to make good pitches," said Claggett. "I left some balls up. This is the big leagues. You make a mistake, they hit them."
The right-hander, obtained from Detroit in November 2006 as part of the Gary Sheffield trade, was summoned to relieve before an already ugly Stadium crowd that wanted to tar and feather Chien-Ming Wang, who was pitiful in 11/3 innings, surrendering eight hits and eight earned runs. Wang started with a 28.93 ERA. It went to 34.50 after his third straight horrific start.
Claggett hardly brought relief. He lasted 12/3 innings and was torched by the Indians during the second inning. Never in the history of the Yankees had there been a worse inning. No one ever scored 14 runs or rapped 13 hits in an inning against the Yanks . The Indians managed both against Wang and Claggett.
Claggett surrendered six runs on five hits in the second - including a grand slam by the No. 9 hitter, Asdrubal Cabrera (his second hit of the inning), and an immediate ensuing shot by Grady Sizemore (ditto). When Claggett fanned the next batter, Mark DeRosa, to end the 37-minute, 69-pitch monstrosity of an inning, fans cheered derisively. Here was Claggett's second inning: double, two-run double, walk, single, strikeout, grand slam, solo homer, strikeout.
"It was a little disappointing. That's Baseball for you. But it is Baseball. Come back tomorrow and have another game," he said. "Get out there, be myself and do what I know I can. Funny thing is I felt pretty comfortable warming up, running out to the mound."
Claggett returned for the third inning and surrendered another run, yielding two hits and a walk after inducing a couple of fly ball outs. He was summoned to start the fourth, but Cabrera singled and Sizemore roughed him up for another Indians' double in the gap. Finally, mercifully, Claggett's debut ended.
