Clement won't get written off

CHICAGO -- Terry Francona is not going to throw Matt Clement under the bus, be it operated by the CTA or MBTA.

But it's highly possible, if not probable, Clement will rank as option No. 3 for the Red Sox' Game 5 starter, if that becomes a necessity, behind Bronson Arroyo, or David Wells on three days' rest. Clement was asked to be in the bullpen for tomorrow's Game 3.

That's not a strategy to adopt for a pitcher who hasn't spent a day in the pen since 1998, his rookie year, and who was on line to pitch the game that would determine whether his team advances to the next round.

''We're trying to leave every option available so we can win," Francona said yesterday, then admonished his interrogators that it was silly to pursue hypotheticals when Wells had yet to throw a pitch in the series.

The Red Sox have $25.5 million invested in Clement, under the terms of a contract that has another two years to run. They will not simply yank him from the rotation without some attempt at allowing him to save face. Maybe he comes out of the bullpen tomorrow, gets a couple of outs, and puts to rest, at least temporarily, the growing conviction that when the spotlight is brightest, he fades into the shadows.

''That's always been the rap," said one major league scout who watched Clement labor through 3 1/3 excruciating innings Tuesday, allowing eight runs while consistently missing his target by a wide margin. When Clement, head lowered, walked off the mound to the sound of what has been for years the White Sox national anthem, ''Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye," you half-expected a hooded executioner waiting for him on the top step of the dugout.

Bad body language is another rap that has followed Clement in his travels from the Padres to the Marlins to the Cubs and now the Red Sox, the kind of peripheral issue that helps explain how a guy with Clement's array of pitches moves around as much as he has. But while the TV commentators hammer away at Clement's supposed lack of big-game success, he followed a mediocre effort in the '03 division playoffs with a strong outing in Game 4 of the NLCS against Florida, the eventual World Series champions.

Maybe Wells's knee aches after last night's start, or Francona has no choice but to use Arroyo in Game 3 or 4. That's why the Sox are hedging their bets. No sense in etching anything in stone at a time when teams have no choice but to remain fluid, as the Red Sox proved last season with Derek Lowe, who went into the postseason as the 10th man on the staff.

So no one will officially rule out what might become necessary, Clement taking the ball in the finale. And if Clement's arm doesn't feel right tomorrow, he may never even go to the pen. ''We're not going to do anything unfair," Francona said.

Clement, who is still experiencing soreness in his right quadriceps and left wrist after being hit by a Carl Everett line drive, did a little throwing on the side yesterday.

''I'm going to do whatever they want me to do," he said. ''Whatever it takes. If that means pitching out of the pen, that's what I'm going to do. If it means Game 5, I'm going to do that. And if it means I don't pitch, I'm going to do that. I'm going to be ready for whatever it may be."

But there was no shortage of searching for answers why Clement, a 10-game winner and an All-Star at the break, has won only three times since. ESPN analyst Rick Sutcliffe, the former big league pitcher who worked with Clement when he was in the minor leagues with the Padres, said he'd been told Clement was tipping his pitches, an idea that in Sox official circles elicited this response: We'll check it out, but we don't think so.

There was speculation Clement was hiding an injury, or that his asthma might have sapped his energy. Not so, said a close friend who has known Clement his entire career. ''I talked to him on Monday and he said he felt great," the friend said. ''Usually before a start he says he's OK, but he said he felt great."

Clement is not demonstrative, but he is very intense on the day he pitches, and Tuesday, that intensity may have been ratcheted too high. Clement was warming up in the visitors' bullpen even before Jose Contreras, the home team's pitcher, began his warmups. He probably threw 30 pitches before Contreras had finished stretching.

If there is a second time around, will he be more under control, as he was with the Cubs? Judging by the doubts expressed openly by some of his teammates, including Johnny Damon and David Ortiz, the Sox clubhouse is not ready to bet the farm on it, and neither is management. So the Sox keep their options open, and Clement heads for the pen.

Is it tough to regain confidence under such circumstances?

''I don't have much choice," Clement said. ''I have to be ready to go. You don't have a whole lot of choice in how you're going to do it. You've just got to be able to do it."

But know this: The Sox, especially after losing again last night, are only too aware that their pitching problems do not begin and end with Matt Clement.