He was a bottled Rocket

NEW YORK - He lasted 57 pitches. He didn't get out of third inning. Now, the question remains: what becomes of Roger Clemens? Will we have to wait until Cooperstown beckons? Or will we see him, perhaps, next week in Fenway Park?

Not even his manager knows for sure. (Or if he does, he isn't saying.) And, with Clemens, one never knows.

Clemens had to leave last night's American League Division Series game against the Indians because of a strained left hamstring, putting his immediate future in doubt. Under new rules implemented for this postseason, a team can replace an injured player on its roster during a series. But the injured player would not be able to participate in the next round.

"That's being talked about," Yankees manager Joe Torre said after his team had extended the series to a fourth game with an 8-4 victory. "He wouldn't be eligible again until the World Series [if he was replaced] so it's something we're discussing."

Clemens, who had last pitched Sept. 16, said he was fine in interviews leading up to last night's game. But it was clear he didn't have his best stuff and Torre said Clemens had to have his hamstring wrapped before the second inning, when Phil Hughes was warming up. And, as it turned out, Hughes was summoned in the third, right after Clemens recorded his only strikeout of the game.

"I don't want to say it's heartbreaking," Torre said, "because he wouldn't want me to say that. But he was very unhappy when we took him out, not because he felt he could pitch more, but because he was really upset that he was out there to do a job and he had to leave at that point."

Wang gets the nod

Chien-Ming Wang will get the start tonight in Game 4, going on three days' rest. The other option was Mike Mussina. "He's a 19-game winner," Torre said of Wang. "He's pitched well at [Yankee] Stadium. Moose hasn't pitched in a while." Paul Byrd goes for the Indians . . . It was impossible to understate the importance of Hughes's performance. After giving up a run-scoring double to Jhonny Peralta, which made it 3-0 Cleveland, the rookie righthander settled down and pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. It was reminiscent of the 2003 ALCS performance by Mussina in Game 7, who similarly held the fort against the Red Sox and allowed the Yankees to get back into the game. "I was told beforehand to be ready for anything and I just tried to stay focused out there and keep the damage to a minimum," Hughes said. Torre had been impressed by Hughes's pitching in the otherwise lost evening of Game 1. Last night, "he looked like a seasoned pro out there," the manager said. "You look in his eye and it wasn't a surprise to him. That's a pretty good indication of what the kid has got." . . . The Indians had their third right fielder in as many games, going with old friend Trot Nixon last night. Franklin Gutierrez started Game 1 and Jason Michaels started Game 2. It was Nixon who hit the big home run off Clemens to provide the only run in the epic 2000 Red Sox-Yankees matchup between the Rocket and Pedro Martínez at Yankee Stadium. And Nixon made Indians manager Eric Wedge look especially smart when he homered in the second, a line shot that bounced off the top of the right-field wall. Nixon also doubled in a run in the eighth, but he committed a huge error in the sixth, turning a bases-loaded single into a triple when the ball skipped by him . . . The game was another marathon affair: 3 hours 38 minutes. Game 1 was 3:44 while Game 2, which went 11 innings, went 4:23 . . . As anticipated, Jason Giambi was in the starting lineup for the Yankees for the first time in the series, replacing Doug Mientkiewicz at first base. He went hitless in two at-bats before being replaced by - yup - Mientkiewicz in the sixth . . . Head-scratching play of the game was turned in by Indians catcher Victor Martinez. With Hideki Matsui on second and one out, Melky Cabrera hit a dribbler in front of the plate. Martinez tried to get Matsui at third instead of going for the easy out at first. But Matsui beat the throw. He then scored the Yankees' first run when Johnny Damon singled him home. "He got a little greedy," Wedge said of Martinez. "At that point in the game, when we're up a couple runs, we need to take the out at first." . . . Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter participated in his 49th ALDS game and his 122d postseason game, passing former teammate Bernie Williams for the No. 1 spot on baseball's all-time list. The list includes 41 ALCS and 32 World Series appearances.