Matt Clement

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**Matt Clement**

St. Louis Cardinals — No. 33
Starting Pitcher
Born: August 12, 1974 (1974-08-12) (age 33)
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
September 6, 1998 for the San Diego Padres
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Win-loss	87-86
Earned Run Average	4.47
Strikeouts	1217
Teams
San Diego Padres (1998-2000) Florida Marlins (2001) Chicago Cubs (2001-2004) Boston Red Sox (2005-2006) St. Louis Cardinals (2008-present)

Matthew Paul Clement [cluh-MENT] (born August 12, 1974 in McCandless Township, Pennsylvania) is a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Previously, Clement played for the San Diego Padres (1998-2000), Florida Marlins (2001), Chicago Cubs (2002-2004) and Boston Red Sox (2005-2006). While on the Red Sox active roster, he was injured all of the 2007 season. He bats and throws right-handed.

From 1998 through 2005, Clement has posted an 82-81 record with 1174 strikeouts and a 4.37 ERA in 1347.3 innings.

Clement has a sinking fastball in the low 90s and a hard slider he mixes with a four-seamer and a changeup. He has held opposing batters to a .233 batting average from 2002-05, while posting a 47-42 record and a 3.99 ERA.

In June 2004, Clement was 6-2 and an obvious candidate to be named to the All-Star Game. But in his next six starts before the break, Clement went 0-4, despite a 2.15 ERA. His run support in those starts was just 1.19 runs per game. He finished with a 3.68 ERA but went 9-13 for the Cubs, who scored only 79 runs in his 30 starts (which is 4.03 runs of support per game, the sixth-lowest mark in the NL). Against American League teams in interleague play, Clement had a 7-7 record with a 3.60 ERA in 19 starts.

1 2005
2 2006/2007
3 2008
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] 2005

July 9 - For the first time in his big league career, Clement was selected for the All-Star Game, replacing injured Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay. Clement's record was 10-2 before the All-Star break, and he finished the season at 13-6 with a 4.57 ERA. On July 26, 2005 Clement was struck in the head ^[1] by a line drive from Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays.

[edit] 2006/2007

Clement made just 12 starts in 2006, posting a 5-5 record with a 6.61 ERA^[2], before having season ending surgery in September. He was rehabilitated at the Red Sox extended spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida, but did not make a major league appearance in the 2007 season.

[edit] 2008

On January 3, 2008, Clement was signed to a major league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. On January 4, 2008, the Cardinals' team doctor said that Clement was healthy and would be able to begin the season playing regularly.

The Cardinals cited his recent rehabilitation and physical as reasons for adding him to the starting rotation for the 2008 season with no expected limitations upon reporting to Jupiter, Florida for Spring Training.

However, Clement would begin the year on the disabled list after making no appearances in Spring Training. On June 3, Clement made a minor-league rehab start at Single-A Palm Beach, allowing only 1 hit over six innings.