Roger 'The Rocket' Clemens launches the New York Yankees

Maybe the return of pitcher Roger Clemens really was all the New York Yankees needed to turn things around. Since the Rocket's arrival in the Bronx, the Yankees have been one of the best teams in baseball. In fact, the Yankees are sporting one of the best records in all of baseball at 10-2 during the month of June.

Clemens can't receive direct credit for all of the recent success because he's only made one start in pinstripes so far in the 2007 baseball season. But the rise in confidence among the Yankee players that has accompanied the winning streak is no doubt largely attributable to the presence of The Rocket both on the mound and in the team's clubhouse.

After enduring a brief setback caused by a scar-tissue injury in his right groin, Clemens finally made his Yankees' debut versus Pittsburgh last week and lasted six innings, allowing three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in a 9-3 Yankees win.

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner returns to the mound on Friday night when the Mets visit Yankee Stadium for an interleague battle. Clemens has plenty of experience versus the New York Mets from his three years in Houston, when he went 3-5 with a 5.09 ERA in 10 starts. Against the hard-hitting Mets' lineup, Clemens will need to be much better than that for the Yankees to continue their winning ways.



If the Yankees' sluggers can continue hitting with as much pop as they have been already in June, Clemens may be able to surrender four or five runs on Friday night and still escape with a win. The baseball stats speak for themselves: after hitting a measly .208 in May, Bobby Abreu has regained his old form and is smoking the ball in June. So far this month Abreu is batting at a .457 clip, with two home runs and 13 RBI in 12 games. Abreu only went yard once and drove in nine runs in 28 games in May.

Alex Rodriguez has also seen his bat come alive again in June. After smacking 14 home runs in April, A-Rod only found the seats five times in May, and the "what have you done for us lately" fans and media in New York started muttering to themselves. Rodriguez has brought the power back in June, with six homers in only 12 games and plating 21 runs.

With Roger Clemens on board and the offense getting in gear, the NY Yankees have crawled out of the AL East basement and actually climbed over the .500 mark on Wednesday. With only 8.5 games separating them from Boston in the division and only 4.5 games back of the Wild Card, the Yankees aren't done yet.

The first pitch of Clemens' second start on Friday night goes at 7:05 pm ET. Check out the game preview here.

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