For various reasons, Clemens became merely mortal over the next four seasons. He spent two stints on the DL in 1993 and finished with a losing record for the first time, with a bloated 4.46 ERA. He bounced back somewhat in the strike-shortened 1994 season, ranking second in the league in ERA and strikeouts with five 10-strikeout performances during the season, but the Sox were fading as a power and Clemens failed to get adequate run support. The downward career trend continued in 1995 when he started the season on the DL. He managed to win 10 games, but once again saw his ERA balloon to 4.18.
It seemed on the surface that Clemens' career was ending when he went only 10-13 in 1996. But he was distracted all season by ongoing debates with the front office about whether he would re-sign with the Red Sox and suffered from an appalling lack of run support. In fact, over the second half of the season, Clemens was as dominant as he was at the turn of the decade. He was 6-2, 2.09 in his last 10 starts, and after the All-Star break struck out 123 men in 111 1/3 innings.
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