Earning his pinstripes: Roger Clemens blends in with the Yankee Mystique.(baseball players)

IT WAS A WEIRD SIGHT FOR A WHILE, but no longer. Roger Clemens is every inch a Yankee. Though he was twice a 20-game winner and won two Cy Youngs in Toronto, he was never really a Blue Jay. You knew he was just passing through.

But going into his fourth year with the Yankees, Clemens has made himself at home. He has his World Series rings (two, 1999, 2000). He has his W's (a fairly amazin' 20, as opposed to three losses, last season). And he has a greater mystique than ever. As much as Herb Pennock, Lefty Gomez, Allie Reynolds, Whitey Ford, or Ron Guidry, he is considered among the baseball devotees in New York a Yankee hurler.

To these people, those first 15 years with the Red Sox didn't count.

Clemens is more than just a staff ace for New York. He is a certified pitching and fitness guru. No one can believe what they are seeing.

"I can't believe he's 39," marveled Yankees manager Joe Torre.

He is 39, and he is more and more becoming the reincarnation of his idol, Nolan Ryan. There isn't a hint of finesse when he takes the mound. He is still a pure power pitcher, and a nasty one besides.

He is a power pitcher because he punishes himself 12 months a year in order to remain one. He never, ever will make a transition to a hit-the-spots breaking-ball pitcher. His ego won't allow it. For Clemens, it's power pitching or see you on the golf course.