glasspusher said:
This is not even close. Pedro by a mile. Why? At his peak he was incredible, even under pressure and in the playoffs. Clemens never won the big, come from behind game for us ever in the playoffs.
This is kind of a weird qualifier, but I'll bite.
I will say, if it's looking at their prime, who I'd rather have, I'd very likely say Pedro because he was just insanely good, but using your parameters:
"[SIZE=12.222222328186035px]Clemens never won the big, come from behind game for us ever in the playoffs."[/SIZE]
If Pedro is the bar to clear, then we have to actually look at these types of games he started for the Red Sox:
Pedro:
ALDS game 5, 2003: 7IP, 7H, 3ER, 1BB, 6K, 100 pitches / decision: W
ALCS game 7, 2003: 7.1IP, 10H, 5 ER, 1BB, 8K, 123 pitches / no decision / team loss
ALCS game 5, 2004: 6IP, 7H, 4ER, 5BB, 6K, 111 pitches / no decision / team win
Clemens:
ALCS game 7, 1986: 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 1BB, 3K, 92 pitches / decision: W
WS game 6, 1986: 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 2BB, 8K, 134 pitches / no decision / team loss
Clemens had a total of two of these games, and Pedro three. Pedro put up a 5.31 ERA, was Grady'ed in one game, and was bailed by Ortiz/Roberts/bullpen in one. Clemens had a 1.29 ERA, and was McNamara'ed (or Stanley'ed, or Schiraldi'ed in one--unless people think he should have gone back out at 134 pitches). Pedro was likely pitching with a compromised shoulder; Clemens pitched game 7 of the ALCS coming off a 143 pitch start, and according to old friend Murray Chass in an article prior to the World Series, pitched his third straight start on 3 days rest, battling a virus.
Pedro is a minor legend due to his Game 5 ALDS performance against the Indians, coming back from his shortened start in game 1 of the series. Clemens never really had a similar chance with the Red Sox. I suppose the closest for him was in 2005 when Clemens got knocked out of game 2, and got the win in relief in game 4 on 2 days rest pitching 3 innings of scoreless relief. Point Pedro. Pedro also won his head-to-head matchup against Clemens when Roger was in the shower.
Overall Pedro's teams were 6-8 in his postseason starts (3.52 ERA vs 2.91 career total), and Clemens' teams 17-17 (3.81 ERA vs 3.11 career total- I can't get ERA+ for this, sorry).
Pedro's best supporting casts were certainly past his prime, but overall he had much better supporting casts. His teams won 56% of their games, while Clemens' teams won 52% of their games (and Pedro never had to pitcher for teams as bad as the 1992-1994 clubs, when Clemens posted a 144 ERA+). It sucked that they didn't have 1999-2000 Pedro in 2003 and 2004, but he unfortunately started to fall off once the H/L/W regime surrounded him with some depth.
Basically, it comes down to the fact that wanting peak Pedro over peak Clemens in one game is a perfectly cromulent choice, and is pretty likely the right choice, but using the playoff/big game argument hurts the argument a bit because for Clemens' postseason deficiencies, Pedro wasn't close to his peak, dominant self in his playoff career.
In a one game playoff in the middle of the season? Pedro every single day. It's murkier when you bring actual postseason performance into it, and likely Pedro, but not "nowhere close" by any stretch.