We all know there's no crying in baseball. Sometimes, too, there's no justice, either. Well, except for David, that is.

Take the cases of Florida's Dontrelle Willis and Houston's Roger Clemens.

Both have pitched extremely well this season. Maybe even better than that.

As the week drew to a close, Willis owned a 1.08 earned run average, having allowed just six earned runs in 50 innings. Clemens was right behind, possessing an ERA of 1.10 on a yield of only six earned runs in 49 innings.

Yet Willis had a 7-0 record, while The Rocket's payload was a measly two victories, plus a loss.

Willis came close to getting his first loss Wednesday night, but he beat offensively challenged Houston, 2-1, despite needing 48 pitches to get through the first two innings.

"The way he started off, his control wasn't sharp," Florida manager Jack McKeon said. "He got a couple pitches up. We talked before the game that one of these days he's going to lose a game. I said to myself, 'This might be it.' Then all of a sudden, things came back into play. He relaxed and got back to being himself."

"Usually when guys win five, six in a row, they're due for a loss," Marlins veteran Lenny Harris said. "Right now, he refuses to lose."

Meanwhile, Clemens can't catch a break. But Astros manager Phil Garner has to like the way Clemens has kept his team in the game in each of his seven starts.

"He's a phenomenal story," Garner said. "He's different. He's special. He expects more of himself. He demands more of himself. And he demands more from everybody around him."

Perhaps Clemens should demand a few more things -- runs.

Bad winner
Then there's the case of Pirates' minor-leaguer Matt Peterson, who can't lose for winning.

Peterson, 23, is the right-hander the Pirates acquired from the New York Mets in the Kris Benson dump in July.

Peterson has a 9.32 ERA this season for Class AA Altoona, but somehow he has managed to go 3-2. He stole his third win Wednesday when the Curve beat Harrisburg, 13-10. Peterson allowed nine hits and six runs in 6²/₃ innings.

Peterson joined Altoona in August having pitched well for Binghamton, also in the Eastern League. In 24 starts for Binghamton, including six in 2003, Peterson was 7-6 with a respectable 3.31 ERA.

However, in 14 appearances for Altoona, Peterson has a 7.59 ERA, but is 6-4.

Go figure.

"It's tough to pinpoint," Altoona manager Tony Beasley said of the reasons for Peterson's struggles. "You would like to think he's still trying to make his mark here, but at this point he's got to be over that. You'd just like to see him go out and relax and do what he did with the Mets' organization. His numbers were good over there and we haven't seen that."

"[Peterson] wants to please so badly," Altoona pitching coach Jeff Andrews said. "He knows what was involved in the trade. He knows where he came from, and he knows who got traded."

So maybe Peterson's still pressing to make a good impression with the Pirates' organization?

"I don't think [there is] a question that he's pressing," Andrews said. "The mentality of [working] from pitch to pitch isn't there right now. His command is erratic. He'll get out there and things will start snowballing ... and he won't have the ability to step back and stop it by doing something. He just stands out there and keeps firing. And if it doesn't stop, he doesn't know how to make the pitches to stop it."

Benson struggles
For his part, Benson hasn't done much on the positive side for the Mets this season.

Slowed by a pectoral muscle injury in spring training, he has made only two starts. In those, he pitched 10²/₃ innings, yielding 15 hits, including four home runs, and eight runs.

The Chicago Cubs hit those four home runs in Benson's second start Tuesday night.

"Chalk it up as a bad game," Benson said. "I just lost focus throughout the game [and] continued to allow myself to lose focus. I need to get my mind into what I'm doing [on] every pitch instead of losing track of what my goal is.

"I just need to find that little niche and get back into my momentum I had coming out of [his extended spring training]. I came in with a good game plan and then I found myself out there just doing totally opposite of what I'd been doing. That's the most frustrating part [about that game] because I knew I was doing it. I allowed myself to do it."

Hard times
Oakland closer Octavio Dotel had a much shorter explanation for his troubles in Boston last week when he allowed walkoff home runs to the Red Sox in back-to-back games.

Reasoned Dotel: "When things are going the way they're going, this is the way they go."

Royal pain
The way things were going for the hapless Kansas City Royals, manager Tony Pena decided to resign.

"It was surprising," said pitcher Zack Greinke, who started and lost the final game Pena managed Tuesday night. "I think everyone knew he was having a hard time, but we didn't really know exactly how tough.

"You could see it was wearing on him, so, hopefully, he's happier now. After taking a couple weeks off, maybe he'll feel better. The stress he was going through was too much for anyone."

Pena, a former Pirates catcher who was voted American League manager of the year in 2003, endured 129 losses in his final 195 games with the Royals.

"There's not a thing he could have done different," said outfielder Matt Stairs, another former Pirate. "He's not the one that puts the cleats on and he's not the one who plays the game. Guys better open up their eyes and realize that we are the cause of this and the reason he resigned."

Arroyo rips Kendall
Boston's Bronson Arroyo, another former Pirate, has suggested in two recent articles that catcher Jason Kendall, another former Pirate, "didn't really care about the defensive part of the game."

"He didn't want to work with pitchers too much," Arroyo was quoted on MLB.com. "Don't get me wrong -- the guy busted his butt and played hard. But I just felt like he didn't really care if we got guys out or not. It's hard to have a successful team when you're pitching to catchers you're not really talking to."

Oakland pitcher Barry Zito, who read Arroyo's comment, defended Kendall, the Athletics' new catcher.

"What do I think about what [Arroyo] said?" Zito said. "I think [it's] the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard. Arroyo may be the only guy in the big leagues who doesn't love [Kendall]. Everybody I've ever talked to about him says the same thing -- [that he's] a great teammate, great catcher, great guy."

Kendall didn't really comment on Arroyo's comments. "What good would that do?" he said. "None that I can see."

Old Maddux is back
Greg Maddux, who struggled in some games early this season, appeared more like himself Tuesday night in his 7-0 win against the Mets.

As Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd, who went 0 for 4, can attest.

"Either he makes a mistake and you capitalize on it," Floyd said, "or he pretty much makes you look stupid."

Enriching philosophy
He doesn't have to pay them, so Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen is all for his players making as money as they can.

"I want my players to play good and to make money," Guillen told The Chicago Tribune. "I want them to be as rich as they can. If they play good, I'm going to have success as a manager."

And, of course, be rich himself.