Roger Clemens, through his lawyer, has been sticking with his Casablanca-evoking outrage that he was fingered as a ‘roids user. He shouldn’t be surprised, and neither should anyone else. (Compare this picture of a middle-aged Clemens to this one when he was in Boston. It certainly looks like his body went through a Bonds-like transformation.) I’ve been curious as to why more people weren’t asking questions about Clemens since last January, when Boston was in the hunt for his services.
In the last two days, the situation for Clemens has, remarkably, gotten even worse. There ex-big leaguers like C.J. Nitkowski defending Brian McNamee after he was called “troubled” by Clemens’ lawyer–a remarkable breach of the unspoken code of omerta among current and former ballplayers. There’s Curt Schilling, who looks up to Clemens as an idol, saying “I believe it” when asked about the contents of the Mitchell report. There’s the results of ESPN’s Jerry Krasnick’s informal poll of Hall voters–a full two-thirds of whom say they either wouldn’t vote for Clemens or are undecided.
And now there’s Andy Pettitte’s classy confirmation of McNamee’s revelations about his use of HGH. (Classy so long as his statement that there were only two times he used are, in fact, true.) Not only did Pettitte not say that McNamee was troubled, he confirmed exactly what McNamee had told investigators.
The steroid mess isn’t going to be one of those Watergate/Monica situations where the cover-up is worse than the crime…but it may be a case where the public, and the press, is a lot quicker to grant absolution to guys who come clean on their own. I’m willing to be dollars to doughnuts that Pettitte gets the biggest ovation of any player when the Yankees are announced on opening day at the Stadium.
“If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize.”
That passes for classy? That’s as mealy-mouthed an admission as is possible. And don’t get me started on the whole “it wasn’t against the rules when I did it” crap, or the nauseating, “I was only thinking of my team” drivel.
Pettitte covered his ass as best he could considering that the facts of the matter were settled. He never took responsibility like what Nitkowski would call “a big boy”.
I agree with amos. Pettitte’s admission may be a smart political move––deal with it now, and then get a standing ovation from the fans at the Toilet. But we will never know if Pettitte is being truly honest, and we should take his “just two times” story with a grain of salt. And let’s remember that before a witness came forward to essentially corroborate what came out of the Grimsley story, Pettitte was denying (in non-denial language) that he’d ever done PEDs. It’s also nonsensical to say that you are not seeking an edge, that you’re only trying to heal, when you take HGH. Something that makes you recover faster certainly gives you an edge over those players who are recovering the natural way. And by returning faster to your team, you are giving your team an edge they otherwise couldn’t enjoy. Injuries can destroy a team’s chances, as we saw in ‘06 with the Sox. If HGH essentially minimizes the impact of injuries and fatigue, then a team of HGH users will probably do quite well.
But who the hell really buys Pettitte’s excuse, anyhow? Let’s remember that Pettitte, like Clemens, got a lot bigger in the latter half of his career and during the honeymoon years of his friendship with Roger. He fits the profile and he’s a proven liar, so why should we assume he took HGH just twice?