Pettitte Buries Rocket, Congress Buries Me - Live(ish) Blog

Let's forget for the moment that inquests into steroid use in baseball are far from noble. It's not being done to protect children or the integrity of the sport. It's being used as a trampoline for attention seeking individuals to promote themselves.

Nonetheless, it is dramatic and compelling. Mike Toth, on the FAN 590 likened Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee sitting at a table together, to a heavyweight fight's weigh in. There is tension in the air, and if you can dismiss your own curiosity to look down on this entire charade, you're a better man than me.

I'm listening to Henry Waxman, who is chairing the Congressional Hearings right now, and it's sounding as though Andy Pettitte's and his wife's sworn affidavits are going to act as the knockout blow to all of Clemens' denials.

Prior to today, the only thing that Clemens defense could lean on was Brian McNamee's lack of credibility. With Pettitte's testimony, their defense becomes ridiculously inadequate.

Clemens Statement

"I'm not just a baseball player. I'm a human being."

With an angry tone, Clemens vehemently denied his steroid use. According to him, he is guilty of two thing: trusting people too much and only looking for the good in others. He claimed that throughout his career he has always been willing to help others, and the accusations against him are a slap in the face of an innocent man. He then bemoaned how no matter what he does or says now, it makes him look guilty.

McNamee's Statement

"I have no reason to lie."

McNamee isn't as smooth and rehearsed as Clemens, but much more based on fact. Where Clemens seems to have depended on exhibiting his outrage at being pointed at, McNamee talks of the evidence he has on Clemens, and how telling the truth has been ruinous to his life and livelihood.

The Questions

Congressman Elijah Cummings opens by patronizingly ensuring that Clemens knows that he's under oath. He then moves to bring up Pettitte's affidavit. Clemens confirms that Pettitte is an honest man, and that they will remain friends no matter what.

Clemens maintains that Pettitte misheard or "misremembers" an admission. He remains well spoken under the increasing pressure from Cummings, who is not playing nicely with Clemens.

Clemens breaks a little, claiming to not remember a specific conversation in 2005 with Petitte, in which Clemens told Pettitte that only his wife used HGH in 1999. However, Clemens previously claimed that his wife only used HGH in 2003.

Cummings definitely took his shots at Clemens and exposed some weaknesses. I'm highly susceptible of the party in any conflict who can't remember details or claims that other parties are misunderstanding what has been said.

It's now Representative Tom Davis's turn for questioning.

McNamee is being questioned on the additional injections and steroids that he informed Congress of, but not Senator Mitchell. McNamee, again seemingly not as rehearsed as Clemens, says that the additional information was remembered when he became more prepared to discuss the subject.

After answering some questions on Mike Stanton seeing blood through Clemens dress pants, McNamee is questioned on the Canseco barbecue where he claims that Clemens was present despite many other sources claiming that he wasn't. Clemens claims that his kids could've been there with a nanny, but he doesn't remember the party whatsoever.

After Clemens claims he was given B12 shots by McNamee, he says that the first time he heard of Clemens using B12, it was on 60 Minutes.

After being questioned by Congressman John Tierny, McNamee claims he withheld physical evidence from Sen. Mitchell out of his wishes to protect the ballplayers he gave steroid injections to.

Tierny points out some inconsistencies in Clemens sworn testimony about conversations with McNamee regarding HGH. Clemens claimed he never spoke with him about it, but also claims to have spoken to him about HGH for his wife on two occasions, after she was injected without his knowledge. Clemens doesn't have an adequate response.

Clemens also claims to have never sought out information on HGH, and Tierny points out that this is unlikely considering Clemens claims his wife had a reaction to her injections.

Representative Dan Burton begins to question McNamee on his reasoning for keeping the physical evidence of Clemens' steroid use. McNamee claims to have kept them to protect himself because he had a feeling that Clemens would be looking out for number one if the shit ever hit the fan.

Burton actually says, "Gee whiz. Are you kidding me?" He can't understand why McNamee would withhold evidence at first, but then produce it later.

Burton is pulling quotes from all over and asking McNamee if they're true or not. He's getting all uppity and tells McNamee he doesn't believe anything he says. He just called Clemens a "Titan of Baseball" and now he's going off on the media for conducting their own trial.

By far, this was the most exciting part of the questioning so far, but it sort of makes Burton look like a douche . . . and a Clemens super fan.

Representative Stephen Lynch now has the floor.

Lynch focuses on medical evidence in the case. It's a bit of a snoozer after Burton's theatrics, or pistol-whipping as reader Lindsay called it.

Lynch's medical evidence points to an absess that formed on Clemens' rear. Lynch basically claims that this lump could not have formed from a B12 shot. Clemens explains that the doctor probably just gave him a bad shot.

McNamee says that the absess could've formed from injecting Winstrol too quickly.

Congressman Tom Davis takes over the questioning.

He points out that Head Trainer Tommy Craig doesn't remember Clemens having an absess. McNamee claims that he remembers it well because he felt guilt for perhaps having caused it. After the injury, Clemens told McNamee to get rid of the Winstrol.

Davis seems to be "needling" McNamee on the details, but McNamee stands up to his original claim that he didn't know what caused Clemens injury, but guessed that it was because of the rushed Winstrol injection.

Mitchell Report Attorney Charles Scheeler says that they stand by every word written in the report, and that they've yet to have cause to take back anything that was written.

Representative Paul Kanjorski is nitpicking on the Canseco party. To me, this really has little to do with the hearings. The Mitchell Report does not claim that PEDs were discussed at the party.

Representative John Mica is asking McNamee about the details of what the different injections looked like. It's about as exciting as listening to women describe their bridesmaid dresses. Mica tries to catch Clemens in a lie by asking what colour it was when he injected him with HGH. Easy there, Matlock.

Representative Carolyn Maloney has the floor and immediately begins pandering to her New York constituency. She's focusing in on Clemens' refusal to speak with Senator Mitchell. I blacked out from boredom a couple of times.

Representative Mark Souder is trying to make a name for himself by going after the owners and players union on the steroid problem. He found a side comment in McNamee's testimony about an owners representative going to the players union looking for a way to avoid future testing.

Representative Will Clay, lobs up softballs to Clemens, and then tries to attack McNamee . . . sort of . . . I'm really confused, but perhaps not as much as Mr. Clay.

Chairman Waxman admits that it's seemingly unimportant, but delves back into the Canseco barbecue issue once again. He informs us that Clemens nanny ten years ago claims that Clemens stayed with Canseco over the time that the party took place, but she herself didn't remember a party.

Finally, some damning (sort of) evidence:

Clemens and his attorneys were asked to give over the contact information for his former nanny. Before her contact information was given over, Clemens invited her over to his house to talk about the night in question, and his lawyers also interviewed her. Following this, her contact information was given to the committee.

According to Clemens, he was doing "y'all" a favour.

Clemens dances around Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Watson's questions on why he didn't fire McNamee after he injected Clemens wife. After some rambling, he claims to be a forgiving person. The Congresswoman patronizingly suggest that Clemens is definitely going to heaven.

The committee goes to break and so far the highlights have definitely been Indiana Republican Dan Burton gettin' all up in McNamee's grill and Chairman Waxman's not-so-subtle suggestions that Clemens was tampering with a witness.

As reader Colin suggests, Burton's questioning wasn't much more than theatrics as he brought up old interviews with McNamee, of which McNamee already admitted to lying. On the contrary, Waxman's information on the nanny combined with Pettitte's sworn affidavit do not make Clemens look good at all.

Returning from break, Representative Tom Davis tries to give Clemens the opportunity to smooth over the so-called witness tampering. Seriously, the whole Canseco party has zero to do with Clemens using steroids, yet it remains the most talked about item today. Ridiculous!

Representative Danny Davis gets Charles Scheeler to point out the oddities surrounding Clemens contacting the nanny before her deposition. This basically refutes the previous line of questioning from Rep. Tom Davis.

Congressman John Duncan lobs a softball to Clemens so that he can talk about how unexpected the Mitchell Report findings were to him. The Chairman quickly asks Clemens if he did or didn't meet with his investigators before the Mitchell Report was released to discuss its findings. Clemens confirms that he did.

Rep. Bruce Bralley draws out such earth shattering testimony that Clemens doesn't know what a vegan is. If you believe Clemens, he's just a dumb athlete oaf, who was taken advantage of, by McNamee's wily ways.

The Comedy Hour Committee contines with Representative Darrel Issa who brings us the zinger, "I think in this case, PHD stands for "Pile It Higher And Deeper!" Heyo! He later dishes out some tsk tsk action on Major League Baseball and Brian McNamee.

Representative Lynn Westmoreland begins well by saying that the government has more important things to do, but then still delves into the same set of questions that his colleagues have asked. Yes, McNamee has lied in the past. We get it. Nonetheless, there's more circumstantial evidence that says he's not lying now.

Charles Scheeler continues to defend the Mitchell Report. No matter what you think of such a respected report that was based on interviews with only four people, you have to admit they did all they could in their power to maintain its authenticity. Scheeler goes to great lengths to prove that the investigators who put the Mitchell Report together gave every player every opportunity to respond to its claims. Clemens refused to comment through the MLBPA repeatedly.

"It is what it is . . ."

One of the main questions that the representatives had for McNamee revolved around why he didn't tell Clemens in their recorded phone conversation that he did tell the truth. Throughout the hearings, McNamee claimed that he used the term "it is what it is" meaning that he did tell the truth. It was confirmed by a committee member that this is New York slang for "the truth."

Rep. Cummings again nails it by suggesting the only person he believes in this entire matter is Andy Pettitte. As he says, Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch are the only independent sources, and they both corroborate McNamee's testimony. Why would McNamee be truthful about them, but lie about Clemens?

Perhaps the quote of the day, Rep. Cummings says to Clemens, "You're one of my heroes, but it's hard to believe you."

Closing

A few fireworks light when Chairman Waxman again mentions the fact that Pettitte claims that Clemens admitted his HGH use to him, and Clemens tries to interrupt. Waxman orders him to be quiet and continues to make the player who wasn't there, the star of the show.