Talk about straight outta left field. According to Newsday, Roger Clemens and his former trainer Brian McNamee had a phone conversation. I don’t know if the conversation went like this, but I’m amazed that they spoke at all. If I was Clemens and I was lying about steroid use denying McNamee’s claims, the only time I’d talk to him would be in court. From Newsday:

In a surprising twist to their public war of words, Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, spoke by telephone Friday night, Newsday has learned. It was their first contact since the Mitchell Report was released Dec. 13, and a person close to the situation described the hourlong conversation between the longtime friends as “emotional.”

Roger had an hour long, emotional talk with another man? Andy Pettitte is gonna be upset.

Clemens, McNamee have ‘emotional’ phone talk. Courtesy of Newsday

Tags: Roger Clemens, Brian McNamee, Steroids, Baseball

Ok, so Roger’s denying everything.. Of course he is.. I like how he and his team are hiding behind the mistake made by the Los Angeles Times. You may remember the L.A. Times reported that Roger Clemens’ name was mentioned in the Jason Grimsley affadavit. As it turns out, he wasn’t and now Team Clemens is saying see, we told you… Here’s my thing.. The informant for the Times had good information, he was only wrong about the source of the info. Guys up and down the Mitchell Report have come clean about their steroid/performance enhancing drug use. Roger Clemens’ ace boon coon Andy Pettitte admitted to using HGH, but Roger’s the one clean guy? Uh, no.. Roger should’ve paid more attention to how poorly Barry Bonds handled the allegations against him. America will forgive you if you come clean, but all of the hemmin and hawin, and videotaped denials are only making the hole deeper.

Tags: Roger Clemens, Mitchell Report, Sports, Baseball, utube, youtube

Before the Mitchell Report was released there was news the Mitchell investigators had asked about Pete Rose. That was dumb because everybody knows the only juice the hit king deals with is of the bookmaker variety. During the taping of Wednesday night’s Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller, Pete got a chance to speak on the Mitchell Report.

“The Mitchell Report’s come out, and I never thought anybody would make me look like an altar boy.”

“I’ve been suspended 18 years for betting on my own team to win … I was wrong … but these guys today, if the allegations are true, they’re making a mockery of the game.”

It’s close, but I’m gonna side with Pete. Gambling is the number one crime in baseball, but Pete Rose committed his crime alone. The steroid era involves management, ownership, and hundreds of players. It’s a conspiracy, a scandal, and a bigger black eye than Pete Rose’s gambling. As you would expect, John Dowd, the author of the Dowd Report, disagrees..

“He committed the capital crime of baseball… He’s the king of capital crime.”

18 years later and still hatin.. Let it go John, let it go.

Dowd dismisses Pete Rose’s protests on ‘roids vs. betting. Courtesy of Newsday

Tags: Pete Rose, Steroids, Mitchell Report, Baseball, Dennis Miller

The Mitchell Report dropped and while all hell didn’t break out, Roger Clemens’ name officially did. The video features Roger’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, standing by his man. Mr. Hardin seems bent on discrediting Brian McNamee, somehow forgetting or overlooking the fact that Roger Clemens was reportedly mentioned in the Jason Grimsley investigation.. The Mitchell Report had access to the Jason Grimsley files, but they were redacted.

So now Clemens and his team get to go through a version of what Barry Bonds went through. Out of all of the names on the list, Clemens is the one being singled out. Even though the whole league was walking around with syringes, Roger Clemens is the Mitchell Report fall guy… This does explain Roger’s bat throwing at Mike Piazza (noticeably absent from the report) in the 2000 World Series as a simple case of roid rage.

I jacked the list of all of the names in the report from Deadspin,

where they are crushing the Mitchell coverage. I’m pretty sure Paul Loduca never planned on having his note about a returned check plastered across the tubes… Here’s the list:

All the players listed in the section VIII. B.: “Information Regarding Purchases or Use of Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball” (section 3 is “Radomski¹s Distribution of Performance Enhancing Substances to Major League Baseball Players”)

Lenny Dykstra
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo
Todd Hundley
Mark Carreon
Hal Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley
Gregg Zaun
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Adam Piatt
Miguel Tejada
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett, Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan

Section IX. B.”Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball”

Rick Ankiel, Paul Byrd, Jay Gibbons, Troy Glaus, Jose Guillen, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Gary Matthews, Jr., and Scott Schoeneweis, and former players David Bell, Jose Canseco, Jason Grimsley, Darren Holmes, John Rocker, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams, and Steve Woodard.”

BALCO FOLK

Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

You know what stands out after looking at all of these names? Roger Clemens.. And a gang of scrubs.. If you have to say ‘oh yeah, I remember him’, the steroids didn’t work for that guy.

So there you have it.. All of the names, and Roger Clemens’ lawyer going on the offensive. There will probably be more players callin bs on the report over the next few days. There will definitely be too much talking down about the whole situation. I say too much talking because when the 2008 season rolls around, MLB will be working it’s way to a fifth consecutive attendance record.

The Mitchell Report

Tags: Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens, youtube, Lawyer, Rusty Hardin, utube

George Mitchell’s steroid investigation findings are the other shoe waiting to drop. Everybody knows it’s coming, but nobody knows when. Names are supposedly gonna be revealed, so MLB’s gonna have to figure out a way to sweep the report under a rug before next season. Hopefully Bud Selig has been taking notes from David Stern on how to handle a potentially league crippling scandal.

During the course of the investigation George Mitchell has tried to talk to anyone he felt could give some insight into performance enhancing drug usage in Major League Baseball. The only player he has spoken with is Jason Giambi, and that’ only because pressure was applied to Giambi. With the lack of available people to question, the Mitchell investigators turned to people formerly associated with the game.

Larry Starr was the head trainer for the Cincinnati Reds from 1972 to 1992 and for the Florida Marlins from 1993 to 2002. He has been interviewed by lawyers involved in the investigation 4 times over the past year and a half, but has stated numerous times that he will not reveal the names of any players he knows to have used PEDs. That hasn’t stopped the lawyers from asking.

He said throughout their conversations — which included a face-to-face meeting in the summer of 2006 in which Gordon and another lawyer traveled to Florida — Gordon would throw out the names of players and ask if they had used drugs.

Starr said Gordon asked about “the obvious ones,” including Barry Bonds, and about other players as well.

“I think Sheffield’s name probably came up, and to be honest, I said while he was with me there was nothing I saw,” said Starr in reference to Gary Sheffield, who played for the Marlins from 1993 to 1998.

I’m not surprised that they asked about Barry, he’s been the trophy the whole time, but this caught me off guard:

“They asked me if Rose used drugs,” Starr said. “His name did come up; I am not sure why, other than I had him as a player. Anyone that knows Pete knows he didn’t use steroids.”

The Mitchell investigation wants to know if Pete Rose used steroids? I guess Pete Rose, the all time hit king, being banned from the game isn’t enough. They need to let Charlie Hustle breathe. And how far back did the investigation go? I don’t need the Mitchell report to tell me Jackie Robinson and Stan Musial never used the cream and the clear.

Former Trainer Provides Insight Into the Mitchell Steroid Investigation. Courtesy of The New York Times

Tags: Steroids, Performance Enhancing Drugs, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, New York Times