bad report card

A Bad Report Card

Well, as I'm sure you all know, Senator Mitchell laid the smackdown on

the Yankees today. The Red Sox came off looking squeaky clean, which

makes it even worse, but no, I don't believe the conflict of interest

conspiracy theory. Mitchell was quick to point out during his press

conference that the high percentage of New York players named in the

report was a result of the two key witnesses being New York-based, and

he did emphasize the fact that all 30 teams employed juiced players at

one time or another. Here's the complete list of the 22 players

mentioned in the report who played at one time for the Yankees:

Roger Clemens

Andy Pettitte

Jason Giambi

Gary Sheffield

David Justice

Mike Stanton

Kevin Brown

Chuck Knoblauch

Rondell White

Ron Villone

Glenallen Hill

Denny Neagle

Jose Canseco

Jason Grimsley

Darren Holmes

Randy Velarde

Dan Naulty

Josias Manzanillo (17 1/3 IP in 1995)

Todd Williams (15 1/3 IP in 2001)

Hal Morris (38 AB in '88/'89)

Bobby Estalella (4 AB in 2001, but hey, it counts)

I can't say that anyone on this list surprises me, because at this

point, almost no one would. We knew about Giambi, Sheffield, Canseco,

Grimsley, and Velarde, and rumors have often surrounded Brown and

Clemens (with this news, though, the Suzyn Waldman suicide watch is

officially on). Of course, for most Yankee fans, including me,

Pettitte is the one that really hurts. I guess we really should've

known that those grueling Clemens/Pettitte weren't entirely on the

level. Here's Pettitte's section in the report:

[Brian] McNamee began serving as Pettitte's personal trainer and

started assisting Pettitte in off-season workouts after the 1999

season. According to McNamee, during the 2001-02 offseason, Pettitte

asked him about human growth hormone. McNamee said that he discouraged

Pettitte from using human growth hormone at that time.

From April 21 to June 14, 2002, Pettitte was on the disabled list with

elbow tendonitis. McNamee said that Pettitte called him while Pettitte

was rehabilitating his elbow in Tampa, where the Yankees have a

facility, and asked again about human growth hormone. Pettitte stated

that he wanted to speed his recovery and help his team.

McNamee traveled to Tampa at Pettitte's request and spent about ten

days assisting Pettitte with his rehabilitation. McNamee recalled that

he injected Pettitte with human growth hormone that McNamee obtained

from [Kirk] Radomski on two to four occasions. Pettitte paid McNamee

for the trip and his expenses; there was no separate payment for the

human growth hormone.

According to McNamee, around the time in 2003 that the BALCO searches

became public, Pettitte asked what he should say if a reporter asked

Pettitte whether he ever used performance enhancing substances.

McNamee told him he was free to say what he wanted, but that he should

not go out of his way to bring it up. McNamee also asked Pettitte not

to mention his name. McNamee never discussed these substances with

Pettitte again.

After the 2001 season, Pettitte, like Clemens, continued to use

McNamee's services and to serve as a source of income after McNamee

was dismissed by the Yankees. In a 2006 article, Pettitte

"acknowledged an ongoing relationship" with McNamee. Pettitte was

quoted as having said that he still talked to McNamee about once a

week. "Mac has trained me professionally for a long time, and I'll

continue to use Mac," Pettitte said.

In order to provide Pettitte with information about these allegations

and to give him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with

me; he declined.

Well, at least it seems that he only used the HGH at one point in his

career, in order to return from injury. Could've been worse. And

Clemens probably pressured him. But obviously, those rationalizations

don't exonerate him. Andy is one of my favorite players, and I'm

disappointed in him. I haven't had much of an emotional reaction to

the revelation, but maybe it hasn't sunk in yet. Or maybe it's just

that I can't manage to dislike Andy Pettitte. It'll be interesting to

see how he responds; if he admits everything, he'll make it even

harder for me to hold it against him, but if he goes with a typical

denial, that could be the last straw. Clemens has denied everything

through his lawyer; I don't believe him, of course, but if Pettitte

corroborates all of McNamee's information, it would damage Clemens'

credibility even further. Let's hope Andy doesn't just decide to

retire after all, in order to avoid the whole mess.

I have to say that I was impressed with Mitchell's reporting and

conclusions. I wish the hammer hadn't fallen so heavily on my favorite

team, but that's the way it is. Let's hope that this release puts most

of the steroid controversy behind us--unless, of course, the Boston

equivalent of Kirk Radomski has anything he wants to get off of his