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Who do we believe? Roger Clemens, who thinks he would and should get the benefit of the doubt from baseball, or Brian McNamee, who has given the American public no reason to doubt him. You know the credentials: 354 career wins, 4762 strikeouts, a career ERA of 3.12, two career 20 K games. We were sure he was the best ever as he carried a 1.87 ERA in 2005 with Houston, at the age of 43! This is a man who could skip spring training, the first half of the season, start working out in May and join the Yankees for the postseason run in June, no questions asked because he was that highly respected. It is a scary thought for much of it to have been illegitimate by way of performance enhancing drugs. Clemens and his defense team produced at his press conference, a tape of a cell phone conversation between Clemens and McNamee, a heated conversion filled with expletives and tension. The problem I have with the tape is the fact that it was likely edited and its taping was not consensual between the two of them. Even not knowing it was taped, McNamee never said anything to the effect of "sorry I lied." Clemens was clearly trying to get McNamee to do so, but McNamee never budged. Secondly, why would McNamee lie about injecting Clemens with performance enhancers and tell the truth about twice injecting Clemens' best friend, teammate, and training buddy Andy Pettitte, who confirmed the accusation. Clemens said he had no idea what Pettitte was doing; I find this hard to believe. Pettitte and Clemens have played together for nine years with the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros and have been training with McNamee since their early days together in New York. They say the numbers don't lie, and unfortunately for Clemens, they tell the wrong side of the story. McNamee said, in the presence of federal investigators, that he injected Clemens 16 times in 1998, 2000, and 2001. In 1998, Clemens had an outstanding season, going 20-6 with a 2.65 ERA, striking out a whopping 271 batters in 234.2 innings. Then, in 1999, his numbers slipped, winning only 14 games, losing 10, and sporting a juicy 4.60 ERA, the highest of his career. Moving ahead to 2001, a year after he allegedly continued his use of performance enhancing drugs and continued using during the '01 season, he won 20 games, losing only three, his highest win percentage of his illustrious career. Clemens, Pettitte, McNamee, and former Yankee teammate of Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, have all been called to testify before congress on January 16. They all will have a chance to tell the truth or face perjury charges from the federal government. Or, they would have the option of not accepting the invitation or pleading the Fifth Amendment. In the case of Clemens or McNamee, this would seemingly be acknowledging his own dishonesty. This case is far from over, and Clemens faces a steep hill of redemption ahead of him. Hopefully, if he is in fact clean of the accusations, Clemens will be able to clear his good name. If he is not, and it is proven so by admission or by factual evidence, it will be another dark day for baseball as another of its biggest names is shown to have cheated America's greatest pastime.
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