Swings and misses for Clemens
BILL PLASCHKE
Inconsistencies and friends' revelations rip into the pitcher's credibility and will forever taint his reputation.
And so, in what was likely the final appearance of his career, the greatest pitcher in baseball history was shelled.
He was rocked. He was ripped. He was pounded.
Roger Clemens was lit up like, well, a rocket.
The great intimidator strutted to a different sort of hill this morning -- a Capitol Hill full of power hitters -- and never made it out of the first inning.
His claims that former trainer Brian McNamee lied about his steroid use in baseball's Mitchell Report were knocked out of the park by teammates, friends, and even his former nanny.
Congressmen swung at every fat pitch. Contradictions surrounded him like base runners. Credibility was tattered by incessant line drives.
For more than four hours in a congressional hearing that essentially pitted his integrity against the integrity of an admitted drug pusher, the drug pusher won.
Both Clemens and McNamee came across as unsavory but, on this day, under this oath, it appeared the only one lying was the future Hall of Famer.
Well, the former future Hall of Famer.
Clemens.
"You're one of my heroes," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. "But it's hard to believe you."
In the end, Clemens' final desperate words were slammed shut by the gavel of committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills).
"Excuse me, this is not your time to argue with me," Waxman said, shortly before closing the hearings.
In the end, the same combination of cockiness and surliness that led Clemens to pitching glory ultimately carried him to personal shame.
The hearing was held to determine the legitimacy of the Mitchell Report, which the government considers an important tool in ridding baseball of performance-enhancing drugs.
In that report, McNamee claimed that he administered steroids to Clemens and former teammates Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch.
Clemens denied those claims, leading the government to question the entire report, thus calling for today's unusual hearing to determine whether Clemens or McNamee was lying.
Even before Clemens had a chance to begin his defense, he was knocked silly.
In Waxman's opening statement, he revealed that, in earlier closed-door testimony, both Pettitte and Knoblauch confirmed McNamee's assertions about their personal steroid use.
Clemens was asked why McNamee would not lie about them, but lie about him?
He had no good answer.
