Clemens, former trainer face tough crowd on Hill

The committee obtained medical records from the Blue Jays showing that Clemens had an abscess on his right buttocks in July 1998, about the time McNamee claimed he injected Clemens with steroids. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) said the committee solicited an independent review of the MRI exam results, with the report claiming the wound was "more compatible" with a steroid injection than a strained muscle or a vitamin B-12 injection.

Davis said the Blue Jays' orthopedist, who had treated Clemens, "didn't even see an abscess."

Clemens said McNamee injected him with B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine; McNamee said he never had injected anyone with either substance.

McNamee said he saved -- and has turned over to federal agents -- syringes, gauze and other evidence associated with Clemens' injections. He also testified Wednesday that he had saved similar evidence with regard to Knoblauch.

McNamee said he preserved the Clemens items because "while I liked and admired Roger Clemens, I don't think that I ever really trusted him."

When Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) noted that McNamee had provided illegal drugs to players, McNamee objected to Shays' characterizing him as "a drug dealer."

Said McNamee: "That's your opinion."

Said Shays: "No, it's not my opinion. . . . Tell me how it's legal to do illegal things and you not call it what you were. You were dealing in drugs, weren't you?"

Said McNamee: "Dealing in them, yes."

In his prepared opening statement, Clemens said he trained hard with McNamee and trusted in him.

"I had no idea that this man would exploit the trust I gave him," Clemens said, "to try to save his own skin by making up lies that have devastated me and my family."

As the hearing wore on, Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) asked Clemens: "Can I look at my two children with a straight face and tell them that you, Roger Clemens, have always played the game with honesty and integrity?"

Said Clemens: "Yes sir. . . . You can tell your boys that I did it the right way and I worked my butt off to do it."

--

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Times staff writers Ben DuBose and Richard B. Schmitt contributed to this report.

--

Begin text of infobox

EXCERPTS FROM STEROID HEARING

A lot of questions and some heated opinions