Mariners Analysis

Monday, January 07, 2008

Clemens interview

The story of Roger Clemens and steroids continues, with news today he finally is going to take legal action. The initial outcry of critics blasting the Mitchell report continues to diminish as more and more players who were "falsely accused" confess.

So while Brian Roberts and Andy Pettite have added much credibility to the report by confessing, neither player has a HOF candidacy to protect. By far the biggest name still out there is Roger Clemens, and last night we finally got to hear his side of the story.

My initial impressions:
- Wallace asked harder questions than I thought he would. Considering he was requested by Clemens to do the interview and his past, I expected softballs. He threw a few high and tight.
- Wallace blew it by not mentioning the Piazza incident. How could anyone discuss steroids and Roger Clemens on TV and not show a clip of him throwing the bat?
- Clemens seemed mighty thirsty during an interview that totaled less than 13 minutes of air time.
- Clemens took steroids.

I'll be the first to admit I suspected he used them when the Mitchell report came out based on the evidence and the fact Clemens hid behind his lawyer. And I admit Clemens has a great point- how come no one has come forward to admit he supplied steroids to Clemens? All we have is someone saying they injected him, not supplied him.

But Clemens did himself no favors when he refused to cooperate with Mitchell. Did you notice Clemens claimed he was blindsided by the report? Does anyone actually believe that?

There is no doubt there will be documents clearly showing Clemens knew well before the Mitchell report was released he was being accused of steroids. Which means Clemens was lying when he told Wallace he had no idea and would have talked to Mitchell had he known.

If he was lying about that, what else was he lying about last night?