Roger Clemens

Good morning -- Roger Clemens - - Does your personal services contract with the Astros include an Andy Pettitte clause?

If the original release of the infamous Jason Grimsley affidavit - with the names of the alleged steroid and amphetamine users blacked out for public nonconsumption - helped pull the cover off baseball's performance-enhancement scandal, the release of the unredacted version Thursday might have been an even bigger blow to the integrity of the sport. Think about it. When the feds decided to throw those last few names into the public arena, they probably never considered how the surprising absence of several well-known players might undermine the credibility of the Mitchell Report and create a new layer of uncertainty about the steroid era. Of course, it isn't the job of federal investigators to worry about the effect of their work on a private enterprise, even one that is considered to be the national pastime.

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees have wanted Roger Clemens back for more than a year. Their desire for him to wear pinstripes again only increased as injuries ravaged their starting rotation early this season. The Yankees got their wish yesterday, with Clemens agreeing to a $28 million salary, prorated to when he joins the team. They even managed to keep Clemens' decision to return to the Bronx a secret for two days - until the seventh-inning stretch during the Yankees-Seattle Mariners game at Yankee Stadium, when public address announcer Bob Sheppard told the crowd to look to the owner's box and the center-field video screen for a special announcement.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling called on Roger Clemens to give up the four Cy Young Awards he has won since 1997 if he can't clear his name after allegations that he used steroids to prolong and enhance his career. "Just like I stated about Jose [Canseco], if that is the case with Roger, the four Cy Youngs should go to the rightful winners, and the numbers should go away if he cannot refute the accusations," Schilling wrote yesterday in his blog, 38pitches.com. Clemens was the biggest name in the Mitchell Report released last week.

The use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball was the hot topic of discussion among local sports fans yesterday, with reactions to the information contained in the Mitchell Report ranging from surprise at the names involved to empathy for the accused. "I was shocked to see so many current and former Orioles on the list," said Patrick Geiman, 28, who was following the news on television at a sports bar. "I'm sure there are a lot more players out there using who weren't on the list."

On Roger Clemens He's a mercenary and a front-runner. ... Whoever has won the most games by mid-May will get him. But if one team decides to be extravagant with the money, they'll get him. Pitching has become a position of specialists. The next category will be the "midseason" veteran. I fear that Roger is the first of many. I have no problem with what he is doing. ... He is in a position to call all the shots. As long as he is not breaking the rules, more power to him.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Give New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner credit. He could have kept last year's world championship club intact and cruised back into the World Series, but that would have been, well, boring.Instead, Steinbrenner put his team's outstanding team chemistry at risk to add some more star power when he acquired future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens from the Toronto Blue Jays for starting pitcher David Wells, reliever Graeme Lloyd and infield prospect Homer Bush.The Boss has always loved a good headline, but this deal had dynasty written all over it. Steinbrenner has had some good teams over the nearly three decades that he has owned the Yankees, but the current version of the club has a chance to go down in history with the Murderers' Row clubs of the 1920s if it can sustain last year's success for any length of time.

At Oriole Park at Camden YardsDay Time TV StartersTonight 7: 05 HTS Ed Yarnall (1-0, 1.42) vs. Sidney Ponson (12-11, 4.54)Tomorrow 7: 05 HTS Roger Clemens (14-9, 4.51) vs. Mike Mussina (17-7, 3.62)Tonight 7: 05 HTS Orlando Hernandez (16-9, 4.12) vs. Matt Riley (0-0, 7.36)Radio: All games on WBAL (1090 AM) and WTOP (1500 AM)Yankees updateNew York has a magic number of three for clinching its third AL East title in the past four years. The celebration could occur on Baltimore soil, with the usual throng of Yankees fans expected in attendance.

BOSTON -- By the seventh inning, Roger Clemens was long gone, but the Fenway Faithful wanted an encore."Where is Ro-ger?" they chanted. "Where is Ro-ger?"Since this was October, the answer could only be the shower.If George Steinbrenner once labeled Dave Winfield "Mr. May," what would he call a rocket that routinely falls out of the October sky?"Roger is a big boy," the Boss said afterward. "These things happen. You just can't let them happen again."Clemens seemed to grasp that much in the aftermath of the Yankees' 13-1 loss yesterday in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

Best all-around player: Mariners SS Alex RodriguezMost Valuable Player: Yankees SS Derek JeterCy Young Award: Red Sox's Pedro MartinezRookie of the Year: Athletics 3B Eric ChavezBest comeback: White Sox DH Frank ThomasWorst comedown: Rangers P Rick HellingBest addition: Yankees P Roger ClemensWorst subtraction: Red Sox 1B Mo VaughnUnderrated player: Blue Jays 1B Carlos DelgadoUnderrated pitcher: Tigers' Brian MoehlerRising star: Blue Jays OF Shawn GreenFading...

He did not do it just once. Alex Rodriguez admitted yesterday that he used performance-enhancing substances for the three years before baseball initiated steroid tests in which violators would be identified and suspended. "I was stupid for three years," Rodriguez told ESPN. Two days after Sports Illustrated revealed Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids in 2003, Rodriguez said he took performance-enhancing drugs upon joining the Texas Rangers in 2001, citing the "enormous amount of pressure" that accompanied his then-record $252 million contract with the club.

O's Mora commits to play in World Baseball Classic baseball Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora has filed the necessary paperwork and will play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, which starts in March. Mora, who had a strong bounce-back season last year, hitting .285 with 23 homers and 104 RBIs, was scheduled to play in the inaugural 2006 event, but he pulled out before the tournament started because of concerns about his role. Mora was miffed that Venezuelan team officials planned to use him in the outfield, which he hadn't played in several seasons, with Miguel Cabrera getting the starts at third base.

It's hard to dredge up a sports figure who deserves to be stuffed and roasted more than Al Davis. But at least Davis' managerial malfunctions can't retroactively vaporize his Super Bowl trophies. Can we say the same for Roger Clemens and his legacy? I know Clemens hasn't been charged or convicted in connection with allegations that his trainer, Brian McNamee, injected him with steroids. He might never be. But questions about steroid use are almost beside the point given the tawdry spectacles Clemens starred in earlier this year.

Somewhere, Barry Bonds is laughing. He's not working, but he's got to be laughing. Bonds, stuck in baseball limbo, probably is following the latest round of unsavory reports about Roger Clemens, this time involving - yuck - an underage girl. Bonds' sport rejoiced as it washed its hands of him last offseason, even though he escaped with the all-time home run mark. Still, it was supposed to have been that simple: Out goes Bonds, out goes our "problem." Now, a fresh dump truck-load of dirt lands on Clemens every other week, and as it does, it also lands on baseball.

The next time you watch American Idol and fantasize about being a big celebrity, go stand in line at your local supermarket and think about how that's working out for whoever is on the cover of this week's edition of the National Enquirer. Or, in the case of soiled superstar Roger Clemens, the front page of yesterday's New York Daily News. You remember "The Rocket." He used to be a baseball hero ... a role model to millions ... the embodiment of the American Dream. Now, he's so tarnished that you could dip him into that miracle silver cleaner they advertise on late-night television and he'd still be stained beyond recognition.

Three years ago, when he and his mother arrived in Baltimore, Giovanni Ramirez-Cruz did not speak a word of English. On Friday, he received a trophy at his school, the Mother Seton Academy in Fells Point, for giving the best speech among the eighth-grade boys there - and he had plenty of competition for the top honor. There was Avery Burrell, for instance, who gave an impassioned performance as a middle-school weightlifter determined to achieve greatness without the use of steroids. The theme of the eighth-grade speeches, a spring tradition at the school, was "The power of one word," and Avery's word was "strength."

Roger Clemens had to know it would come to this. He had to know his high-stakes game of chicken with steroid investigator George Mitchell and the steroid grandstanders in Congress would end with a perjury investigation and maybe a federal indictment. He had to know it because any first-year law school student could have told him so, and most assuredly his high-priced legal team laid out the whole thing right from the beginning. Which means this might have been part of the plan all along.

WASHINGTON -- He has become known for challenging baseball's mightiest players and officials about steroids, the man who memorably told superstar Roger Clemens on Wednesday: "It's hard to believe you, sir. I hate to say that. You're one of my heroes." Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said it pains him each time he sees another baseball superstar accused of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. That's because Cummings, 57, a Baltimore Democrat, is a devout baseball fan. In some ways, he's still a kid - these days a heartbroken one - when it comes to the sport he played as a boy, wearing a jersey donated by a local business and using a broomstick because he couldn't afford a bat. A 12-year congressional veteran and trial attorney before that, Cummings sounded more like a fan than a House member when he spoke Friday about his encounter with Clemens.

Roger Clemens has played out his hand in the sad steroid saga that has - no doubt - permanently stained his great career. Now, all that's left for him to do is move on and hope he has done enough to erode the credibility of former personal trainer Brian McNamee and discourage the Justice Department from pursuing a perjury case. So why is attorney Rusty Hardin still on the offensive when there's nothing left to gain and so much still at risk? That's a question that's still rattling around in my head after reading his comments blasting California Congressman Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House committee that grilled Clemens and McNamee for nearly five hours Wednesday in Washington.

When pitching great Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, answered questions from a congressional committee yesterday about Clemens' alleged steroid use, one of them wasn't telling the truth. That disconnect in credibility, rather than steroids or human growth hormone, was the theme of the nearly five-hour hearing. Congressmen spent much of the session picking at the stories of Clemens and McNamee. "Someone's lying in spectacular fashion," Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, said in setting up the thrust of questioning.