No Immunity for Roger

I turned on ESPN at one point and thought I had accidentally turned on court TV, but alas it was only the continued coverage of Roger Clemens and his legal adventures. The Supreme Court hearing has already been delayed, so that more “evidence” can be gained in the whole situation. The chances of anything worthwhile being found in a few weeks on something that’s been scrutinized for over a month seems unlikely. It was also revealed that no one testifying will be granted immunity for their testimony. This should not be a problem for Clemens anyway if he is indeed telling the truth, then he should have no need for immunity. However, with no one having immunity, if Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens both stick to their stories then it would mean one of them would be perjuring themselves. Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, and Kirk Radomski will also be there to testify and none will receive immunity. I’m not quite sure why Knoblauch is there, I suppose because he is Clemens’ former teammate during the time period in question and he was also named in the Mitchell report but I don’t know how much light he can shed on the subject. Plus, the man has suffered enough, let’s just leave Knoblauch alone (on an aside, it is interesting to think that maybe the steroids were what caused all of Knoblach’s throwing problems but that’s a discussion for another time). Anyway, it probably would have just been for the best for everybody if this hearing had just been done with sooner rather then later, since very little is likely to be accomplished. Nothing will change unless Clemens’ pulls a Mark McGuire on the stand in which case his credibility will be ruined. Even if McNamee admitted he was lying there would still be a lot of doubt around why he confessed and Clemens’ name will still not be fully cleared. This whole thing seems like it’s probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better, so let’s just get it over with so we can all hear about the scandal for a week or so and then move on with our lives.

The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty

I recently made two joint resolutions, not New Year’s resolutions but just some general things I wished to work on in the future. The first was to read more and since I was on that trail I decided to work some baseball literature in with the more traditional literature. The first of these works I stumbled upon was The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty by ESPN analyst Buster Olney. The last night of the dynasty is meant to be the night of November 4th, 2001, game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The book goes through the course of that game inning by inning, batter by batter, throughout the duration of the book. Breaking up the action of the game itself is Olney’s reflections of all the players who made this game what it was, players from both teams, but also highlighted most of the player’s that consisted of the core of the Yankees’ dynasty years from 1996-2001. Before I began reading this novel, I thought to myself, what is this book going to tell me that I already don’t know? I knew that Buster Olney was a well established journalist and author, but I had seen the dynasty years, as well as the fall in the 2001 World Series first hand so, logically, I thought that I pretty much knew everything that was going to be said in this novel. I was mistaken. Olney wrote about the kind of experiences and stories of the team that one can only have by following the team as a beat writer for four seasons and by speaking with many of the players themselves. Olney delved into the finer points of the match up between Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling in this game, specifically the way Schilling idolized Clemens, detailed the eccentricities of players like David Wells and El Duque, and highlighted the suffering many players had to deal with deaths and illnesses in their families and how it brought the team together. Virtually every important piece from those majestic years had at least a couple of paragraphs written about them to emphasize their importance to the team. By the time the story reached it’s climax with Mariano Rivera entering for the 9th inning trying to hold on to his precious one run lead, even the most casual of Yankees fans would now be completely acclimated with the team. The reader begrudgingly reads the account of this ninth inning that broke the hearts of Yankees fans across the country, knowing the outcome and yet hoping that this time it turns out differently. They read about Mark Grace’s bloop single, and then hope that this time Rivera’s throw to second base is not errant, but of course it still finds its way into short center field. Eventually we are forced again to wonder if Scott Brosious should have made the throw to first base to try to turn the double play after forcing David Delluci out at third. He still does not attempt it and Jay Bell is still there safely at first base to eventually score the run that wins the World Series on Luis Gonzalez’s bloop single. My re-visit to the dynasty years made me realize how different the Yankees teams of the past few season have been from those years. Only Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera remain from those years. Most people would say that these teams lacked the heart of those teams, which may be true, but the real problem is probably that they just lacked the rock solid pitching of those teams. The new Yankees teams have been based on offense, as those old teams never had any of the sluggers that recent Yankees teams have bolstered. However, this may be changing. The offense is still there, but now with the young pitching Brian Cashman has built up the Yankees have a chance to see Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy become the new David Wells, David Cone, or El Duque for a new dynasty. Anyway, as for the book, The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty is a thrilling ride through nostalgia for all those who still long for the days of the Yankees’ dynasty. I would recommend it to every and any Yankees fan. No matter how well you think you know those teams you will learn something new about the team and just flat out enjoy reading this novel.

Curt Schilling's Blog

As a blogger, I sometimes make it a point to check out other people’s blogs to check out the competition. Whether it be the great Peter Abraham’s blog or just another amature, it is still beneficial to see other people’s writings to learn from. One blog that has been in the headlines several times for various reasons is the run by Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Schilling’s blog, named 38 pitches for some reason unbeknownst to me, receives a lot of views and a lot of comments. Needless to say, Curt is probably not thrilled with many of the comments he receives since he collects plenty of derogatory posts from his readers. The entry that has caused the most controversy recently was his post claiming that Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds should be forced to give back all of their awards after being named on Senator Mitchell’s report. The particularly interesting part about it is how unwilling he seemed to give Clemens the benefit of the doubt. Schilling basically owed his whole career to Roger Clemens. Clemens was always Schilling’s idol as a pitcher, so one would assume that he would be more likely to give Clemens more time to prove his innocence rather then just assume his guilt. When Schilling was a young pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies, he lacked the work ethic he has now became known for having, until his idol Roger Clemens came along and gave him a lecture on the importance of a strong work ethic. Since then, Schilling in his prime was very much a similar pitcher to Clemens after having that talk with his hero. After Game 7 of the 2001 World Series when the two pitchers faced off to determine the outcome of the World Series, Clemens made a point to go find Schilling and tell him that he was proud of him, even after Clemens’ team had just lost. After all that, you would think Schilling would be a little more grateful for all the help and support he had received from Clemens, at least enough to defend him while the rest of the baseball world condemned him. Schilling stated that he believed Andy Pettitte’s admission of using HGH only twice while he was hurt (I thought it was kind of funny that he misspelled Pettitte’s name), but he could not muster that same kind of faith for Clemens. Perhaps it will turn out that Schilling was right about Clemens, and while he never said outright that he believes Clemens is guilty, he certainly seemed to be leaning in that direction. Either way, the point is whether it’s true or not, he should have had more faith in his fellow pitcher, and certainly should have kept this opinion to himself until more information is known. Maybe he should leave the blogging up to the fans.