A Handful Of Clicklets

The Yankees' 2008 schedule is available for download as a PDF.  Pete has a breakdown of discount ticket promotions.

Also at Lohud, Pete reports that Roger Clemens may be uninvited from speaking at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association next month.  Roger is not talking about it or anything else to the press at this time.

Mariano Rivera, who yesterday finalized his 45 million dollar, three-year deal with the Yankees, told George King that he supports Andy Pettitte's decision to come forward regarding HGH use.  When questioned if he had ever considered it himself, Mo replied "I don't even know what that was," Rivera said. "I am so naive I don't even know what those things are. It never even crossed my mind to do those things. For me, those things don't exist."

Meanwhile, Chad Curtis told of his shock in hearing Pettitte's name on the report, but said he could understand the temptation under the circumstance of trying to return from injury to help the team.  The article closes with quotes from Curtis that hit as close to the heart of the issue as any I have read.

"Decisions that were made hurt other guys," Curtis said. "How did that affect pay structure and who got what job? To me, a guy that was clean . . . I was going to be a starting outfielder on an average team and a backup outfielder on a good team. If everything was level, maybe I would have been a starter on a good team.

"How many times did that play out over the course of the years?"

Finally, there were many that decried the inclusion of Brian Roberts' name in the Mitchell report based on the fact it was hearsay.  Turns out that hearsay was accurate.

Comments

[krueg]

I'm going to try and go to Yankees vs. Sox in the Stadium on July 5th!!! Hopefully it's a night game!!!

[Hudson]

Rivera's comments reminded me of something that has rubbed me the wrong way in the whole Mitchell report debate.

Namely, the glib pieties that "we are all complicit," and "we are all guilty" of the excesses of the steroid era.

No, "we" are not all complicit and guilty. Mo didn't cheat. Big Papi didn't cheat. Hundreds of players didn't cheat. They achieved their numbers without chemical assistance.

And the fans who cheered teams whose rosters included juicers? Were they knowingly cheering for cheaters? Okay, maybe a few in San Francisco. But I don't think more than a handful of fans were ever thinking: "I'm rooting for my team even though it's probably full of cheaters."

Saying that we are all equally complicit and guilty is to give no credit to those players who did not cheat, and to those fans who have always derided PED use.

[Mike YF]

Brian Roberts = Guilty.

Hearsay proves Guilt.

Call the executioner.

The point isn't that the name was "decried". It was the flawed methods. If even one player is named that shouldn't have been, that's one too many. You can never take it back.

Jason Stark on the importance of corroborative evidence - learned in Journalism 101.

http://tinyurl.com/278qfj

P.s. Why do the Yanks finish in Fenway for the second time in four years? When's the last time the Sox finished at Ruth's Home?

[sam-YF]

Just out of curiosity Hudson, how do you know that Ortiz and Mo didnt cheat?

[sam-YF]

btw, I still hate Chad Curtis. I dont care what he says steroids didnt hold back his career, the fact that he wasnt very good did.

[Dan]

I would like to believe Mo didn't use anything, and I would like to believe Papi didn't either.

But the sad truth is how many players have come out and admitted to using prior to actually being caught with some kind of evidence? I mean other than Canseco (who either did it to out the truth or to make a buck - or both, whatever).

When Pettite was accused by Grimsley he flat out lied.

"I've never used any drugs to enhance my performance in baseball. I don't know what to say except that it's embarrassing that my name would be out there." (statement in response to Grimsleys accusations at the time).

Although you can see the way he is trying to slip out even in the statement back then claiming he didn't use to enhance his performance but rather to "recover". (If you use something to recover faster, then it is helping your performance. Trying to spin it any other way is just clutching at straws).

So thats the hole that *every* player is in. How can you prove that you didn't use? You can say that you didn't but that's what everyone does right up until they actually get caught red-handed, even a supposed upstanding, god-fearing citizen like Pettite.

You can't actually prove that you didn't use, the best you can hope for is to not be caught, and not be named, but the suspicion will always be there for absolutely every player. Sad though it is.

[attackgerbil]

> The point isn't that the name was "decried". It was the flawed methods

That's what I said. However, his name is significant in the fact that his name has been mentioned as the canary in the coalmine case as to how poisonous the investigatory tactics used were.

[sam-YF]

Mark Fiensand is reporting that A-Rod has dropped Boras to sign with a new agent. If this is true, I think his story gains even more credence and makes it clear that Boras really did mess this one up even if the results were A-Rod getting a big contract (which he would have got no matter what IMO).

I guess this would be worth its own thread if true....

[sam-YF]

the link on that article...

http://tinyurl.com/2qmgcv

[AndrewYF]

Abraham reports that Boras remains his baseball agent. Oseary is his 'image and brand' agent. Makes sense. Boras gives players an awful image more often than not.

[Dionysus]

Again with my previous "WHy should I beleive him" only for Roberts as well as Pettite.

"In 2003, when I took one shot of steroids, I immediately realized that this was not what I stood for or anything that I wanted to continue doing. I never used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing drugs prior to or since that single incident," - Brian Roberts

And WHY shoudl we beleive you? Same with Pettite! There is NO evidence that you are tellign the truth. You've already lied to us once, why wouldn't you do so again? I'm sorry.. they are all liars now. From now until the day the retire from public eye, I will assume everything and anything they say to likely be a lie.

"No, "we" are not all complicit and guilty. Mo didn't cheat. Big Papi didn't cheat. Hundreds of players didn't cheat. They achieved their numbers without chemical assistance." - Hudson

bzzzt! Wrong! If they even KNEW abotu another player takign steroirds, whether or not they took them themselves, they are guilty if they didnt report it. Thats pretty much the definition of complicit. By their inaction they helped others to cheat. Curt Schilling should have talked to Mitchell. I don't really beleive he never saw anything and even if he didn't.. the things he heard could at least have given Mitchell direction to take in further investigation.

[Paul SF]

"I am very sorry and I deeply regret ever making that terrible decision," Roberts said in the statement. "My only hope and prayer is that the Orioles, my family, friends and fans that have supported me so faithfully will forgive me."

Andy Pettitte could use some pointers from Brian Roberts.

[SF]

Boras gives players an awful image more often than not.

Boras represents a ton of players who have no image problems at all. I'd say this is giving Boras far too much credit for his players' personality issues. WYSIWYG, right? Did Boras tell Kenny Rogers to push a cameraman? Does he actively tell his uber world-class players to violate the honor code of Little League?

Scott Boras has flaws, without a doubt, but why does he constantly take the blame for the actions of the grown men he represents?

[LocklandSF]

Brian Roberts knows how to apologize.

We're waiting Roger....

[John - YF]

Pretty Funny...
http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c39216e887be0116e88dfd0d0003

Remember it's a cartoon, ha ha ha.

[LocklandSF]

"I want to state clearly and without qualification: I did not take steroids, human growth hormone or any other banned substances at any time in my baseball career or, in fact, my entire life," Clemens said Tuesday in a statement issued through his agent, Randy Hendricks. "Those substances represent a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take."

[LocklandSF]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7580456

[attackgerbil]

I'm in stitches from that adult swim video. Awesome.