McNamee Lawyers Throw a Brushback

Lawyers for Brian McNamee are attempting to have Roger Clemens' lead attorney, Rusty Hardin, disqualified from the defamation suit brought by Clemens. The reasoning behind it is that Hardin has also represented Andy Pettitte, who would be one of the key witnesses for the McNamee team. This woud, according to McNamee's lawyers, create a conflict of interest for Hardin.

“To successfully prosecute Mr. Clemens’s claim, and consistent with his duty of loyalty to Mr. Clemens, Mr. Hardin would be obligated to disclose confidential information about Mr. Pettitte to undermine Mr. Pettitte’s credibility,” the brief said.

Hardin sent out an email about the case and was a little more subtle than his usual approach.

“Brian McNamee’s statements to the Mitchell commission and others concerning steroid and H.G.H. use by Roger Clemens are absolutely false and the very definition of defamatory,” Hardin said in an e-mail message. “We look forward to trying this matter before a jury rather than in the court of public opinion.”

McNamee's team is also trying to protect their client's statement to federal investigators from being made public.

We can only hope the case doesn't go to trial until the off-season so that Andy Pettitte isn't distracted.

Source: NY Times

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Turning Up the Heat on Clemens

Unless Roger Clemens has the same arrogant, self-denial personality of Pete Rose, the multi-Cy Young winner has to be ruing the way he has handled the steroids accusation heaped upon him. He also has to be wondering if his attorney Rusty Hardin knows what he's doing.

Let's say Clemens is innocent; that he indeed never used steroids or HGH. By taking a holier than thou approach, waving the American flag, and splitting his personality between Texas hayseed and New York wolf, he's made himself look like a fool. Innocent or not, Clemens' reputation has already taken a huge hit and Congress is working to ensure it gets damaged even more.

After the circus they called a hearing back on February 13, members of the House Oversight committee felt that Clemens had lied to them under oath. In a joint statement drafted by committee chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and co-chair Tom Davis (R-Va), Congress has asked the Justice Department to begin an investigation if Clemens provided them with false statements. Any such claims could lead to perjury charges being brought against Clemens.

There has been some backlash from committee member Darrell Issa (R-Calif), who publicly admonished the committee, prior to the hearings, for even considering the matter. Issa feels that right or wrong, this whole thing has been a witch hunt with Clemens as the target. It's hard to disagree with that feeling. And it's an automatic to know that this is a complete waste of tax dollars.

Now Clemens must decide how he is going to proceed. Fight to death or try to salvage what little dignity he has left.

* * *

The Houston Astros may quickly distance themselves from Clemens due to all the negative publicity. Reports came out earlier today that the Astros were thinking of terminating Clemens' 10-yr personal services contract. But this afternoon Astros owner Drayton McClane said he would honor Clemens' deal.

Of course all that could change if charges are brought against Clemens and he's found guilty. There's no reason for McClane to play his hand right now.

* * *

The Yankees, of course, are very concerned about how all of this might affect Andy Pettitte. Hank Steinbrenner and Joe Girardi have already vocalized their feelngs, hoping that Pettitte won't have to be distracted until the off-season.

"I don't give a hoot about Roger Clemens or about (Brian) McNamee or about the government," Hank Steinbrenner said. "I only care about our guy, Andy Pettitte, and how this might affect him - which I certainly hope it doesn't.

"They obviously like him and I hope they don't put him through the wringer again. He may have to testify again, but who knows how long any of this is going to take. It could be a long, long time."

Though some may doubt his veracity or call him a rat, Andy Pettitte is still concerned first and foremost for his friend.

"I don't like anything that's going on," Pettitte said Thursday. "I cannot stand it. I've told y'all how I feel about [Clemens]. It's like a part of my family that's having to go through this."

Pettitte knew that Justice Dept. involvement could become a reality once everything started to unfold.

"To tell you the truth, as far in my mind, I was prepared it might happen," Pettitte said. "I hate it and there's nothing else I need to say. I think everyone realizes how I feel about this whole situation.

"I've got one concern right now and that's trying to help this team. That's what I'm trying to get my mind on."

You can bet the Red Sox are hoping Pettitte gets plenty of distractions.

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The Daily Yankeeland

Hideki Matsui feels his surgically repaired knee will be ready to go come opening day. For Matsui that means being able to play left field. How Joe Girardi ends up using Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Jason Giambi remains to be seen.

Mike Mussina says things are not going to be easy for Andy Pettitte this season. The team is expecting 190-200 innings and 15 wins out of the left-hander, but Moose knows how much crap Pettitte will have to put up with in visiting ball parks.

Despite previous enthusiasm, it wouldn't be surprising at all if Pettitte disappeared from the public spotlight after this season.

Derek Jeter says the game has definutely taken a hit from all of the steroid controversy and is truly embarrassed by the poor publicity that the game is dealing with.

Brian McNamee's attorney Earl Ward said yesterday that Roger Clemens shouldn't worry if he ends up with jail time. That's because the Rocket's good buddy Dubya would most certainly pardon him. Rusty "JR Ewing" Hardin's response to Ward's allegations? "He needs to stop smoking his own dope."

No one should be surprised by the disgraceful split among party lines during the hearing. That's just Washington, D.C. at its' worstbest. Rep Dan Burton (R-Indiana) could definitely have his pic next to the word "hypocrite" in the dictionary. The best response yesterday though probably came from Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman:

“I think Clemens and McNamee both came out quite sullied, and I didn’t think it was a hearing that needed to be held in order to get the facts out about the Mitchell report,” Waxman said.

Then why did you have a hearing, Henry? It's your committee!

Phil Hughes has some great pics on his blog from his weekend at a NASCAR event with Shelley Duncan and Ian Kennedy. He also convinced IPK to answer some questions from fans.

Randy Levine is pissing someone(s) off for a change. This time it is Bronx Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr.. Diaz asked Levine how many Bronx residents were hired to work on construction of the new Stadium. Levine could not provide an answer, upsetting the Bronx pols.

Then Levine got into it with Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. She wanted to know why a community foundation that was supposed to dole out 800k a year from Yankees contributions to Bronx non-profits,had taken more than a year-and-a-half to hold its' initial meeting. Levine told her to go ask Bronx Borough Prez Adolfo Carrión. A ticked off Arroyo blasted Levine and walked out of the meeting.

Keep up that great P.R. work there, Randy.

No decision yet in Chien-Ming Wang's arbitration case, but the right-hander was not upset by yesterday's proceedings, which in fact went quite smoothly.

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And Then He Said

There's been talk of a big screen movie based on the television series Dallas. Maybe Roger Clemens' chief attorney, Rusty Hardin, will get the role of J.R. Ewing. Representative Howard Waxman, co-chair of the Oversight committee handling the P.E.D. scandal, admonished Hardin for comments he made towards investigator Jeff Novitzky.

"If today's quotation is accurate, however, it goes beyond any personal enmity that exists between Roger Clemens and Mr. McNamee. I do not know your intent in making this statement, but under one interpretation it can be seen [as] an attempt to intimidate a federal law enforcement official in the performance of his official duties."

Waxman took action after Hardin was quoted in the NY Times as saying, "I can tell you this: If he ever messes with Roger, Roger will eat his lunch." Hardin quickly tried to spin the situation.

"What I meant by my less than choice words was that if in days to come Agent Novitzky decided to legally pursue Roger Clemens claiming Roger did something wrong, I believe he would lose. I meant nothing more, nothing less. It certainly was not meant as a threat of personal action against Agent Novitzky."

There has been some controversy surrounding Novitzky as well, particularly his handling of the BALCO case. One of the four judges presiding on the case, Susan Illston has questioned Novitzky's tactics and candor about his investigation.

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McNamee Turning Up the Heat

With temperatures dropping back to freezing, it's only appropriate that Brian McNamee is turning up the heat on Roger Clemens. McNamee is said to be helping congressional investigators as they prepare for February hearings on performance enhancing drugs.

McNamee had previously only answered questions from federal authorities as well as the Mitchell investigators. He did not volunteer information. Whether or not it's because of Roger Clemens claims that McNamee lied, the personal trainer is starting to volunteer information to authorities, going into much deeper detail than before.

McNamee's attorney Earl Ward got right to the point...

"Brian knows a lot about Roger's moral character and knows a lot about his extracurricular activities. ... There's a lot that he could say to damage Roger's reputation, but we plan on taking the high road. ... If some of this stuff were to come out, Roger Clemens would look very, very, very bad."

Congressional investigators are asking more probing questions as well as they try to determine the validity of both McNamee's and Clemens' claims.

Clemens' attorney Rusty Hardin is also backing away from his earlier statement that Clemens would definitely testify under oath before Congress.




The needle was this big...





Source - NY Daily News

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The Daily Yankeeland

What would the Daily Yankeeland be without a Johan Santana report? Joel Sherman of the NY Post says his sources indicate that the Red Sox are still in the lead to land the lefty. The absurdity of this is that it isn't an election. It doesn't matter who trails or leads. Obviously the Twins are not completely happy right now with any offer or they would have pulled the trigger by now. This has clearly turned into a marathon and not a sprint.

The Yankees have told Robinson Cano to stop playing winter ball, ostensibly because they want an injured calf to completely heal. Cano had just begun playing recently for Estrellas de Orientales in the Dominican and was starting post-season play.

Mr. Holier than Thou, Mike Lupica, whom we have as much respect for as say toe fungus, rips Roger Clemens a new one in today's Daily News. The Lip compares Clemens' defense to that of Tour de France cheat, Floyd Landis (does anyone really think Lance Armstrong was clean?).

The NY Times has an interesting piece on Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin. Hardin represented Wade Boggs a few years back, when the Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman was accused of assaulting a flight attendant on the Yankees' charter.

Anyone else as creeped out as I am by this new Derek Jeter cologne ad?

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