Clemens, Petite, and McNamee Invited to Capitol Hill

Roger Clemens, Andy Petite, and Brian McNamee (the ex-trainer who accused the two pitchers) have been invited to testify before the congressional committee in regards to the Mitchell Report. The committee is the same group who Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Rafeal Palmeiro had testified in front of a few years back. They recently decided to hold a second day of hearings so that they could get varied perspectives on the issue. These testimonies will follow day one of the hearings in which George Mitchell, Bud Selig, and union leader Donald Fehr will officially report their findings and recommendations.

Retired Yankee Chuck Knoblauch and ex-Mets trainer Kirk Radomski (who also made accusations) will join Clemens, Petite, and McNamee as well. So far none of those invited for day two have confirmed that they will attend, but it is very likely that they will. Roger Clemens’ lawyer has specifically said that “Roger is willing to answer questions, including those posed to him while under oath.”

This whole situation has a very “soap opera” feeling to it in my opinion. I wonder how Roger Clemens will react when he sees McNamee. McNamee has said that he had personally injected steroids into Clemens, but the Rocket issued a statement this week saying that it was nothing more than vitamin b12 and Lidocaine (a common anesthetic used to relieve itching and pain from skin inflammation). I am personally sick of this whole thing; maybe it is because I don’t like soaps.

Round Eight For Mattingly

This year is the eighth time former Yankee captain, Don Mattingly, will appear of the Hall of Fame ballot. He had a great career with the Yankees as one of the league’s best players, but he fell short with one very important thing and that was championships. During his fourteen years with the Yanks, we were able to win zero World Series’. It definetely isn’t his fault though because winning a World Series is a team effort, but critics always look at how many championships a player has won because frankly that is the ultimate goal of each season. Mattingly’s chances have also been hurt due to the the last few years of his career as a player, which were plagued with injuries. This brought down his effectiveness and in turn has lowered his appeal. Regardless of that sad decline, Mattingly deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame due to his leadership and stunning play when he was not injured. Whether or not this is the year for that to happen, we will find out soon.

Same Yanks, Same Outcome? I Don’t Think So

The Yankees have received a lot of scrutiny from fans of other teams about how they did nothing this offseason other than bring the team from last year back. These naive people think that since its the same team, the outcome will be the same. I know that the Yanks [or their fans] don’t have to answer to fans of other teams, but I felt like responding to this one because that assumption is just bullshit. Just because the players are the same does not mean we will lose in round one of the ALDS again.

There is actually an advantage to having the same players return. As they practice and play more games with each other, they start to get more acquainted with the eachother’s playing styles. This helps them realize what each man’s strengths and weaknesses are. They can then use that information to play optimal ball for whatever situation they are in. The more the same team plays together, the quikcer the team chemistry grows and the players act as a more unified team, which is very important for any successful club.

Now lets move on to specifics. Particularly what many Yankee fans are referring to as the “big three”. Who? Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, and of course Joba Chamberlain; three young pitchers who were a major part of the rally last year. Only difference is, now they got another year under their belt’s and experience is always a great thing to have in professional sports. They are still young and learning so they should continue to get better for a while to come and if you look at what they’ve done so far that might be scary for other teams.

I am not going to pull the Joe Girardi card in this one because even though that was one of the changes made this off season, Torre was still a great manager, so that was not the issue.

Bottom line is, we may have the same base of players, but that DOES NOT mean we will have the same outcome.