Roger Clemens was one of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball.

Since the end of last season, however, he has done nothing but destroy his own legacy. Instead of pulling an Andy Pettitte or Brian Roberts-type mea culpa in the wake of the Mitchell Report, Rocket egotistically thought he could somehow beat the entire legal system and clear his name. In the process of trying to salvage his own name, he's brought down family members, former friends, and most of all himself. All to save his reputation.

In looking through the NY Post this morning, one can find yet another example of the selfish nature of Roger Clemens.

"Debbie and I held his hand while we watched the game, and he was heartbroken," said (Mother-in-law Jan) Wild, 70. "Not mad. He still loves baseball and the Yankees, but it was sad what they did to him."

Once again, Rocket finds a way to make something about himself. It's all about what other people have done "to him." Rocket's never done anything wrong. He's sitting in an area of our country which is in absolute shambles from a devastating hurricane. Millions still don't have power ... and not being included in a video montage by the New York Yankees is what brings Clemens down.

Any number of things could have started it. "Don't you dare say that 'bout my pappy!" "No one needs a no-hitter for the Hall of Fame!" "Steroids were legal in the 80's!" Or maybe Koby Clemens is just a bit of a steakhead.


I would imagine, though, that being Roger Clemens' son probably had something to do with being involved in a bar fight in Salem, Va., this weekend.

Clemens and Ori were charged with disorderly conduct and Goethals with assault and battery. All three were taken to the Roanoke County-Salem Jail before being released on bond, according to a news release from the Salem police.

[...] According to the news release, police were dispatched to a disturbance in the restaurant's parking lot at 2 a.m. on Sunday and, upon their arrival, found approximately 50 people in the lot.

The release does not describe any of the events leading to the arrests. It states only that Clemens and Ori were arrested on the scene and that Goethals was charged "after an employee of the restaurant obtained a warrant for his arrest" from the Roanoke County/Salem magistrate's office.

Naturally, no one is commenting. But it's odd that Clemens didn't have anything to do with the actual disorderly charge, since it seems pretty likely that he would have been one of the ones throwing down. Especially considering the Times note that he's been "catching catcalls from fans and media as his father contends with allegations of cheating on his wife, Debbie, and using performance-enhancing drugs during his baseball career."

Considering there's a 90% chance that the fight stemmed from someone verbally assaulting Koby, I'll be interested to hear what Roger has to say about this. And pretty surprised if this is the last time something like this happens.

Via SbB

Later today, the Red Sox will stroll out of the visitor's dugout and face the Yankees for the final time at venerable Yankee Stadium. There will be other goodbyes to the House That Ruth Built in the coming weeks, but with the Bronx Bombers a major longshot to play into October, this series seems to have taken on special significance.

Here are a dozen of the finest moments in the best rivalry in American sports, all of which took place at Yankee Stadium. Even Red Sox fans have to be feeling a little nostalgic about their team's final visit. After all, the franchise's finest hour took place there.

1. Oct. 16, 2003: The ghosts strike one last time. After Red Sox manager Grady Little leaves Pedro Martinez in well past the 100-pitch mark with a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning, the Yankees rally to force extra innings. In the 11th, Aaron Boone sends a deep fly into the Bronx night, sending New York to the World Series and crushing Boston's dreams of ending the Curse of the Bambino again.

Minor League Spotlight is the MLB FanHouse's look into baseball's minor leagues. But you probably figured that out already.

Roger Clemens made a surprise appearance at a minor league game on Saturday, watching the Worcester Tornadoes of the independent Cam-Am League play from the dugout and bullpen. Why were the Tornadoes graced with his presence? Presumably because they're managed by Rich Gedman, Clemens' friend and former catcher with the Red Sox.

It's not everyday that a former player of Clemens' stature shows up at an independent league game, so beat reporter Kevin O'Malley of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (via LBS) justifiably saw it fit to mention his appearance in his game recap:

Followed by an entourage of police officers, Clemens walked from the dugout to the Tornadoes' bullpen midway through the fourth inning. Before leaving the field, he signed autographs for team employees but not fans. He was also introduced by the public address announcer and waved to the crowd of 3,153, who responded with a chorus of cheers and boos.

This is where things get interesting. Gedman read O'Malley's recap in Sunday's paper and thought it was overly negative, especially the depiction that Clemens was booed, required police protection and didn't sign autographs, which Gedman all disputes. So the next time Gedman saw O'Malley, he called him an (expletive) and a (expletive) and kindly requested he (expletive) himself.

There's no more simple way to put it than by saying that Nolan Ryan articulates very well what I think everyone believes is killing/did kill Roger Clemens' reputation. (Via SbB):

Nolan Ryan appeared today on Dan Patrick's syndicated radio show and made it clear that he in no way supports the PED-denials of fellow Texan Roger Clemens (audio): "It's just a shame that Roger has gotten caught up in this situation and he took the stance that he did and that so many things have come out ... that have cast a bad light on his career.

If you look at what happened with some of the other players (who used PEDs), they stepped up and said 'hey, I did it, I knew it was wrong,' and they asked for forgiveness and have gone on about their business. I think it's just unfortunate Roger took the position that he did and that so much has come out about it."

Exactly.

Andy Pettitte made one simple, semi-humble admission to using steroids, took his single lash of the belt, cried a little and then shut his mouth and played baseball. No one cares about his mistakes anymore.

Last night's marathon All-Star Game -- woe to the livebloggers charged with chronicling that nonsense -- served several functions. One of them: to prove to casual baseball fans just how long and boring baseball can be. Another: to mask new Roger Clemens revelations.

According to the New York Daily News, steroid dealer Kirk Radomski -- not to be confused with Brian McNamee, Clemens' personal lackey-turned-snitch -- provided receipts to the government which prove he sent steroids to the Clemens household in late 2002 or 2003.

The official line from the Clemens camp is, as usual, denial, but the receipts are timed to corroborate the government's claim that the Rocket was responsible for his wife's use of HGH as she got ready to look sort of scary in her now-infamous Sports Illustrated pictorial. The timing works out, and the circumstantial evidence is almost overwhelming.

In other words, everyone in the world is now convinced that Roger Clemens (and his wife!) took some mixture of steroids and HGH at several stages of his Hall of Fame baseball career. This is nearly a foregone conclusion. McNamee and his lawyers don't need to convince anyone now; each new piece of evidence is just another nail in a coffin that was built in front of the House Oversight Committee.

When teams fall out of contention, or when coaches become unwelcome, the "Fire So-and-So Dot Com" move is always popular. The other thing you can do is rent your fandom out on EBay. Which is what some random Cleveland fan is doing (current bid: $299).

What is included in the basic service - provided to winning bidder:

1. I will watch at least one game a week of your favorite team and root as hard as I can for them to win.

2. I will send you at least 3 emails a week telling you how awesome your team is and or discussing what your team needs to do to get better (in my opinion).

3. I will wear (at your expense) any appropriate apparel (meaning Male officially sanctioned MLB merchandise) for your team. You will recieve one digital photo of me wearing this garb for each item you purchase and send to me.

54. I will root for your team for the remaining 2008 season and for the 2008 Post Season, after that, I am no longer requried to root for your team.

5. I will email a friend of yours and tell them why their team sucks, and why your team is awesome. (limit 3 emails - no profanity)

All good stuff. Although I find it annoying that whenever people do this, they throw the expenses on someone who's already paying a bunch of money. I also swear a Tennessee Volunteer fan did this at one point, but I can't for the life of me find it on the Googles.

Nothing particularly new to report on the Brian McNamee-Roger Clemens end of things, other than what Watson covered yesterday (Pettitte may have to come into court). It is interesting though, that McNamee's lawyers have ramped up their talk about the DNA tests on the syringes they presented to the court and how said tests will prove that Clemens is fibbing.

Of course, none of that is as interesting as finding out that a) Roger Clemens stinks at spelling, and b) his email address is Rocket something-something at something dot com. My guess is "Rocketman22 at aol dot com". From the Smoking Gun (who, naturally has copies of the emails, which were attached to a brief filed yesterday):

The e-mails ... were sent in October 2006, following the publication of a Los Angeles Times story reporting that Clemens and teammate Andy Pettitte were identified as steroid users in a confidential federal affidavit (the Times story proved to be erroneous). In the first e-mail, Clemens tells McNamee that, "Pet and I talk about the BS coming out. What a crock of sh*t!"

The third-place Yankees are in no position to deal with yet another distraction (Hank said what?! A-Rod is sleeping with who?!), but it's possible that Andy Pettitte, the team's best and most reliable pitcher this year, may be called in to testify in the defamation suit brought against Brian McNamee by Roger Clemens.

According to the New York Daily News, one of the claims Clemens is making against McNamee is that McNamee defamed Clemens by telling Pettitte Clemens used PEDs. McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, wants the judge to determine if the statute of limitations on that claim has passed, and doing so may require a hearing in which Pettitte will be forced to leave the Yankees and testify.

Sounds bad for the Yankees, right? It could get even worse. Emery has also requested that the defamation suit be moved from Houston to New York, which would allow Emery to subpeona a long list of witnesses, which includes Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Mariano Rivera, as well as team trainers and doctors.

All of a sudden, dealing with paparrazi on the A-Rod/Madonna beat doesn't seem too bad.

Jay Gibbons is suddenly a sad story. I don't know why, exactly; he's always seemed like kind of a jerk, and he cheated, and those things typically result in one being vilified forever. (*Cough* Roger Clemens *cough*.) But here Gibbons is today, the subject of a semi-empathetic story in the Baltimore Sun about how much he wants to get back to the majors. It starts out just moderately sad. Then we learn the horrifying truth:

"It's a league of misfortune," said Everett, who had a 14-season career in the majors that includes a World Series ring and dustups with umpires, managers and the media. "A lot of times mistakes are made by whomever, whether it is the club on judgment or the player. If you are one of those players that they made a mistake on you, you are going to hope someone else sees you."

Ah! Carl Everett! Where did you come from, man? Have you been here the whole time? No kidding.

Poor Jay Gibbons: He just wanted to keep playing baseball. Now he's stuck in the Land of Misfit Dinosaur Theorists.