Clemens Claims McNamee Inflicting Emotional Distress

Houston Chronicle, May 27, 2008:

Roger Clemens upped the ante of his defamation lawsuit against an ex-trainer by accusing him in court papers Tuesday of intentionally inflicting Clemens with emotional distress. ...

Joe Roden, a Clemens attorney who works with Rusty Hardin, said they added to the suit because "that's what McNamee has done, he has intentionally taken a shot at Roger Clemens. Every good lawyer will tell you, you bring every claim covered by the facts." ...

Keep fightin', Rog! You're doin' great!

***

Fat Billy is also texting pitching advice to Joba Chamberlain.

Fat Billy Says He's Sorry -- For Something

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

"I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry," Clemens said in a statement released Sunday night, one more statement that will make more trouble for him, because they all do.

You wanted to ask him which mistakes, but of course this wasn't one of his press conferences.

"I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans," Clemens continued, and right there you wanted to ask him what exactly he was apologizing for, but by now it's clear that he doesn't do well with any kind of cross-examination once he's given his name. ...

He said he was apologizing for mistakes, but didn't say which ones, and then he said that he didn't use human growth hormones or steroids. So that was some apology. He's human, he made mistakes, he's got flaws, and he didn't use performance-enhancing drugs. Most adults you know could make the same admissions ...

Also:

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday denied a motion to disqualify Roger Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin from representing the pitcher in a defamation suit Clemens has brought against Brian McNamee, the trainer accusing him of performance-enhancing drug use.

More Dirt On Clemens

NYDN:

A few years ago, country singer Mindy McCready brought a special guest to her mother's North Fort Myers, Fla., home.

It was the first time Gayle Inge had met Roger Clemens face-to-face, although they had talked on the phone numerous times and she knew her daughter had traveled to Las Vegas and other cities with the world-famous pitcher. ...

In past years, he'd called Inge's home looking for her daughter. He'd flown Inge's sons on his private plane and bought a sleek set of golf clubs for Tim McCready, their father and Inge's first husband, just like the ones Clemens used. He'd even asked Tim McCready for permission to have a relationship with his daughter.

All was fine until the visitor mentioned something that caught Inge off guard.

"A conversation about his sons came up," Inge says.

Then it hit Inge: Roger Clemens, father of four, was still married. ...

"He had chicks stashed in every city - like every athlete, you play golf, you go get drunk and [have sex]," says one source close to Clemens ....

Tim McCready adds: "He was the most incredibly honest person I've ever met."

Don't Back Down Now, Roger

NYDN:

A passel of Yankee players, coaches and execs - including Jason Giambi - will be dragged into the fray if Roger Clemens forges ahead with his defamation case against former trainer Brian McNamee, McNamee's lawyer [Richard Emery] told the Daily News Friday night.

Clemens' wife, Debbie, and their four sons also would be deposed ... The trainers, team doctors and medical specialists that Clemens has dealt with along the way would be questioned under oath, too. ...

"We'll go back to Boston. We'll look at his reputation there and the shenanigans he pulled there and, of course, the Yankees," Emery said. "It's going to be a mess. He's put all of these questions into issue. It's a massive discovery case, very unpleasant."

As Clemens' friends continued Friday to encourage him to drop the suit, the pitcher's flamboyant lawyer, Rusty Hardin, told The Associated Press he would talk to his client about whether they should go forward, the first hint of reversal from Hardin.

If you drop your defamation suit, then McNamee "wins". Everyone will assume he was telling the truth. You don't want McNamee to win, now do you?

Former Stripper Alleges Affair With Clemens

NYDN:

It's raining women, and Roger Clemens' confidants are telling him to wise up and get out of the storm.

Clemens' longtime friends are advising him to drop his defamation suit against steroid accuser Brian McNamee ... "I don't see how he can continue this case," said a source close to Clemens. "There's no way to damage his reputation any more."

The bombshell revelations continued yesterday, when a former stripper told a Detroit radio station she also had an affair with Clemens, who is the target of an FBI perjury investigation. ...

Legal experts are shocked Clemens has gone this far. ... "Everything he has done is geared to self-destruction," [Peter Keane, a constitutional law professor at Golden Gate University] said. "It's like watching a lemming heading for the waves."

"There's no way to damage his reputation any more."

Tune in tomorrow!

Clemens: Another Day, Another Alleged Affair

NYDN:

Several sources told the Daily News Wednesday that Clemens had a relationship with Paulette Dean Daly, a former wife of champion golfer John Daly.

The sources said Clemens, a married father of four, arranged trips to Anaheim Stadium for Daly - the latest woman to emerge as an alleged Rocket flame - to watch him pitch for the Yankees against the Angels. Sources also said he spent time with her in Palm Springs, Calif. ...

Asked if she had been romantically involved with Clemens, Daly replied: "You know what, I'm really uncomfortable talking about this. I'm just going to have to say, 'No comment.' I know Roger. I consider him a good friend. That's all I'm comfortable saying." ...

The pair met at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic ... News reports have described Clemens as being in attendance as recently as two years ago, dancing around the party with an 8-foot-long boa constrictor around his neck.

Ernest Nargi, a New York lawyer and former prosecutor:

If Roger was my client, I'd say, "Look, let's sit down and find out what's out there." How many women are there? A girl a day? Every 15 minutes is one going to materialize from a bar or a trailer?' Hardin needs to find out what's out there.

Newsday: Roger Clemens, Victim

Newsday's Wallace Matthews (who has a seven-year-old daughter) says he feels "a twinge of sympathy for Roger Clemens, Victim". He appears to be serious.

I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to defend Roger Clemens.

I mean, I know the guy’s dishonest, arrogant, a bully, a perpetual teenager and quite probably, a steroid cheat. But a little perspective here, please.

A ballplayer who cheats on his wife? I am shocked. ... The fact that she was 15 and he 28? Well, that one is a little tougher to get around, but these days, 15 is the new 30. ... aside from the age of his alleged mistress at the time of their meeting, this is one big non-story ...

We don't know if Clemens was having "an affair" or "a romance" with the underage McCready ... if Clemens was simply assuming a mentoring role with his young friend, knowing as we do how strongly he feels about serving as a role model for young people.

Matthews, whose up-is-down world includes the belief that Tim Wakefield is the slowest-working pitcher in all of baseball, concludes by saying that perhaps McCready leaked this "non-story" in an attempt to restart her career. And if so, then isn't she just as bad as Clemens, who allegedly used steriods to prolong his career?

Schadenfreude 42 (A Continuing Series)

NYDN: "Roger Clemens hung out with several attractive women in his baseball career, including beauties in California and Boston and a former Manhattan bartender named Angela Moyer. Clemens, 45, flew the women around the country on his private jet and bought expensive jewelry for at least one of them, a source told the Daily News Tuesday. ...

"[Moyer] worked as a bartender from 2000 to 2004 at Sutton Place, a yuppie East Side watering hole. That's roughly the same time the pitching legend played for the Yankees. Moyer acknowledged she knew Clemens, but has declined to discuss the relationship."

McCready Admits Clemens Affair

Mindy McCready, on yesterday's report of her long-term affair with Roger Clemens:

I cannot refute anything in the story.

NYDN:

The News reported that the two met in a Florida karaoke bar when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and Clemens was a 28-year-old ace for the Red Sox and a married father of two. ... After the teenage McCready met Clemens at a Fort Myers bar called The Hired Hand, she returned with the Rocket to his hotel room, but there was no sex that night ... It wasn't until later, after McCready had moved to Nashville and become a country singing star, that the relationship turned intimate.

And so only one day after Clemens's lawyer Rusty Hardin makes definitive denials of the story, he is shown to be totally full of horseshit.

At no time did Roger engage in any kind of inappropriate or improper relationship with her.

Oops.

Hardin said the Rocket's wife, Debbie, knew McCready ...

Oops. "[S]ources with knowledge of the relationship between the singer and Clemens say McCready has never met Roger's wife ..."

He's considered her a close family friend.

Yet when Clemens sent checks to McCready to help her with her legal issues -- sometimes as much as $25,000 -- they "were channeled to the singer through an intermediary". And isn't that what we all do when we loan money to a "close friend" -- go through a third party.

***

Oh yeah, Red Sox baseball tonight! Mike Lowell is expected to be back.

Fat Billy's Affair With A 15-Year-Old

Daily News:

Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready, a romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old Red Sox ace and married father of two, several sources have told the Daily News. ...

Contacted by the Daily News Sunday through his lawyer Rusty Hardin, Clemens confirmed a long-term relationship but denied that it was of a sexual nature. ... Hardin said the Rocket's wife, Debbie, knew McCready and that the singer had traveled on his plane. ...

[Brian] McNamee, who worked with and traveled with Clemens extensively over the last decade, has confirmed that he saw Clemens and McCready together on many occasions, including in Clemens' room at his apartment in the former SkyDome ...

Clemens would frequently send bundles of cash in FedEx packages ... The two were known to take lavish trips to Las Vegas and New York. One time, McCready attended a Yankees game at the Stadium and jokingly donned a catcher's mask near the home dugout.

During another Big Apple excursion, the two holed up in the trendy SoHo Grand and later partied with Monica Lewinsky and Michael Jordan. ... There were personal love missives to Clemens hidden in McCready's album liner notes. ...

As Clemens acted blamless, arrogant and untouchable and threw everyone he knew -- including his mother and wife -- under the bus, we knew there would be more dirt coming out ... but man oh man!!!

Clemens Has Family Link To Houston Clinic

A week ago, I posted that IRS agents were investigating Shaun Kelley's weight control clinic "as part of an effort to determine whether Roger Clemens obtained steroids or human growth hormone in the Houston area".

Today, the Daily News reports that

Clemens' stepsister, Bonnie Owens, was a massage therapist at the clinic in 2005 and dated one of Kelley's trainers from 1991-1993.

Also, in that March 7 Times story, Kelley described Clemens as "an acquaintance" who he had met "a couple" of times. Today's Daily News states "Kelley has vigorously denied being a close acquaintance of" Clemens, quoting him as saying: "I do not know Roger Clemens."

IRS Widens Clemens's Investigation

New York Times:

Internal Revenue Service agents have contacted a former employee of a fitness center here as part of an effort to determine whether Roger Clemens obtained steroids or human growth hormone in the Houston area, where he lives, the former employee said. ...

The former employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in an interview Wednesday that the federal agents asked about the operation of Shaun Kelley Weight Control, as well as whether Clemens knew the center's owner, Shaun K. Kelley. ...

Kelley described Clemens as "an acquaintance," and at first said he had met him only once, but later said he met him "a couple" of times.

Kelley denied in several interviews that he was involved with performance-enhancing drugs. But he has advertised human growth hormone on his Web site, and in 2005, his e-mail address appeared in an online inquiry about purchasing the hormone from a Chinese company. ...

Clemens visited Kelley's center in the past few years, according to the former employee who spoke to I.R.S. agents. Clemens arrived at the center, explained that he was a friend of Kelley and waited while Kelley finished speaking to a client. Clemens then entered Kelley's office and stayed for about 20 minutes, the former employee said.

Kelley said: "I have never seen Clemens in my store, ever. This is all totally false." ...

Shaun Eckhardt, who worked for Kelley as a trainer for six months before quitting recently, said Kelley, in speaking of Clemens, "would always say they were good friends." Other former employees who confirmed that Kelley often brought up Clemens's name included Graham Burket, who worked as Kelley's general manager for about three months, and Damon Lenahan, a nutritionist who worked for Kelley for about three months last year.

Clemens lives about three miles from the fitness center.

Clemens's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said any questions about a possible relationship between his client and Kelley were "despicable" and accused reporters of being part of "witch hunt".

Based on Hardin's past statements and how events progressed, I expect he will, in the next day or so, be admitting that of course the two men were best friends.

NY Democrat: Clemens Has Suffered Enough

NY Lawmaker Urges FBI To Drop Clemens Probe, Saying Pitcher Has Suffered Enough

A Democratic congressman asked the FBI on Wednesday to drop its investigation of Roger Clemens because the pitching great had suffered enough from the probe into steroid use.

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a candidate for New York mayor in 2009, said the FBI is too busy with more important crimes to spend time trying to determine if the ex-Yankees pitcher lied to Congress about taking performance enhancing substances.

"Roger Clemens has been shamed. I think the public record is replete with examples of how he did not likely tell the truth. What is the public benefit of continuing with an FBI investigation?" Weiner said. ...

Interesting take. You can boldly lie all day long to Congress, say your family is going through hell (y'all), and some moron will feel sorry for you and suggest everyone leave you alone.

Maybe people in police custody can start using the "Weiner Defense": "I'm really ashamed that I was caught robbing that bank, but there must be some more important murders and stuff that you have to investigate. You should forget about me. I'll just go home."

Josh Beckett will pitch games 1 and 3 of the season-opening series against the Athletics: Tuesday, March 25 in Tokyo and Tuesday, April 1 in Oakland.

The Red Sox face Joe Torre and the Dodgers today at 1 PM. Derek Lowe faces Tim Wakefield. I think ESPN is showing the game.

Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Lowell, 3B
Casey, 1B
Lowrie, SS
Moss, RF
Mirabelli, C

Coco Crisp goes for a root canal today. I finished up a root canal last month and I hope Ococ has someone as good as my dentist. During the drilling, I dozed off several times.

Y'Alling His Way Into The Quicksand

Even before the Justice Department was asked to "investigate whether Roger Clemens made false statements under oath about his suspected use of steroids and human growth hormone", federal investigators were on the job in Houston:

looking into whether Clemens received performance-enhancing drugs from local suppliers. That effort has led investigators to scrutinize the activities of at least one gym owner in Houston and one or more doctors, according to several lawyers with knowledge of the situation who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

What's amazing about the quicksand into which Billy finds himself slowly sinking is that it all could have been avoided if he hadn't been such a stubborn dumbass. ... But then if he wasn't a stubborn dumbass, he wouldn't be our Fat Billy, would he?

If, after the Mitchell Report had been released, Clemens had pulled a McGwire and said "what's past is past, I'm retired now", none of this would have happened. The media and fans would have ripped him, though to a much smaller extent that they have to date. And perhaps when his first Hall of Fame vote came around in five years, his career would get the fair appraisal he clearly wants.

If Clemens and his attorney Rusty Hardin had not played the recording of Clemens's phone call to McNamee, it's likely that McNamee's stash of Roger's old needles and gauze pads would have remained a secret. McNamee would not have declared war on Clemens. There would not have been any hint of a criminal investigation.

But no. That's not what happened. So we're left wondering whether Hardin is the engineer of this legal trainwreck (in which case Billy must be mighty pissed off) or whether Clemens is calling the shots over his lawyer's advice (in which case, why didn't Hardin jump ship earlier?).

Howard Wasserman, writing at the Sports Law Blog, calls Hardin "possibly the worst example of the grandstanding lawyer we have seen in a while". Hardin has complained about the "circus of public opinion", yet Wasserman correctly notes that Hardin is that circus's chief architect.

[A]nd let's not forget that Hardin has basically dared DOJ to investigate Clemens by saying of the likely lead investigator that Clemens "would eat his lunch."

Michael McCann, a law professor at Mississippi College School of Law and Chair of the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Sports and the Law, writes:

A person close to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with knowledge of its proceedings tells SI.com that Roger Clemens and his legal team made a devastating strategic blunder in regards to the now infamous Jose Canseco lunch party that took place in June 1998. The alleged blunder caused members of the committee and their staff to deeply question Clemens' veracity and the wisdom of his legal team's counsel.

Initially the party seemed like an unimportant fact. The party is mentioned only briefly in the Mitchell Report ... [and] does not expressly connect Clemens to steroids or HGH through his alleged attendance ...

Clemens' legal team, however, apparently regarded the mention -- which it insists is wrong -- as the primary point of vulnerability in McNamee's testimony ... As the committee evaluated the depositions and available evidence, however, it began to conclude that McNamee told the truth at all times and that Clemens repeatedly lied.

ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski:

In less than three months, Clemens has y'all-ed his way into more corners than a folded flag. ... Clemens hid the truth. He didn't hide it very well, which is why IRS special agent Jeff Novitzky of BALCO fame is now Clemens' worst nightmare. ...

Novitzky is a grinder who has already put away Olympian Marion Jones and former NFL defensive player of the year Dana Stubblefield. ... Clemens got his clock cleaned by little, gavel-waving Rep. Henry Waxman of California. Just wait until Novitzky starts dumpster diving into his life.

Clemens hasn't given the feds much of a choice. Every time there's smoke, Clemens seems to be standing there with a blowtorch. ...

There have been complaints that the government should not be wasting taxpayer dollars on this matter. Keep in mind that they are investigating perjury, a much more serious matter than steroid use. What is $25 million gets spent on this investigation? The US burns through that much in Iraq alone every 18 minutes.

SoSher badger:

Well, I for one, think it is a great use of my tax dollars to put Roger Clemens in jail. Maybe we can have a separate check-box on our tax return -- "Would you like to donate $1 to the Federal Send-Roger-Clemens-To-Jail Fund?"

The Daily Roger

Post: Rog Can't Pitch Around Novitzky

Daily News: Roger Clemens Faces Perjury Probe As Congress Throws Ball To Justice

Lupica: Roger Clemens May Trade Hall Of Fame For Halls Of Prison

Newsday: Congress Asks Justice Dept. To Probe Clemens (with a photo that's dying to be photoshopped)

Newsday: Clemens Is Having Fun In Sun, While He Can

Newsday: Nitkowski: Clemens Spoke Of Canseco Party

Times: Congress Requests Clemens Inquiry (with photo of TCM with a player whose uniform name -- Bogusevic -- is prominently displayed)

Times: Reporters Seeking Reaction From Clemens Receive Brushback


Richard Emery:

Roger Clemens' chance against the kind of case that Novitzky and Parrella will make against him, given what I believe is overwhelming evidence against him, is the same kind of chance you have against a hurricane.

You know the real problem that Clemens has now? That he's ended up lying about so many other things other than steroids. ... He's not just going to get investigated, there's going to be a grand jury and then he's going to get indicted. But I've been saying that from the night he started painting a bull's-eye on himself on "60 Minutes".

Rut Roh Roger

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Roger Clemens lied under oath to Congress.

From its letter (PDF, web) to Attorney General Michael Mukasey:

We are writing to ask the Justice Department to investigate whether former professional baseball player Roger Clemens committed perjury and made knowingly false statements during the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's investigation of the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in professional baseball.

"We believe that his testimony in a sworn deposition on Feb. 5, 2008 and at a hearing on Feb. 13, 2008 that he never used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone warrants further investigation.

Meanwhile at the Astros' camp:


"This isn't a zoo!"

Clemens's Credibility Has Gone "Tits Up"

The New York Daily News "has learned that in the days since the Feb. 13 public hearing on steroids in baseball, another major leaguer has informed congressional investigators that Clemens often joked in the clubhouse about a memorable account of the party -- a scene in which Debbie Clemens and Canseco's ex-wife Jessica compared the results of their surgical breast enhancements."

A First Step Toward Criminal Investigation Into Whether Clemens Committed Perjury

ESPN:

Roger Clemens' appearance before Congress not only may have failed to clear his name, it might also have led to more trouble.

New York Times:

A Congressional committee has taken the first steps toward asking the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into whether Roger Clemens committed perjury during testimony about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to three lawyers familiar with the matter.

A draft letter referring Clemens, but not his accuser, Brian McNamee, had been drawn up by staff members for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by the end of last week, according to two of the lawyers. However, all three lawyers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, said it was possible that McNamee could also be included in the referral by the time it is sent to the Justice Department.

Party Time

Roger Clemens, deposition to Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, February 5, 2008:

I never was at the party. ... I was not at this party. ... No. ... I wasn't at the party. I know I wasn't at the party. ... I just know for a fact I wasn't at the party. ... I wasn't there.

Statement of Rusty Hardin, Clemens's lawyer, February 22, 2008:

[Roger] may have stopped by the Canseco house after playing golf before heading to the ballpark for the game.

The Daily News reports that the father of the boy who took the pictures contacted Hardin before Clemens's appearance before the committee. Richard Emery, McNamee's lawyer, says Hardin "walked away from it, probably because he didn't want any contradictory evidence that showed Clemens was at the party".

More Bad News For Roger?

Federal investigators may have photographic evidence undermining Roger Clemens's sworn testimony that he did not attend a 1998 party at Jose Canseco's house.

NYDN:

The photo is owned by a young man who attended the party when he was 11 years old and took photos of his baseball heroes, including Clemens. Richard Emery, one of the lawyers for Clemens accuser Brian McNamee, was aware that such evidence had been circulating this week.

"We have reason to believe it's reliable evidence," Emery told the Daily News on Thursday. "We believe there's photographic evidence that shows Clemens was at a party he says he wasn't at."

Whether McNamee was correct when he testified that Clemens was at this party has almost nothing to do with his claims of shooting Clemens full of HGH and steroids on multiple occasions.

It was simply a red herring seized upon by the Republicans during Fat Billy's Congressional Lie-a-thon to push the idea that McNamee might be fibbing. Still, I find it amusing that Clemens may have lied about every single topic at the hearing.

No word on whether the 11-year-old boy was Nelson Muntz.