SEE YOU IN COOPERSTOWN AUGUST 2013

The news that Mike Piazza is retiring comes 1 day of short of the 10 year anniversary of the trade that brought Mike Piazza to Shea. I will have nothing but good memories of Mike Piazza as a met, and he will go down as one of the best players we ever had.

Not only did he hit, and drive in runs, and make the Mets lineup stronger, he came to this town when the Yankees were the KINGS and made us matter again.

Piazza hit 40 home runs in a season with a whole franchise on his back. He would go on Howard Stern, he was on page 6, and of course he was on the back pages and the talk of sports radio.

"Within the eight years I spent in New York, I was able to take a different look at the game of baseball," he said in a statement yesterday. "I wasn't just a young kid that was wet behind the ears anymore. I was learning from other veteran guys like Johnny Franco, who taught me how to deal with the pressures of playing in New York, and Al Leiter who knew what it took to win a world championship."

Unfortunately the Mets never did win a world championship with Piazza, mostly because in the 2000 World Series they faced a baseball dynasty and Armando Benitez couldn’t strike out Paul O’Neil in game 1.

There was all the Piazza-Clemens stuff, and while I wish Piazza would have gone after Clemens and shoved that bat up his steroid inflamed ass, Mike had to much class to stoop to the level of the time and time again proven classless Roger Clemens.

Unless somebody digs up a boatload of dirt on Piazza in the next 5 years, guess which one of the two is going directly to the Hall of Fame and which one is going to spend all his time in the courts and disappearing ala Mark McGwire.

"He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer and certainly the best hitting catcher of our era and arguably the best hitting catcher of all time," Tom Glavine said.

David Wright said, "He was The Man in New York. He helped mold me into the baseball player I want to be and helped mold me into being a leader on the team."

Piazza was just what Mets fans needed, and he produced one of the epic New York moments with that home run against the Braves in the first game in New York after Sept 11.

The Mets didn’t always handle Piazza like the superstar he was, they screwed up the move to first base, they really didn't defend him when Clemens threw at him and they never surrounded him with the type of talent to put them over the top.

"Mike electrified New York City," Fred Wilpon said in a statement. "We wish Mike, his wife, Alicia, and daughter Nicoletta all health and happiness as he begins a new chapter in his life."

We wish there was somebody who got the whole experience here enough to say, as Piazza once did, "New York without Johnny Franco is like a pastrami sandwich without rye."

Well Wally Matthews put it even better, when he said the Mets without Piazza were like a pastrami sandwich without the pastrami.

HIGHLIGHTS OF PIAZZA'S FIRST BALLOT HALL OF FAME CAREER


1993: Wins NL Rookie of the Year award as member of Dodgers.

1997: Comes in second in MVP voting.
1999: Hits in 24 straight games, tying Mets' franchise record.

Oct. 19, 1999: Hits home run to tie score at 7 in losing effort against Braves in Game 6 of NLCS.

2000: Has 15-game RBI streak, second-longest in MLB history.

Sept. 21, 2001: Hits two-run home run against Braves in first New York sporting event since 9/11.
May 4, 2004: Sets record for most home runs by a catcher.

April 26, 2006: Hits 400th career home run, while with Padres.

:-)

According to the AP:

Congress asked the Justice Department on Wednesday to investigate whether Roger Clemens made false statements to a House committee.

The chairman and ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said they sent a letter to Justice.

"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," committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis wrote. "That testimony is directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of Brian McNamee, who testified that he personally injected Mr. Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

"Mr. Clemens's testimony is also contradicted by the sworn deposition testimony and affidavit submitted to the committee by Andrew Pettitte, a former teammate of Mr. Clemens, whose testimony and affidavit reported that Mr. Clemens had admitted to him in 1999 or 2000 that he had taken human growth hormone."

FINAL CLEMENS POST FOR Y'ALL

It's been a nice week as Roger has finally decided to lay low and not hold press conferences that he storms out of, or to post you tube videos that say nothing, and finally stop sending out 18,000 word essays on why his stats prove he didn't do steroids. Maybe we'll never know that truth, and never find out if Andy really misremembered, or if Roger is just another in the long line of arrogant, successful, lying public figures, (Pete Rose, Marion Jones, Bill Clinton) that deny, deny, deny, until sooner or later the facts and the truth come out and we get the to little to late apology.

THE COVER UP IS ALWAYS WORSE THAN THE CRIME. Clemens will find this out one day, oh I guess at sometime in the next 4 or 5 years we’ll get the standard apology statement…let me write it for you Roger, or maybe you can just use the one that Marion Jones guaranteed she would never have to use:

“It’s with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust,”
“I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let (my family) down. I have let my fans down, and I have let myself down,” “I recognize that by saying I’m deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and hurt that I’ve caused you.
“Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

Sooner or later we’ll get this speech from Roger, and I won’t have the to say “I told you so” I’ll get enough satisfaction from seeing that arrogant SOB squirm and make excuses, and hopefully take his “rear end” that he worked so hard on, back to Texas, and I won’t give a “rat’s ass” if I ever have to see him, or hear from him again.

Hopefully Roger’s kids DON’T follow his example. And maybe, just maybe, one day Kody will be at the plate against some pitcher, full of the drug, or performance enhancer of the future, with a vendetta against him who decides to maybe just get a bit reckless with a high hard one, and hopefully Kody will follow Mike Piazza’s example and handle it with class and respect unlike his dear old hard working daddy did, and still does.

Good bye ya’ll

CLEMENS AND CONGRESS

I just listened to 4+ hours of fascinating and riveting radio. Anyone who listened to this KNOWS Roger Clemens lied. This is not even debatable, so I’m not even going to get involved with pointing out all the stupid, unrealistic, and blatant inconstancies with Rog’s story. Don’t get me wrong, McNamee is no saint, but he has no reason to lie. Roger has millions and millions of reasons.

But….I am embarrassed to be a Republican today. As I was listening to some of these politicians throw softballs at Clemens it just infuriated me, but then, when it was over, to look up who these people were and notice one after another was a republican, and that they refused to ask Roger anything other than what type of work out regime he used, was just a disgrace. I guess all those autographs and meet and greets last week must have included a ton of reminders or promises about Roger’s past contributions to the Republican Party.

The fact that even something like this has a line that is so clearly drawn by party affiliation shows really what is wrong with this country. These politicians are not looking out for the good of the country, or the people, they are all about their own good, their own grandstanding, and getting re-elected.

When I woke up this morning I was all prepared to listen to Clemens lie and lie and lie, and while I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him get creamed, I walk away with a bitter taste in mouth for how this country is run, and the “people” we have in place running it.

CLEMENS UNDER OATH

Since he's under oath, I'd love to hear one of the Congressmen ask Roger what was he really thinking when he threw that bat at Mike Piazza?

He didn't really think that was the ball, did he?

Oh wait....he'd lie about that answer too wouldn't he?

IS CLEMENS GOING TO CALL PETTITTE A LIAR?

According to ESPN:

Andy Pettitte's affidavit helps to support Brian McNamee's version of events that the former trainer gave Roger Clemens steroids and HGH, Rep. Tom Davis told Newsday.

Although Pettitte won't testify at Wednesday's hearings, the left-hander's affidavit will be presented to Clemens at the hearing and will be part of the public record, the newspaper reported.

Asked whether Pettitte's desire to skip the hearing was a sign that his testimony was incriminating to Clemens, Hardin said, "it would be a huge mistake to assume that."

Sources told Quinn that Pettitte was not a good witness when he appeared before congressional lawyers during a sworn deposition on Monday. Pettitte often contradicted himself, the sources said, so the committee agreed to his request not to appear before the committee.

Lawyers familiar with the hearings would not say if Pettitte implicated Clemens as a steroids user in his testimony. However, they said that Pettitte's testimony didn't fully jibe with Clemens' versions of events.


IN MY EYES PETTITTE IS A GOOD GUY. HE PROBABLY TRIED TO SHEILD ROGER THE DODGER FROM THIS AS MUCH AS HE COULD, BUT WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE ANDY ISN'T GOING TO LIE TO SAVE CLEMENS' ASS, NOR SHOULD HE.

CLEMENS IS GOING TO TO BE GIVEN ANDY'S TESTAMONY AND HAVE TO SAY, "HE'S WRONG" OR "HE MISUNDERSTOOD" OR "HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT HGH ETC." BASICALLY CALLING ANDY DUMB...WHAT A SHAME, BUT THROUGHOUT HIS PUBLIC LIFE CLEMENS HAS SHOWN HIMSELF TO BE CLASSLESS AND WHY WOULD THIS BE ANY DIFFERENT?

AT SOME POINT PETTITTE IS GOING TO HAVE TO ADDRESS THIS PUBLICLY AND HE NEEDS TO STOP HIDING BEHIND HIS "FRIEND" WHO WILL THROW HIM UNDER THE BUS THE FIRST CHANCE HE GETS.

DEBBIE CLEMENS

Check out the lovely Mrs. Clemens' website http://www.debbieclemens.com/index2.htm.

Man oh man, Rog and the Mrs. sure have a heck of alot of junk to hawk. I guess anything that tarnishes that pristine image sure could cost them a few $$$.

Roger Clemens meet and greet with congress

First off let me start this by saying no one wants to see Roger Clemens embarrassed and sent home with his tail between his legs, more than I do. His arrogance and deplorable behavior through out the last 10 years or so disgust and enrage me. The way he handled the Mike Piazza incidents is an absolute disgrace, and his phony love of Babe Ruth (who I think is the greatest player of all time) is ridiculous. So needless to say there is nothing objective about this post. If you're a Clemens apologist, just stop reading now and move on to the next rant which I promise to make all giggly and fun.

What I don't get is, why would Brian McNamee, lie?

With all that said...(and now that Neil is the only one left reading) what is with this tour of congress? He is out there signing autographs, meeting and greeting with POTENTIAL JUDGES AND JURORS...I have never heard of or seen anything like this. The Mitchell investigators asked Clemens to stop by and speak to them before the Mitchell report was issued. Clemens refused. But now they can't get Clemens to stop meeting with people to tell his side of the story. There has to be no other option after Wednesday, when he swears on a stack of bibles that he is clean, that the Justice Department must open a criminal investigation into Roger Clemens' denials.

Look at that picture above, fake hair color, check, fake tan, check, fake boobs, check, fake husband, check, FAKE BODIES DUE TO MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF STEROIDS AND HGH, check. Again tell me why I'm supposed to believe he is telling the truth? Is it because he was a Yankee for 3 years...if he pitched his whole career for the Red Sox and won 2 World Series and 350 something games would anyone in NY be giving him the benefit of the doubt? Cumon...

Now on the other hand Brian McNamee has produced the "smoking gun" against Roger Clemens....except, to me, it proves nothing. All I have to do is look at a 45 year old man who is twice the size as he was 10 years ago (same as Barry Bonds) and I see him throwing harder and pitching better than he did when he was in his prime, and I see everything I need to see. Plus the louder and harder he yells to say he's telling the truth, shows me he's just trying a little to hard to make you believe that just because he "worked his rear end off" he deserves to have us believe him. And this isn't because he's a Yankee, because to me he isn't a Yankee, he was a jerk with the Blue Jays, and an idiot with the Astros.

Speaking of idiots, it's great to see that good ole' Rog hired an attorney who is as big a clown as he is. Rusty Hardin says of the IRS investigator who plans to attend Wednesday's hearing: "If he ever messes with Roger, Roger will eat his lunch." Nice, real smart, threaten the guy from the government with endless resources...maybe Hardin is the smart one after all, the more work he has to do for Roger, the more hours Hardin can bill Clemens for.
How great would it be if a sex tape would come out with Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens’s wife. OK sorry I couldn't resist...I'm just trying to get some more google hits. Brittney Spears, Lindsy Lohan.

On Wednesday, Roger and McNamee's testimony is meaningless, but Pettitte's is not. We don't know what Pettitte told them last Monday or what he will say at Wednesday's hearings. The speculation in Washington is he backed up Brian McNamee's story more than Clemens' story. Pettitte has told people around the Yankees that he simply told the truth (would we expect anything less from a quality guy like Andy?).
But, If Pettitte says Wednesday that he and Clemens had conversations about human growth hormone and Clemens admitted using it, what will Clemens do then? Attack Pettitte's credibility? You are damn right Clemens would, and then lets see all the Yankee apologist line up and pick a side in this one... I tend to think Roger's fan base will diminish pretty quickly.

There is only one question I want to hear the answer to, and only one guy I want to here answer it:

Mr. Pettitte, did you have conversations with Roger Clemens about HGH and did Roger admit to you he used it? The answer to that one should be way better than the Jeter sex tape!