UPDATE, 2:20 p.m. ET: For those of you riveted by this story – and
there must be someone – there has been precious little to report from Room 2154
of the Rayburn House Office Building. Clemens walked
in at 9:25 a.m. ET wearing a pinstriped gray suit, a pink dress shirt and a red
tie, clutching a cup of tea and smiled. He paused, looked around at an ornate,
high-ceilinged room dominated by seven oil paintings of former committee
chairmen, and said, "It’s beautiful."
That was more than five hours ago, and Clemens is still behind closed doors
speaking to lawyers. Perhaps they’ve ordered out for pizza – I know I wish I
could. The media, a contingent of about 30 assigned to cover this, has been
basically on stand-by ever since Clemens walked in. In any event, it’s a good
thing Clemens likes this room so much. It’s the same one he’ll be in on Feb.
13, along with former teammates Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch.
Whether Clemens will answer questions from reporters is another matter. Pettitte walked in and out of a closed-door interview over the course of more than two hours without saying anything more than the word,
9 2 Lineup & roster move, "No," when asked if he had any comment. We’ll find out soon enough.
Hello from our nation’s capital, where I’ve been dispatched on an unexpected first road trip of the season. This morning,
MLB Snapback Hats, Roger Clemens is scheduled to follow Andy Pettitte’s Monday appearance and provide a sworn deposition to lawyers concerning his personal involvement in topics related to the Mitchell Report. According to indications from Clemens’ attorneys, the Rocket is not expected to plead the Fifth Amendment and will answer the committee’s questions truthfully.
In other news, there’s plenty going on in New York tonight. Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez will be on hand at the Thurman Munson Awards dinner in Times Square, joined by David Wright of the Mets, the recently retired Craig Biggio of the Astros, plus the Knicks’ Jamal Crawford and figure skater Kristy Yamaguchi. A little baseball note: the Newark Star-Ledger floats the possibility of Kevin Mench as a fifth outfielder.
UPDATE 2:40 p.m. ET: Clemens has left the building. He did not take any questions but delivered a statement in which he said that he was thankful for the committee in providing this vehicle to state what he said all along, that he never used steroids. So, that’s that for the day.
Have a great day,
Cheap Armani Sunglasses, everyone.