In the Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee saga, we now know this much. Somebody is lying to the federal government. Clemens continues to deny any and all wrongdoing, while McNamee has produced pictures of what he claims is physical evidence that the Rocket used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens and legal experts have questioned the so-called "chain of custody" of this evidence, and how, even if the DNA tests link Clemens to this stuff, there's no way to prove it hasn't been tampered with in the years it's been sitting in McNamee's basement. Wednesday's televised testimony with these guys should be interesting.
Regarding the whole Pedro Martinez cockfighting thing, people will try to compare this to Michael Vick, and those people are flat wrong. Vick broke the law. Martinez did not. Vick was in the US. Martinez was in the Dominican. Millions of people have dogs as pets. Very few have gamecocks as pets. Very few people eat dog meat. Most people eat some type of bird meat. I can see how on the heels of Vick, the Mets probably aren't thrilled that video of Pedro at a cockfight surfaced on the web. That's not exactly the kind of PR you want to have right after trading for the best pitcher on the planet. And I'll be the first to say I don't get what's so thrilling about watching birds with razors on their beaks and talons peck each other to death. It seems kind of barbaric. But it's just not the same thing as dogfighting- not even close. In fact, it's so much different that it's not worth mentioning any further.
And finally, I'll say this about Curt Schilling and Shouldergate. Even if he doesn't throw a pitch in 2008, the Sox will still have the best pitching staff in their division with Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, Buchholz, and Wakefield. No other team is close (sorry Yankee fans). They might miss Schilling in October, though. In 19 career starts, he's 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and 120 K's. That will be hard to replace. But if the bloody sock is any indicator of this guy's guts, he'll be back on the field as soon as he's able.
A couple of potentially playoff-bound teams will gladly welcome the return of former 20-game winners to their starting rotations this week.
First the New York Mets, 3 games up on the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, will send Pedro Martinez to the mound Monday night in Cincinnati, to take on Aaron Harang and the Reds. Pedro hasn't pitched since September 27 of last year when he suffered his fourth straight loss and retired just 8 batters before giving up 7 runs to the Atlanta Braves. He had off-season rotator cuff surgery and Willie Randolph says he will be limited to 75 pitches and no more than 35 in an inning, tomorrow.
And the St. Louis Cardinals, now 2 games back of the NL Central leading Cubs, will get Mark Mulder back in their starting rotation, likely Wednesday, at home, against Matt Morris and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mulder, like Pedro, had rotator cuff surgery in the off-season and has been rehabbing ever since. Mulder has not pitched in a big league game since August 29 of last year, where he suffered his third straight loss and got just 5 outs before giving up 5 runs to the Florida Marlins. Interestingly, once he returns, the Cardinals will go to a 6-man rotation featuring Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper, Kip Wells, Joel Pineiro, Mulder, and Anthony Reyes. The thinking here is all the converted relievers, rookies, and guys coming off injuries will have an extra day's rest in-between starts. Tony LaRussa hasn't said what sort of restrictions will be in place for Mulder, but you can bet he'll be on a pitch count for a while.
It's difficult to say what sort of impact these two will have, if any, on the 2007 stretch run. But you know their teams and teammates are just glad to see them, apparently, fully recovered from major arm surgery. At their peak, these guys were some of the best in the game and just a few years ago, both were still major contributors. In 2005 Pedro went 15-8 with a 2.82 and 208 K's while Mulder was 16-8 with a 3.74 ERA and 2 shutouts. If they can both make about 4 starts this month and get their arms into decent shape, and if their teams make it to October, who knows, they could come up huge.
In the Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee saga, we now know this much. Somebody is lying to the federal government. Clemens continues to deny any and all wrongdoing, while McNamee has produced pictures of what he claims is physical evidence that the Rocket used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens and legal experts have questioned the so-called "chain of custody" of this evidence, and how, even if the DNA tests link Clemens to this stuff, there's no way to prove it hasn't been tampered with in the years it's been sitting in McNamee's basement. Wednesday's televised testimony with these guys should be interesting.
