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Clemens is having fun in sun, while he can

Ken Davidoff

February 28, 2008

KISSIMMEE, Fla.

Congress officially asked the Justice Department to investigate Roger Clemens on perjury charges Wednesday. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/The Associated Press / February 27, 2008)

When the news broke yesterday, Roger Clemens, fittingly, was pitching. Simulating game situations while throwing to his son, Astros catching prospect Koby, in the batting cages here at Houston's minor-league complex.

His remarkable right arm lifted Clemens out of trouble countless times during his 45 1/2 years. It mended once-fractured relationships, gained him the benefit of many doubters, salvaged a once-shredded reputation.

But Clemens can't pitch his way out of this hole. He is in the deepest of trouble, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform referring his case to the United States Department of Justice to investigate whether he committed perjury.

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner exhibited his usual high spirits yesterday -- if not with the roughly two dozen media representatives on site, then with the aspiring Astros and 100 or so fans. Even with reporters, Clemens' attitude came off as a sort of Hostility Lite. He loves the attention, and he knows that we know that.

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"Wow, you guys need to get a life," he said, smiling, as he entered the clubhouse at 10:45.

"Guys, the big [league] team is up that way," he said, smiling, at 1:30, as he departed the field and shooed off questions about the referral.

"See y'all tomorrow," he said, smiling, at 2:10, as he got into his Black Hummer -- pulled up to the clubhouse entrance by a lackey, so that Clemens wouldn't have to walk through the not-so-fearsome media scrum. Then The Rocket flashed the peace sign.

Between the pithy avoidance quotes, Clemens had a ball with Koby and the other minor leaguers. He worked with a young pitcher, Brian Bogusevic, on his mechanics in the bullpen. Then he took the mound himself, wearing only white tennis shoes along with black pants and an Astros shirt and hat.

He talked trash with the kids far better than with members of Congress. "You'll get nervous next week, when I come here with spikes on!" he joked to a kid who seemed tense over facing the legend.

"You want quality, not quantity," he scolded, when a kid chased a pitch outside the strike zone.

"I threw you a dead fish," he riffed at another point, denigrating his own stuff.

You can understand why the Astros want Clemens here, despite the distractions he creates. Despite the fact that, with Miguel Tejada aboard, the Astros are employing two people who are the subjects of U.S. DOJ inquiries.

"He's an asset to our players, from a standpoint of his teaching abilty," said Tal Smith, the Astros' president of baseball operations. "He's been doing this for several years now, and in his prior role. We feel that's an asset, that players can benefit from his instruction and his views on pitching."

And if Clemens wants to pitch again ... "We haven't even discussed that," Smith said. "In the first place, Roger has to make the determination as to what he's going to do."

Word in the Clemens camp is that the 24-year veteran is keeping an "open mind" about his playing future, and you know what that means. The Astros should bring him aboard. He is a good teammate, and the idea that he pitched horribly for the Yankees last year is a fallacy. Against National League lineups, for half a season, Clemens can be a helpful starting pitcher, a ticket draw and an extra coach.

Yet 2009 could be a problem, because by then, an indictment might have come down. Please appreciate what a terrible development yesterday marked for Clemens. After the Republicans supported him so vigorously in that Feb. 13 hearing, repeatedly attacking his accuser, Brian McNamee, ranking minority member Tom Davis signed off on a referral of only Clemens, when they could have referred the entire matter to Justice.

Translation: McNamee isn't such a dirt bag, after all.

The fans here cheered on Clemens, a few of them wearing a shirt that read, "Rocket Fuel Has No HGH." One man shouted, "Roger, the fans are behind you! We love you!"

Baseball and fan love won't carry the day anymore, however. Perhaps Justice will clear him down the line. Until then, however, Clemens' right arm, the key to so many escapes, has been reduced to a tool of denial.