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Pettitte's confirmation could bring down Clemens

Ken Davidoff

December 16, 2007

Imagine growing up wanting to be someone, his poster on your wall and everything. Imagine that you don't quite get to be that person - you're not that good - but you do become a protégé. A good friend, for nine years.

Imagine how difficult it must be, after all that, to help take down your former idol.

That is precisely what Andy Pettitte did yesterday, by publicly confirming the testimony of Brian McNamee in the Mitchell Report. If McNamee spoke honestly about Pettitte, many will say, why would he have changed gears when it came to Roger Clemens?

The walls are collapsing on Clemens, and quickly.

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Clemens is all about defiance, so you've got to figure he's not going to follow Pettitte's lead, not anytime soon. I'd bet on a massive lawsuit - Clemens vs. McNamee, Mitchell and Major League Baseball - before I'd wager on the sort of confession that Pettitte offered yesterday.

Yet it sure isn't looking good for Clemens and his legacy. Not when Pettitte, who repeatedly has credited Clemens for his success, turns into his own man at the worst time for The Rocket.

Ah, Pettitte. What do you want to do about this guy? You want to give him a big hug and tell him it's all going to be all right, don't you? That he was just being a good teammate. That's what the Yankees did yesterday, as Hank Steinbrenner told Newsday's Kat O'Brien that the veteran left-hander is good to go.

Feel free to keep hating him, Yankees-haters. Let's remember, human growth hormone might not have been banned by baseball in 2002, but it was illegal to take without a prescription. That Pettitte asked McNamee - not a licensed physician, we're pretty sure - for HGH reflects that he knew what he was doing when he was doing it.

Yankees fans? Go ahead and give him a standing ovation when he makes that first home start of '08. At least he came forth now, even if his statement was a tad bizarre. I didn't understand the ranting about "media reports" that he used steroids, in addition to HGH, so I e-mailed Pettitte's agent, Randy Hendricks, and asked for an explanation.

"ESPN and others repeatedly said he used steroids on Thursday," Hendricks wrote back.

Oh. To me, it's just fine print - the bigger news is that he's in the Mitchell Report at all - but then again, I'm not the one whose name is being smeared every which way.

Pettitte, just like so many others, is a product of his time and his profession - circumstances that led him to know full well what HGH could do for him, and who went ahead and used it. There are hundreds of pitchers who did precisely the same thing, rest assured, but who slept well the last two nights. Because their dealer didn't get caught.

This is all gray stuff, in other words, and all the more so when you remember this resulted from an endeavor started by a man, Mitchell, who works for the enemy Red Sox.

I wish I knew whether Pettitte signed an autograph for Mitchell's son on June 2 at Fenway Park, the day Mitchell wore Red Sox gear, attained special access onto the field and collected John Hancocks from Yankees and Red Sox players. Pettitte wouldn't remember, I'm sure, and Newsday doesn't have the authority to subpoena Mitchell's son's autograph collection.

But Pettitte will be OK, now that he has signed off on this statement. It's Clemens who has to sweat. It used to be that Pettitte would follow Clemens' lead to just about everywhere. People in the know say that relationship cooled a little the past few years, when Pettitte grew tired of Clemens' prima donna ways with the Astros. They still were friends, just not as close.

And now we know for certain that Pettitte prioritizes his own needs over those of his friend and fallen idol. It hardly makes him a hero. It definitely makes him human, and interesting.