Pettitte declines to discuss Clemens' indictment

Andy Pettitte's comments regarding Roger Clemens' indictment by a federal grand jury left little to misremember. "I've got nothing to say about that," Pettitte said before Friday night's game. "If you want to talk about me, I'll be more than happy to, my injuries or whatever."

Asked if he had specifically been told not to discuss the indictment, he paused. "I think everybody can figure that out, you know?" he said. "It's pretty simple. It's just . . . it's . . . I don't have any comment on it."

Pettitte is seen as a potential linchpin in the obstruction of Congress and perjury charges against Clemens. Former Rep. Tom Davis - a Republican from Virginia and a leading member of the House committee that held a hearing in February 2008 on performance-enhancing substances in baseball - told ESPNNewYork.com that Pettitte's sworn deposition corroborating much of Brian McNamee's testimony likely was a significant factor in the indictment.

McNamee, a former trainer of Clemens and Pettitte, has said he injected Clemens with steroids and HGH more than a dozen times from 1998 to 2001. Clemens has consistently denied that and said McNamee was lying. At the 2008 hearing, when lawmakers presented the part of Pettitte's affidavit in which he recounted a conversation in which Clemens discussed his use of HGH, Clemens uttered his memorable "I think he misremembers" line.

"If it was just Roger versus McNamee, it's a different matchup," Davis said. "Without Pettitte, neither McNamee nor Clemens was that articulate or credible."

Should the case get to trial, Pettitte is sure to be called to the stand. That is reason alone, a Manhattan-based defense attorney said, for him not to discuss the indictment with the media.

"He's a potential witness here," Joseph DiBenedetto said late Friday afternoon in a telephone interview. "If I was Andy Pettitte's attorney, I would advise him to stay away from any comments about this case."

Having admitted that he used HGH to accelerate his recovery from injury, and being on record with the affidavit, Pettitte has nothing to gain by publicly commenting on Clemens. DiBenedetto said anything Pettitte says now could be brought up again in cross-examination.

"Any time you represent a potential witness, especially someone who can be quoted regularly in the media, it's best for them not to answer questions because those are statements that can be read back to him on the stand and he can be cross-examined on them," he said. "You never know what you're going to be asked on cross-examination, so you're better off not putting yourself in the position where a defense attorney can ask you something that might trip you up."