Odds and Sods

Roger Clemens was on the golden road to unlimited devotion a year ago, but he will now be singing the Mexicali Blues after a ten-year affair with country singer Mindy McCready–begun when she was just fifteen–became public.

The New York Daily News, citing an anonymous source, claims that Clemens carried on a clandestine relationship with the country starlet that spanned through stints in Boston, Toronto, New York and Houston.

Clemens reportedly became infatuated with the singer–when he was 28 and married with two children–when she performed at a Fort Myers bar, throwing a shirt on stage with the autographs of himself and some of his teammates.  The two were introduced and it was “love at first sight,” according to the source.

Roger neglected to inform McCredy of his marriage, a fact she discovered after reading his bio in a game program at Fenway Park.

Clemens allegedly took McCready on party-fueled jaunts to Las Vegas and New York.  He also allegedly sent her Fed-Ex packages filled with cash to cope with her legal woes.  Former trainer Brian McNamee confirmed that he saw the two together “on many occasions” including his apartment at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

McCready also allegedly sat near the Yankees dugout during Roger’s game and jokingly donned a catcher’s mask.

In a statement as believable as previous ones, Clemens confirms that McCready is a family friend, but denies that any “inappropriate” activities occurred.

The source seems likely to have some relationship to Brian McNamee, the target of Clemens’ defamation suit regarding allegations made in the Mitchell Report.  It is unclear whether this information can be useful in a legal defense, but it is clear that the parties will not be adhering to Marquess of Queensbury rules.

Caught in a search for one more Saturday night, Clemens will hope to convince his wife to turn on her lovelight and will likely get told to keep on truckin.

Bill James created a controversy through an off-hand comment about the Minnesota Twins in his The Bill James Gold Mine 2008.

James said the following about the Twins.

Two of the greatest home run under-producers of all time were teammates: Kirby Puckett and Gary Gaetti in 1984. Puckett hit no home runs (-16), Gaetti hit only 5 (-19). Suggesting the possibility that the Twins’ two World Championships may have been aided by their team being among the first to discover…well, I’d better not go there. Nor will I point out that Gaetti was bald and had acne and Puckett died young.

Bugs and Cranks assumed this passage to be deadpan.  I don’t agree.

The logical inconsistencies are egregious and un-Jamesian.  The year in question, 1984, comes as a blip in Gaetti’s career.  It was also Puckett’s rookie year, when he was adjusting to Major League pitching.

If James had meant to out the Twins’ championship teams, he probably would have expounded upon the argument and featured it more prominently.

There is also the dramatic… pause, which seems to indicate that James was not entirely serious.

I agree with Rob Neyer.  It seems to be more of a subtle joke, poking fun at conclusionist steroid czars employing statistics as weapons.  Such jokes from those normally serious are sometimes lost in translation.

Baseball and the MLB Players’ Union are trying to reach an agreement to impose some of the Mitchell Report’s recommendations.

The players are amenable to a strengthened year-round testing program, to supplant the current two test minimum.  Neither side wants testing turned over to an independent agency.

The sticking point, it seems, is punishment for players named in the report.  Retro-active punishment could only be meted out to players found guilty after 2004, which is fewer than a dozen of the eighty-plus players named in the investigation.

The Union wants players to receive no sanction, as suggested by Mitchell.  Selig wants some formal punitive measure, in the form of either counseling or fines – basically nothing.

Teams of lawyers paid thousands of dollars an hour are beating each other senselessly, with nerf bats.

And you wonder why it can cost $200+ to take a family to a game?

Buster Olney is one of the best baseball writers in the business, but, perhaps, he may wish to reconsider this metaphor.

America’s favorite I.R.S. agent on a power trip, Jeff Novitzky, has widened his invasive probe into the shadier side of Roger Clemens.

The Feds are investigating a potential link between Clemens and the Shaun Kelly Weight Control center.

Kelley denies involvement with performance-enhancing drugs, though according to the New York Times he has both acknowledged using HGH and has advertised it on his website.

According to a former employee, Clemens introduced himself as a friend of Kelley and spent 20 minutes alone with him in his office.  Kelley, when questioned by the Times, stated that Clemens was an acquaintance said they had met “a couple of times.”  Though, he denies meeting Clemens in his store.