I'm sorry, but . . .

Roger Clemens issued a statement today. "Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry."

Nothing like a qualified apology.

Oh, well, uh, sure I'm sorry, but not for what you think.

Huh? I guess we're supposed to be grateful he's sorry for something.

hey, listen up

If you haven't already, check out the sports talk mornings on AM1380 with Jim Hayes (and a couple of other guys you might recognize). This morning they got into my favorite discussion topic: Anthony Reyes. I just want to point out that they made my argument--something I have touted for the last 2 seasons plus--that while Dave Duncan may be a demi-god when it comes to working with pitchers and bringing out their individual talents, his and A-Rey's ideas of how A-Rey should pitch may be too far apart to surmount. 

I have the greatest respect for Dave and for Anthony, and I would love to see Anthony starting again someday, but I doubt it will be with the Redbirds, and I doubt it will be under Duncan. Nevertheless, I wish Anthony all the best in his career, even if it takes him away from St Louis. I only hope that he gets to a point where he can get his control under control and show us what I have always known he's made of. (Sorry about the preposition on the end there, fellow grammar-philes.) 

They also touched on the Roger Clemens issue (the word I was searching for was arrogant, thank you, Jim), and during the forum it came out that there is now another alleged mistress of Clemens'. Turns out he may have also been involved at some point with the ex-wife of golfer John Daly, and let's face it, not a woman with the best taste in men. 

Okay, I said before that I don't care what Clemens has done, as a ball player he is dead to me. However, the story just keeps getting more intriguing and pulling me back into the sordid depths of Roger's past. Can you blame me? 

But now, on to other, less nauseating things. In what has become a very fluid line-up for the Cardinals, Rick Ankiel hit in the 4-spot last night and went 3 for 3 with a walk and 2RBI. It looked grim early, but the Cards were able to battle back from a 2-0 deficit with some unusually timely hitting. 

I say "unusually" because one of the main reasons LaRussa keeps rearranging the line-up is the recent surplus of stranded runners. Last night was generally no different, they stranded 11, but had 4 hits in a row at one point, and were able to capitalize when it counted. 

Chances are, we'll see more changes in batting order in the upcoming series with the Cubs, but as it was pointed out this morning by Mr Bubbles (and I'm paraphrasing here), if it's working, shut up and go with it. A record 18-win April speaks for itself. 

And p.s., to those of you who want to attach an asterisk to that stat, let me remind you that the March 31 game that was postponed and played on April 1 (and therefore not technically an April game) was a loss, so even without it, that's still 18 wins. 

And if you still want to argue that they had more games in April this year than in any of the previous seasons, and that somehow that makes it less impressive, I want to point out that they played 29 games in 30 days and won 18 of them WITH ONE DAY OFF. For me, that makes it more impressive.

my thought(s) on "jock itch Rocket" Clemens

I find all the controversy surrounding Roger "the Rocket" Clemens highly amusing. I watched bits and pieces of his testimony to Congress, and the fact that I didn't (and couldn't) believe a word he said does not mean I care one way or the other whether he's convicted of perjury or stupidity or whatever it is they want to convict him of.

I don't care if he used steroids or HGH.

I don't care if he ever admits it.

I don't care if he corners McNamee in a dark alley and violates him with a pool cue.

And I sure as hell don't care if he cheated on his plastic wife with a plastic country singer (ed. note: may she rest in peace). All I care about is the fact that he made a mockery of baseball, not by allegedly using performance-enhancing substances (or having his arm replaced with a bionic arm, or whatever), but by "retiring" from the game and then sitting around waiting for the highest bidder to lure him back to the mound.

I am well aware that baseball is a business for the owners and a job for the players, but it's much more than that for the fans.

For us, it's an art. It's an escape from the grind. It's an American tradition. And maybe most importantly, it's 25 guys getting the chance to do something the rest of us can only dream about. So forgive me if I'm offended that someone lucky enough to be a part of that could ever sell out so unashamedly. Roger Clemens may be a lot of things to a lot of people, but to me he'll never be anything but an arrogant pendejo who doesn't deserve a second thought.