Rocket's "Pitch" Misses Target, Government Gets a Walk

that she cared for Clemens' children at a party at Jose Canseco's Miami home in June 1998, but said she was at the party, not Clemens.

"I was there with his little ones and he wasn't and that's what I told. I told the truth. If I have to swear on the Bible or whatever, he wasn't in there."

The nanny issue isn't paramount to the Clemens case, but it does raise a question about why Clemens contacted her and discussed with her Canseco's party ahead of the committe's phone call—a point Waxman brought up with Clemens during the final remarks.

"But you chose I think the worst approach. That's my opinion. You invited her to your home; had a specific conversation about whether you were at Mr. Canseco's house. And you did this before you gave the committee her contact information."

The potential winning run for the government is on base in Clemens' testimony—one that was sworn to be truthful and not misleading. Clemens testified under order that lying under oath can equate to a prison term.

Inasmuch as both Clemens and McNamee could potentially face perjury charges if either were to be found guilty of lying during the hearing, both parties attempted to play the truth game to the best of their abilities.

In Clemens' case, he needed a perfect pitch, a swing, and an out. McNamee's case rested on ensuring the opposing team knew Clemens' best pitch and could draw the aging star to make a mistake on the mound—or (Capitol) Hill, that is. 

Clemens appeared to make attempts on Wednesday to be as overpowering and defiant of odds against the Capitol Hill representatives as he has been of opposing players wearing Major League uniforms, not Armani suits, and, with that push to win, found himself tangled in a nasty lie.

Tim Dahlberg, a national sports columnist for The Associated Press, drew a rather straight-forward conclusion about Clemens:

"Worst of all, Clemens just flat out lied. There's no way of escaping that conclusion because there's no way Andy Pettitte and his wife were lying in their interviews, and no way Chuck Knoblauch was lying when he said that McNamee's estimates of shooting him up 7-9 times with HGH sounded about right.

"Both the Pettittes and Knoblauch were tortured about their testimony and what it might do to Clemens. None of them wanted to hurt the Rocket, but in the end they felt compelled to tell the truth, and the truth turned out to be suspiciously like McNamee laid it out to be."

Did Clemens' lawyers get to the nanny first in order to ensure she remembered things "correctly"? Had she also misremembered until Clemens got to her? Those are questions Waxman and the opposing team will mull over among other issues between McNamee and Clemens in the coming weeks. 

It is also something Jeff Novitsky, the IRS Special Agent, will also heavily consider as he weighs evidence against Clemens in a possible performance-enhancing drug charge.

If Novitsky happens to believe Clemens has something to hide, Clemens, who has played in 709 major league baseball games, may have walked off the field one final time when he two-hit the Boston Red Sox over six innings at Fenway park last September.

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