Aw Shucks I Forgot

I hear Andy Pettitte is on his way back to the Yankees, and besides hating the Yankees in general I hope he gets SHELLED in his return. His last outing was five innings and he gave up five runs to a bunch of minor league nobodies. But he said he was ready to go! He's probably tired of riding buses and wants to get up to FatCatVille.

If you've ever heard this guy interviewed, it's just nauseating. Like so many athletes, he leans heavily on God, and he's not shy about letting you know that. He was asked why he decided to come out of retirement, and he said, "well I prayed with my family and we decided I should come back." What does praying have to do with this? Like God cares if he pitches again and makes another few million? I guess God pays attention to Andy Pettitte and doesn't really have time for the the prayers of starving children because he's such a big baseball fan?

If Andy Pettitte prays about everything, what did God say when he prayed to him about using HGH? "Well God Roger gave me this stuff and said it will help my shoulder and I'm going to shoot this syringe in my butt now, okay? Amen." Did God tell him it was okay? If so, He's not saying.

Finally, everybody falls for this aw shucks praying crap and Andy Pettitte is seen as a nice guy. Amazing that nobody has a problem demonizing Barry Bonds, but THIS guy, he's really okay. Mark McGwire has a job on the Cardinals now. Is anybody hiring Barry Bonds as a coach? Hell no. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that Barry Bonds is black. Maybe he doesn't pray enough.

Finally, if Andy Pettitte gets rocked and can't make it back, will he take that as a message from God that He is DISPLEASED? Despite the prayers? My prayer is that he gives up 50 runs in his first outing, so we'll see WHO HAS THE POWER!

Andy Pettitte, the reluctant witness who was supposed to bolster the government's case against Roger Clemens, appeared instead to have substantially aided his former teammate and friend when he readily conceded he might have misunderstood their conversation about human growth hormone.

The doubt Pettitte acknowledged on cross-examination Wednesday sounded like a significant step back from his testimony the day before that "Roger had mentioned to me that he had taken HGH."

Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, is accused of lying to Congress in 2008 when he said he never used steroids or HGH.

Prosecutors had hoped Pettitte, with no apparent motive to lie, would reinforce a case that otherwise relies heavily on Brian McNamee, a former strength coach for both Pettitte and Clemens who says he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone.

So Pettitte's concession weakens the prosecution's effort to prove Clemens guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, University of Iowa law professor James Tomkovicz said in an email.

"The prosecution's case seems to rest pretty heavily on Andy Pettitte's account, and if he is in genuine doubt about what Roger Clemens said to him, there would seem to be a good chance that the jurors will also be in doubt," Tomkovicz said.

Sounding more like a defense witness, Pettitte allowed that he could have misunderstood the conversation, said to have taken place in 1999 or 2000.

Is it fair to say there is a "50-50" chance that Pettitte misunderstood? Clemens' lawyer asked.

"I'd say that's fair," Pettitte replied.

After Pettitte's testimony, the defense asked the judge to strike it. The defense will file a brief to support its position.

[Associated Press]