NY Times giddy, gets Yankee broadcaster to believe Pettitte will take the stand, 'averts his eyes' and says, "we're all going to be uncomfortable"

According to Newsday Tuesday night, the judge hasn't even decided whether he'll allow Pettitte or any ex-team mates to take the stand, is leaning toward NOT allowing it, and won't decide until after the trial begins. Newsday reports 2 other ex-team mates may be called. The Times doesn't mention this.

• 7/5/11, "Best Friend and Ex-Teammate to Confront Clemens at Trial" NY Times, by Juliet Macur

"Andy Pettitte, who was for years a friend and teammate of Roger Clemens, is a key witness in Clemens’s perjury trial, which begins this week." ..."At Clemens’s federal perjury trial that begins Wednesday in Washington, Pettitte is expected to give powerful testimony that could help the prosecution establish that Clemens also used the drug, according to legal experts."...

"(Former Yankee catcher John) Flaherty said Pettitte was “as loyal a teammate as you would want to have,” which is why Pettitte’s potential testimony against the 48-year-old Clemens will be difficult for Yankees past and present. Asked how he would feel about the situation, Flaherty shifted his weight from side to side and

• averted his eyes....

““Andy is going to be uncomfortable. I’m going to be uncomfortable.

• We’re all going to be uncomfortable.”

Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said that even hearing tidbits of news about Pettitte’s testimony

• would be painful.

“Andy was always prepared to handle the pressure, but in court, he is not in his comfort zone,” Girardi said. “It’s out of his realm, and it’s out of our realm, too.

• None of us want to see that.”"...

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• According to Newsday, the judge has not even decided to allow Andy Pettitte or any ex-team mates on the stand and won't do so until he sees how proceedings are going.

7/6/11, "Clemens judge may limit ex-Yanks' testimony," Newsday, Jim Baumbach from Washington (filed at 10:12pm)

• "The federal judge presiding over Roger Clemens' perjury trial said Tuesday he is leaning toward not allowing three former Yankees teammates to testify about their use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Prosecutors planned to call Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Mike Stanton as witnesses and were expecting the ex-major leaguers to testify that statements made by Clemens' chief accuser, trainer Brian McNamee, about their drug use in the Mitchell Report were accurate, possibly lending credibility to the prosecution's major witness.

But U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said during a 90-minute pretrial hearing that he was worried that the players' testimony could jeopardize a jury's ability to make an impartial judgment about whether Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs.

"The jury may say, 'Well, if they knew what they were taking from McNamee then why wouldn't Clemens not know what he was getting?' " Walton said.

The judge will reserve a decision on whether to limit their testimony until he sees how the early part of the trial proceeds."...

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(NY Times put above photo on front page of their sports website) -------------------------------

• Rob Neyer said if Clemens goes into the Hall of Fame it will be as a Red Sox.
• The Mitchell Report was about 2 things: Selig getting the focus off himself and the Red Sox getting back at Clemens for rejecting them. They will never get over him. It's probably unrelated but Pettitte also rejected them. In 2003 the Red Sox offered him $52 million for 4 years which he politely declined.

1/7/10, "Which caps will they wear into the Hall?" ESPN, Rob Neyer

• 12/12/03, "Sports of The Times; A Different End If the Red Sox Were Involved," NY Times, Dave Anderson

5/6/07, "Yankees go over the Top for Rocket; Sox Offer Falls Short," Boston Globe, by Gordon Edes

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Someone from the NY Times gained a personal interview with and response from Joe Girardi based on what turned out to be an untrue premise. It was something that could be sold as negative -or at least "uncomfortable"- for the Yankees, ie that Pettitte had definitely been called to the stand. This was not at all the case at the time of the interviews. Now Girardi and Flaherty's earnest and emotional comments about a lie have gone around the world a million times. ed.

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