Clemens' Troubles Worsen - Papelbon On Manny...Fierce But Accurate Words

Brian McNamee is still talking, and the hole Roger Clemens willingly dug is getting deeper and deeper. McNamee said he even injected Rocket in a Yankee Stadium hot tub. Talk about chutspah, Roger. Here, McNamee describes injecting the "in trouble" pitcher at Clemens' high-rise apartment in NYC,,,
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"One of the needles I gave the government was used to inject Clemens with steroids in either July or August of 2001," McNamee was quoted as saying by sportsimproper.com in an item posted Wednesday. "The place was his high-rise apartment, which is located off the corner of 90th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan. ...
"That day, he laid out the drugs, dropped his trousers and I did as he asked, that is, inject him with steroids. Afterwards, he told me to get rid of the needle. I went into the kitchen and found an empty Miller Lite can in a wastebasket under the sink. I put the used needle into the can because it was actually hazardous material at that point and I didn't want anyone to get hurt by sticking themselves. He told me to throw it away but I kept it instead."
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McNamee was smart not to throw away the syringes. If he had, we wouldn't be having all this fun. And speaking of players we love to hate, Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon had a few choice syllables for Manny Ramirez, who he called a "cancer." I want you to read this, from Esquire magazine via SI dot com, and then I'll be back with a couple comments...
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“It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening,” Papelbon told Esquire. “Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us.”
“He was on a different train!” Paplebon said of Ramirez. “And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him. That comes from the manager, and it comes from guys like Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield and David Ortiz. Nobody is ever going to be allowed to do that. Even a guy like me, just heading into my fourth year in the big leagues - if David Ortiz gets a little, you know - I’ll tell him what’s up! I’m not afraid to do that. I’m not afraid to put him in his place, because I think everybody needs that. And if somebody does it to me, I understand that. I most certainly understand that. Varitek tells me all the time, ‘Just shut up. Do what you’re supposed to do.' So Manny was tough for us. You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ball game, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man!”
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And the whole team realized it and wanted the as*hole to go. Yes, I wrote as*hole...it's the only word that fits when it comes to Manny, although, come to think of it, I could think of a few other "niceties" just for Manny. But he's gone and the Red Sox look good. Joe Torre has his hands full, though. Good luck Joe...I've always liked you, and so has Red Sox Nation.

Wow, I didn't realize it was still so early. I woke up with no heat...it was 59 degrees in the living room, so I knew something was amiss. Believe me, 59 degrees will wake you up and keep you up, even at 4am EDT. But I temporarily fixed the furnace and I'm expecting the heating guys between 9 and 12. It's up to 66.4 degrees now, so I'm fine. Have a great Thursday, click on this post's title to read the entire Clemens/McNamee piece and as always, BE WELL. Shalom. Cheers. See ya.