Friday, July 4, 2008

Yankees P Andy Pettitte could be called to testify in Roger Clemens's federal defamation suit against Brian McNamee as part of the trainer's attempt to dismiss the case.

Clemens contends McNamee defamed him when the trainer, who worked for both pitchers, told Pettitte in 1999 or 2000 that Clemens had used HGH and in 2003 or 2004 that Clemens had used steroids.

Among the assertions McNamee's lawyers made in a motion filed late Wednesday is that Clemens should have known long before the Mitchell report was released in December that McNamee had made the statements to Pettitte.

Because of that, McNamee's lawyers say Clemens's suit was filed after the statute of limitations had expired.

McNamee repeated many of his accusations against Clemens to baseball investigator George J. Mitchell and again this year to a congressional committee. Clemens sued McNamee in January.

· RAYS: Pennant fever is alive in the oddest of places. Ticket lines are longer, television ratings are rising and young, budget-minded Tampa Bay is in first place in the AL East, looking down on the big-spending Red Sox and Yankees.

A few numbers:

· By handing the Red Sox their fifth straight defeat, the Rays became the first team to sweep two series of three or more games from Boston in the same season since the Yankees in 2001.

· According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tampa Bay is the first team other than New York or Boston to lead the AL East this late in a season since 2000, when Toronto led on July 6 before finishing third.

· The Rays, with an Opening Day payroll of $43.8 million, second lowest in the majors, are the second team in major league history to have the best record in the majors this deep into a season after finishing with the worst mark the previous year.

· WHITE SOX:1B Paul Konerko said he hopes to come off the disabled list early next week after a rehabilitation assignment with Class AAA Charlotte this weekend.

Konerko strained his left oblique during batting practice on June 15 and landed on the DL for the first time in his career two days later.

-- From News Services