Kuzul

Roger Clemens, the best pitcher of this generation and arguably the best ever, has certainly fallen on hard times since his retirement following the 2007 season.

Since being named in the infamous Mitchell Report as being an alleged steroid user, Clemens has denied such charges on 60 Minutes, been re-accused by former personal trainer Brian McNamee of the same allegations, and subsequently denied them again, this time in front of Congress.

Things got a bit darker for The Rocket last week when he was indicted by a federal court on six counts, most notably two perjury charges, stemming from his denial on Capitol Hill in February, 2008. The grand jury trial is expected to start late this year or early next year and will certainly mar Clemens’ legacy even further as it will be dissected every-which-way for weeks and months, regardless of how high-profile his defense team may be.

So with as many milestones surpassed and awards won as any pitcher in history, we should begin to look at some of his accomplishments in lieu of the fact that he may very well have been using steroids.

However, it would be unfair to throw everything he’s done under the bus at once, as Clemens has never been accused of taking steroids for his entire career.

Instead, let’s take a look at some of Clemens’ more memorable moments that fall in the range of his suspected use. For that time table, we will be focusing on the years of 1998, 2000 and 2001, as these are the seasons in which McNamee has testified that he and Clemens spoke explicitly about steroid use and that he even injected Clemens on several occasions.

Considering the fact that a grand jury believes McNamee enough to indict “The Rocket,” I’d say we’re pretty safe in assuming there is more to his testimony than a scorned trainer trying to make a name for himself.

So in chronological order, here are five of Clemens’ most notable moments on the baseball field that are directly in the shadow of his cloud of steroid allegations.

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The Angels Series

We know.

It’s only been three games since Buck Showalter took the reigns as the Orioles skipper. But can you really blame O’s fans for the excitement flowing through the Baltimore harbor?

Having just completed their first three-game sweep of the Angels since 1999, the Orioles seem to have a new get-up in their step following the hiring of Showalter, a no-nonsense manager who has twice built teams into the upper-echelon only to be replaced in the offseason before that team won the World Series (see: 1996 Yankees, 2001 Diamondbacks). Without a doubt, Showalter is the best Orioles manager since Davey Johnson, who took the team to the ALCS in 1996 and 1997.

In a season that started with very modest goals (get back to .500), it has been very disheartening to see the O’s sink to the cellar: Of the AL East; of the American League; and of all of baseball. But when you’ve been at least twenty games out of first place since June 2nd, fans start looking for the silver-lining in the rustiest of situations (i.e. At least Garrett Atkins got a hit tonight!).

But in Showalter’s three game debut, even the silver-linings are lined with silver.

The starting pitching over the course of the three-game series was perhaps the best the staff has seen all season, with each starter recording a quality outing. Jeremy Guthrie gave up three earned runs over seven innings in the opener, while rookie Brian Matusz only surrendered one run in his six innings of the second game. The best start, however, likely belongs to fellow rookie Jake Arrieta, who gave up two earned runs over seven and 2/3 innings in a no-decision in which he deserved a Win.

Meanwhile, the Orioles bats came to life to the tune of 20 runs over the course of the Angels series. While scoring runs has proved enigmatic for the O’s throughout 2010, barring a fluky home run here or there, these three games featured timely hitting that has been amiss as of late.

Under Showalter’s watchful eye versus the Angels, the Orioles batted .454 with runners in scoring position (I can’t find the exact stat of what their season average is, but rest assured it is about half this number), while nine of the 20 runs were driven in with two outs. In a season where runners have been stranded on base longer than Desmond Hume on the Island, fans can’t help be be excited that perhaps Showalter has figured out how to get these runners home.

This Author’s Perspective

As a fan of a team that has had a losing record and missed the playoffs every season since 1997, there have been very few things to be excited about over the past decade-plus.

Off the top of my head, my most-favorite recent baseball moments have been: The O’s coming back from down nine runs to beat the Red Sox in 2009, seeing Matt Weiters on the cover of Sports Illustrated (thanks for the jinx), and Dave Roberts’ steal against the Yankees in game four of the 2004 ALCS. Three great moments, only two of which involved the Orioles. That’s how hard it has been to be a fan of the Orioles, who I wholeheartedly believe have the most incompetent owner in all of sports.

Based on the astute moves made in recent seasons, I’m going to guess that Showalter’s arrival in Baltimore had much more to do with General Manager Andy MacPhail’s efforts than whatever fat-cat owner Peter Angelos was doing to replace interim manager Juan Samuel. MacPhail has built the Orioles farm system into one of the best in the league, mostly through his mantra of “Grow the arms, Buy the bats.”

While Baltimore has yet to sign a marquee bat, a line-up featuring Matt Weiters, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Josh Bell and other up-and-comers should be appealing for an experienced big-time bat. If these players produce as they have in the minors and at times in the bigs, they could offer some protection in the line-up for a big bat to be bought in the offseason.

If Showalter can continue pushing his young team towards the potential we all want to think is in there, then the Orioles should at least be in contention for the playoffs as early as 2011. Sure, we’ve been saying that for years, but isn’t the scent of success tickling your olfactory for the first time since we thought the first Tejada experiment would make the O’s contenders?

Maybe. Only this time, its a bit more pungent.

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