Yankees' Pettitte: I may have misunderstood Clemens

By Ian Simpson


In a second day of cross-examination by the defense, Pettitte said he might have misunderstood Clemens when the ace pitcher told him in 1999 or 2000 that he had used human growth hormone to recover from injury.

Years later, Clemens told Pettitte he had been referring to his wife Debbie's use of the drug during the conversation.


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


Pettitte's testimony is considered crucial to the government's case and having part of it struck - particularly his testimony about the HGH conversation with Clemens - would be considered a major blow to the prosecution.


Clemens was not present at the injections, Pettitte said shortly before his testimony wrapped up midmorning.

Clemens, 49, is being tried for a second time on federal charges of lying to the House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about whether he used anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

The panel was investigating drug use in Major League Baseball. Clemens, a seven-time winner of the Cy Young award, baseball's highest annual honor for a pitcher, is among the biggest baseball names linked to alleged drug use.

In a setback for the defense, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that Clemens' lawyers could not touch on why his former trainer, Brian McNamee, had been let go by the Yankees in 2001.




Although Pettitte had told congressional investigators that McNamee injected him with human growth hormone, the judge blocked similar testimony at the trial on Tuesday, ruling it could be prejudicial to Clemens' defense. Pettitte was allowed to testify that he received injections but did not say from whom.



(Editing by Paul Thomasch, Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech)