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sorry excuse

Clemens: Bug infestation too distracting 'for our young kids'
Oct. 6, 2007
CBSSports.com wire reports

NEW YORK -- If Roger Clemens had been making the call, the New York Yankees really would have bugged out.

Clemens viewed Friday night's insect invasion at Cleveland's Jacobs Field from both the dugout and a television in the clubhouse, and he concluded it was too distracting an environment to pitch in.

"I would have probably pulled us off the field," Clemens said Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Yankees rookie Joba Chamberlain was covered with the midges, an insect related to mosquitoes. He threw a pair of wild pitches that allowed the tying run to score in the eighth, and Cleveland went on to win 2-1 in 11 innings and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series.

"I think it's hard enough for our young kids to go out there and concentrate in that situation to have something like that happen," said Clemens, the Yankees' Game 3 starter for Sunday.

Asked whether he would have pulled the team off the field had he been an umpire or the manager, Clemens didn't give a direct answer and then said his earlier response benefited from hindsight.

"It's easy to say now because it only lasted about 40 minutes," Clemens said.

Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said playfully that the gnat-like nuisance was caused by the cologne brand of the team captain.

"The joke around the guys was that we all have Derek Jeter's Driven on," he said. "Joba looked like the movie, Bees. He had them all over his neck and his back. But then again, so did their guys."


Trust none of what you hear ... and less of what you see ..
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