Baseball In Paradise

The time difference is going to take some getting used to. No finals on the games from yesterday that I could find. However, there are two stories on Roger Clemens visiting the Islands to watch Koby play for the North Shore Honu:

The Honolulu Advertiser has this one; Astros ace Clemens visits Hawaii Winter Baseball

But it's not quite a vacation for Clemens. He will be working with the league's pitchers and taking notes on players. He said he has a personal service contract with the Astros that gives him the chance to work with the organization's prospects, whether he decides to return next season or not.

"I want to work with minor league guys," he said. "I enjoy doing that."

There is this about the latest allegations:

Meanwhile, Clemens declined to comment on allegations made by former pitcher Jason Grimsley in a Los Angeles Times report that Clemens and several others, including Astros teammate Andy Pettitte, used performance-enhancing drugs.

Clemens said to comment on the allegations would only validate the story. Since then, a federal prosecutor has said the original story contained "significant inaccuracies."

"And now you can see what's happening," Clemens said. "It's unfortunate that people don't really do thorough work before people drag people through the mud."

The Star Bulletin checks in with a story that is a bit longer and has quotes from Koby Clemens watches son play for Honu:

A little extra attention just comes with the territory for Koby Clemens.

It's simply part of the deal when your father is a future Hall of Famer and one of the greatest right-handers in the history of baseball.

"It kind of comes with the name and how my dad's played and everything," said Clemens, the eldest son of Houston Astros star Roger Clemens. "I've gotten very accustomed to it growing up, always being around a lot of attention. I think I've grown up and handled it pretty well."
...
Clemens' famous father, who won the first of seven Cy Young Awards a couple of months before Koby was born in December 1986, arrived in town yesterday following the end of the Astros season. He watched last night's game between the Honu and West Oahu CaneFires from a balcony perched above the third-base dugout at Hans L'Orange Field.

There is more of a reaction to the LA Times story that came out:

"I wouldn't even comment on it because I don't want to put any validity to it," Roger Clemens said last night. "We basically said our statements and now you can see what's happening.

"My skin's pretty thick, I'm like a rhinoceros," he said, "but I have family and extended family as well as (Astros teammate) Andy (Pettite) and it hurts them and it's not fair to them either so I wish people would do their homework."

Why not a pitcher Koby?

"I just liked hitting better," said Koby, who has given up on guessing how much longer his dad will continue playing. "I liked playing third base. I never was intrigued by going out and throwing on the mound all the time. It wasn't, 'My dad's a pitcher, I don't want to be a pitcher,' rebel kind of deal. I liked hitting home runs rather than giving up home runs."

When there are boxscores, I'll post the scores and the Rattler Alum of the Day.