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Posted By: runscott

October 3, 2006
Doubt Cast on Report That Named Players

By JACK CURRY
Two days after it was reported that Roger Clemens was among the six major league players who investigators said had been identified as having used performance-enhancing substances, a federal prosecutor said the news media coverage contained “significant inaccuracies.”

The Los Angeles Times reported late Saturday that Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner; Andy Pettitte, Clemens’s teammate and workout partner with the Houston Astros; Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles; and three other current or former Orioles were reportedly named by Jason Grimsley, a former pitcher, as players who had used the drugs. The names were blacked out in a federal affidavit that was made public in June.

But Kevin V. Ryan, the United States attorney for the Northern District of California who is investigating steroids in baseball, issued a brief statement that cast some doubt on what was in The Times’s article.

“In view of the recent news reports purporting to identify certain athletes whose names had been redacted from the government’s search warrant filings in the Grimsley matter, and in the interests of justice, please be advised that these reports contain significant inaccuracies,” Ryan said.

The prosecutor’s office declined to elaborate. A message left for a Times spokesman was not immediately returned.

Grimsley’s agent, Joe Bick, said Grimsley, who was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks after he acknowledged using steroids and other drugs and who subsequently retired, is not responsible for the naming of any players in the affidavit.

“In terms of how those names got in the document, Jason disputes the fact that he put them there,” Bick said. “Jason’s attorney made that statement a while ago, and he still feels that way.”