SAN FRANCISCO - The news that the drug hounds have finally beenunleashed on Roger Clemens sent me to the guy who knows somethingabout being chased.
So, I asked Barry Bonds, do you think Clemens will have his heelsnipped and his neck poked and his breath shortened like you?
"I like Roger, I respect Roger, so I won't comment on that," saidBonds, smiling. "But I'm feeling your question."
I then headed to the office of the guy who knows something aboutwatching this chase.
So, I asked Felipe Alou, will Clemens be subject to the samepublic condemnation and consistent scrutiny as Bonds?
"We'll have to wait and see," Alou said, also smiling. "But it'stough to catch a Rocket."
On the eve of the steroid era, a 34-year-old pitcher is sentpacking from his longtime team because, his boss says, "He's in thetwilight of his career."
One year later that pitcher increases his strikeout total by 35,throws the most innings in the last 10 years, and wins a Cy YoungAward.
And Roger Clemens is not above suspicion?
In the middle of the steroid clean-up period, a 44-year-oldpitcher sits out the first two months of the season whilecontemplating retirement.
Then he shows up in June and fashions the fourth-best ERA of hiscareer, finishing decimal points short of his career average ofstrikeouts per nine innings.
And Roger Clemens skates?
The revelation in Sunday's Los Angeles Times that Clemens' namewas among those that appeared in a search-warrant affidavit in aninvestigation of performance-enhancing drugs did not surprise anybodyin the game.
What happens next also will not surprise anybody.
Here's guessing nothing.
"What do you think is going to happen to him?" said one LosAngeles Dodger with a shrug.
Another Dodger jokingly climbed into an adjoining locker to avoidthe question.
Although Clemens' and Bonds' careers have taken the same arctoward eternal athletic life, they are perceived as differently as,well, white and black.
America does not want to believe the dirt on Clemens because he isa nice guy, a family guy, a good ol' guy and, let's be honest here, aCaucasian guy.
America likes its sport villains dark and moody and everythingthat has always been Bonds.
America doesn't like to be fooled.
So here's guessing America will brush off this new Clemens link asthe ramblings of a scared ballplayer (Jason Grimsley) or thehallucinations of an IRS special agent (Jeff Novitzky) or just somelate-season score in a game that has no effect on the standings.
Clemens has long since clinched America's love. His magic numberis zero. His immortality is assured.
He will remind everyone that he has never flunked a steroid test,even though the test cannot detect human growth hormone.
He will then retire, disappearing to a Texas ranch where he willbe careful to lose all Congressional hearings invitations.
The legendary cowboy pitcher will spend the rest of his life as acountry gentleman.
While Bonds will spend the rest of his life on the run.
It's not that Bonds is innocent. It has been written here thatthere is enough evidence linking him to steroid use that he shouldnot be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
But how could we not see that Clemens has followed the same oddstatistical path?
Everyone talks about how Bonds hit more than 40 home runs threetimes in his first 14 seasons, then four times in his next eightseasons, including a record 73 in 2001.
How come nobody talks about Clemens winning three Cy Young Awardsin his first 13 seasons, then four in his next eight seasons?
Everyone talks about the changes in Bonds' physical stature, thegiant head, the bulging neck.
As someone who covered Clemens in his rookie year in 1984, I canattest that he is much bigger and thicker today, his mass onlyincreasing with age.
When Bonds sat out most of last season because of injuries, folkswondered if he wasn't just dodging drug tests.
But when Clemens sat out the first two months of this seasonbefore re-signing with his old team, nobody said a word.
No, we don't know the extent of Clemens' involvement other thanthe mentioning of his name.
And, yes, it's unfair to charge him with anything beyond that.
Unlike Bonds, he has never been dragged in front of a steroid-searching grand jury, he has never been the subject of an indictment-filled book, and his personal trainer has never sat in jail toprotect his clients.
But now that the link has been revealed, serious questions shouldbe asked.
Not just of Roger Clemens, but of ourselves.
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