Lidocaine, Clemens? Now I Know You're Lying.

Roger Clemens told Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes that McNamee injected him with lidocaine and B-12, not steroids.

Ok, Roger. Now I know you're lying. Thanks.

Roger has now admitted that Brian McNamee injected him with something. Perhaps it was Palmeiro/Tejada's tainted B-12 shots, but we'll never know. That's the point. We'll never know. If Clemens knows that McNamee can only prove he injected Clemens, but cannot prove what he injected Clemens with, he has plausible deniability. In fact, he can say an overzealous trainer must have injected him without his knowledge.

Here's the problem. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic with a short half-life (1.5 to 2 hours, as anyone who has had dental work knows). Injecting lidocaine for game day pain relief is silly, because it numbs the joint to the point that it would affect his ability to pitch. Injecting lidocaine for off-day pain relief is also silly, because it only lasts a few hours. Joints are injected with cortisone, a legal steroid that reduces inflammation for a greater duration of time. Plus, lidocaine should not be injected by anyone other than a physician, especially in joints. Accidental intravenous injection of lidocaine can stop the heart, as it is a very effective antiarrythmia drug.