With the Mitchell Report including Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, we all knew that there was going to be some sort of statement coming from both players.

Clemens’ lawyer Rusty Hardin released a statement concerning Clemens involvement with performance-enhancing drugs:

“I have great respect for Senator Mitchell. I think an overall look at this problem in baseball was an excellent idea,”

“It is very unfair to include Roger’s name in this report. He is left with no meaningful way to combat what he strongly contends are totally false allegations. Hee has not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong.”

“There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today,” said Hardin, who called McNamee a “troubled man.”

Because Andy Pettitte is an active member of MLB right now, he has been advised not to comment. Here is a statement from his agent, Randy Hendricks:

“I have advised Andy that as an active player, he should refrain from commenting until we have had an opportunity to speak with his union and other advisors. At the appropriate time, he will have something to say.”

Was this a desperate plea by Brian McNamee, who named them both in the Mitchell Report, to save his own skin so he didn’t become the next Kirk Radomski? Or was it the truth?

If these allegations prove to be true, what is the recourse since it seems from reading the report, they allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs before they were banned in baseball.

As far as the comments by the camps of Clemens and Pettitte, I am not surprised at all. You have to figure that both parties will deny their involvement in the alleged usage of the drugs.

My feelings are if you did them, then just admit it. We are a forgiving society and will probably overlook the alleged transgressions.

Two members of the 2007 Boston Red Sox roster, Eric Gagné and Brendan Donnelly, were in the Mitchell Report but there alleged use didn’t happen while they were members of the Red Sox.

The big question is what did Theo Epstein know about the alleged transgressions of Gagné and Donnelly.

When the Boston Red Sox were considering acquiring Gagné, a Red Sox official made specific inquiries about Gagné’s possible use of steroids. In a November 1, 2006 email to a Red Sox scout, general manager Theo Epstein asked, “Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?”

The scout, Mark Delpiano, responded,

Some digging on Gagne and steroids IS the issue. Has had a checkered medical past throughout career including minor leagues. Lacks the poise and commitment to stay healthy, maintain body and re invent self. What made him a tenacious closer was the max effort plus stuff . . . Mentality without the plus weapons and without steroid help probably creates a large risk in bounce back durability and ability to throw average while allowing the changeup to play as it once did . . . Personally, durability (or lack of) will follow Gagne . . .

More after the jump

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Former Senator George Mitchell is speaking right now about his findings from his 20-month investigation into performance-enhancing drugs in baseball and the official list of players has been released.

Here is the list of current and former players:

Players with Red Sox ties in bold

Manny Alexander, Chad Allen, Rick Ankiel, David Bell, Mark Bell, Gary Bennett, Marvin Bernard, Larry Bigbie, Barry Bonds, Ricky Bones, Kevin Brown, Paul Byrd, Alex Cabrera, Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti, Mike Carreon, Jason Christiansen, Howie Clark, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Jack Cust, Chris Donnells, Brendan Donnelly, Lenny Dykstra, Bobby Estalella, Matt Franco, Ryan Franklin, Eric Gagné, Jay Gibbons, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, Jason Grimsley, Jose Guillen, Jerry Hairston Jr., Matt Herges, Phil Hiatt, Glenallen Hill, Darren Holmes, Todd Hundley, Wally Joyner, Mike Judd, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Tim Laker, Mike Lansing, Paul Lo Duca, Nook Logan, Josias Manzanillo, Gary Matthews Jr., Mark McGwire, Cody McKay, Kent Mercker, Bart Miadich, Hal Morris, Daniel Naulty, Denny Neagle, Rafael Palmeiro, Jim Parque, Andy Pettitte, Adam Piatt, Todd Pratt, Armando Rios, Stephen Randolph, Adam Riggs, Brian Roberts, John Rocker, F.P. Santangelo, Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield, Scott Schoeneweis, David Segui, Mike Stanton, Ricky Stone, Miguel Tejada, Derrick Turnbow, Ismael Valdez, Randy Velarde, Mo Vaughn, Ron Villone, Fernando Vina, Rondell White, Jeff Williams, Matt Williams, Todd Williams, Steve Woodward, Kevin Young, Gregg Zaun.

Here is the link to the full report.

Steve posted the list of names RUMORED to be in Mitchell Report and let’s just say some names are going to shock you, especially if you’re a Red Sox fan.

Players with Boston ties are in bold:

Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafaeil Bettancourt, Bret Boone, Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd, Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose Canseco, Ozzie Canseco, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenny Dykstra, Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsworth, Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez, Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi, Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez, Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior, Neifi Perez, Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Scott Schoenweiis, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Julian Tavarez,Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams and Kerry Wood.

[Deadspin.com] [CNBC.com] [WNBC.com]

So far during MLB.com’s This Year in Baseball Awards, Red Sox players had won two of the first three awards, Josh Beckett won Pitcher of the Year and Jonathan Papelbon won Closer of the Year. Terry Francona was a close second to former Yankees skipper Joe Torre in the Manager of the Year voting.

Now you can add a third member of the Boston Red Sox to the mix as Clay Buchholz won the Single-Game Performance of the Year for his no-hitter in just his second MLB start.

If you look back to September 1st, Buchholz wasn’t even supposed to be the starter that day but Tim Wakefield had gone down with a shoulder injury and the Sox needed another starter.

Click here to see the video.

The Boston Red Sox have canceled their visit to Connecticut today due to the impending snowstorm (it just started snowing on my way back from finding out it was canceled).

According to the information I got at New Haven City Hall, the event for Connecticut has not been rescheduled yet. It would have been nice to see something from the Red Sox on this through a press release or something.

New England Patriots fans need to be rooting hard Saturday night for a Cincinnati Bengals win over the San Francisco 49ers. The Patriots, because of an earlier trade, own San Francisco’s 2008 first round pick. At the end of last week’s game the Niners had the second worst record in the NFL behind only the Miami Dolphins giving the Patriots the second overall pick in the April draft.

The second pick in the draft could very well be Arkansas junior running back and two-time Heisman Trophy runner up Darren McFadden. If you’re a Patriots fan and you haven’t caught D-Mc in the act this season make sure you watch Arkansas play Missouri in the Cotton Bowl January 1st at 11:30 a.m. on FOX. If you’re hung over make sure you DVR it. This is one special player and 1-2 running attack of McFadden and Maroney could be devastating for several years.

Scouts, Inc. ranked the 64 quarterbacks in the NFL 1-64 in a new ESPN.com Insider article (right now the article is available to all as a Free Insider Preview). There was no doubt as to who number 1 and 2 are. According to Scouts, Inc. that honor belongs to New England’s Tom Brady and Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning.

Scouts writes on Brady:

“Brady is a future Hall of Fame QB who is having a career season. He leads the NFL in touchdowns and completion percentage and has a league-best QB rating of 123.4. There is no longer a debate over who the best QB in the NFL is — Brady has moved ahead of Manning”.

On Manning:

“Like Brady, Manning is a future Hall of Fame QB. There is not a QB in the NFL who studies the game as much as Manning, and he is one of the best competitors to play QB. Despite losing several key players to injuries this season, Manning has still completed 64 percent of his passes and thrown for 27 TD’s”.

After that the rest of the Top 5 QB’s look like this:

3. Brett Favre, Green Bay
4. Tony Romo, Dallas
5. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh

To see the rest of the list, you’ll have to click the link up top and check out the article.

Congratulations are in order to Red Sox general manager and his wife Marie, as their first child, Jack, was welcomed to the world yesterday.

With the impending Mitchell Report due out at 2 PM today, Curt Schilling gave his thoughts about it on his weekly appearance on WEEI yesterday and also at an event for the Shade Foundation.

“The hope, I think, for most people is that there will be some closure sometime soon and we move on,” Schilling said. “I would imagine there will be a lot of shock, a lot of surprise, but I think as a sport, as an industry we’re hopefully going to be held accountable for what’s happened, from players to coaches to front office to ownership.”

“There was a period of time when people turned a blind eye to it and now we’re being called on the carpet for it and I guess that’s what’s supposed to happen,” he said of baseball’s investigation into alleged steroids and HGH use by its players.

I am sure we all hope there won’t be any players from the Red Sox on the list but according to the AP, the list will reveal names of All-Stars and MVP’s.

Brendan Donnelly was the only player not tendered a contract for next season but he still might be a member of the club next year.

Hopefully the expected snowfall that’s coming into Connecticut today holds off long enough for me to make the short ride to downtown New Haven to check out the 2007 World Series trophy. For Red Sox Nation in Maine, the trophy will be on display at Hadlock Field in Portland on Friday.

Epstein’s wife gives birth to baby boy [Boston Globe]

Schilling vocal about Mitchell Report [redsox.com]

Sox players aren’t safe [Boston Herald]

Sources: Mitchell report to name names [AP Via Yahoo! Sports]

David Ortiz: Putting the D.R. on the map [redsox.com]

Donnelly not tendered but club still talking deal [Boston Herald]

Series trophy to visit Portland [Extra Bases]

Today was the 25th anniversary of the “Snow Plow Game” in which prison work release inmate Mark Henderson cleared the snow and ice from a spot on the astro turf field at Schaeffer Stadium that was needed for the Patriots kicker Jon Smith to kick a game winning field goal against the Miami Dolphins. It was the only score of the game. And believe it or not it wasn’t against any NFL rule to use the snow thrower. After the season Miami coach Don Shula went to the competition committee and had the rule changed.

Also two years ago on this date, Tom Brady was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.

And in 2004 the Patriots clinched the AFC East with a 35-28 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Gillette Stadium.