Don Mattingly: Clemens probe waste

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Don Mattingly considers the five-year federal investigation into pitcher Roger Clemens a complete waste of resources and money.

The 49-year-old Clemens was acquitted Monday on all six counts that he lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

"What a waste. I was thinking about it after all this time, what a waste of resources," Mattingly, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said Tuesday before his team began a three-game interleague series with the Athletics. "Then you hear about teachers and stuff who don't have paper and pencils for kids, and it seems like what a waste. What a waste of money. Really, I don't think anybody cares. At this point nobody cares, it's like, 'So long.'"

“

What a waste. I was thinking about it after all this time, what a waste of resources. Then you hear about teachers and stuff who don't have paper and pencils for kids, and it seems like what a waste. What a waste of money. Really, I don't think anybody cares. At this point nobody cares, it's like, 'So long.'

” -- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly

Mattingly played against Clemens for more than a decade while with the Yankees early in the 354-game winner and seven-time Cy Young Award winner's career with the rival Boston Red Sox. Mattingly -- a .311 career hitter (23 for 74) with eight RBIs and three doubles against the right-hander -- also served as bench coach of the Yankees in 2007 during Clemens' final big league season in the Bronx.

Mattingly figures the government has much better ways to spend money than investigating superstar athletes such as Clemens, Barry Bonds and cyclist Lance Armstrong.

"What a waste of money," Mattingly said.

Mattingly hopes Major League Baseball is finally beginning to move forward from the Steroids Era thanks to improved testing and stiffer penalties for those who fail drug tests. He sees positive strides toward a reliable solution.

"I don't know. It seems like something always pops up, you know? It always creeps back a little bit," Mattingly said. "It's definitely getting behind us, I think, as we go. I think the biggest thing is better testing and thorough testing. You start getting HGH testing and you're getting better testing, it just kind of reinforces to guys that you can't get away with it, and it's going to be an equal playing field. That's what I like.

"It kind of protects players from the players, it protects organizations, it protects fans, it protects everybody. I think the testing protects everybody."

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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