FanHouse Andy Pettite

During Tuesday's FOX broadcast of Game 3 of the ALCS, Tim McCarver referred to Andy Pettite as the "Dean of the Cutter." It was a title I found somewhat ridiculous considering that Pettite doesn't even have the best cutter on his team. No, that would belong to closer Mariano Rivera.

Rivera has booked himself a ticket to Cooperstown using his cutter to help him save 562 game in both the regular and postseason during his career, and many have wondered what his secret to throwing the pitch is. Well, there's some video from Monday's television broadcast that may have just solved that mystery.

It must really suck to be Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby this morning. After having to deal with all the rumors that the Athletics were going to sign -- and thought they had signed -- free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal, the deal fell through and Furcal went back to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Crosby probably felt relief knowing that he was going to be keeping his job, and just when he started to feel good about himself again, the A's kick him when he's down.

Since the team missed out on Furcal, they've decided to turn their attention elsewhere and now, according to Jon Heyman, elsewhere would be Orlando Cabrera. It's not hard to blame Oakland for wanting to find a replacement for Crosby, as Bobby does have a tendency to go on the disabled list every time the wind changes direction, and he did put up an unimpressive line of .237/.296/.349 last season in 145 games. He also had the second worst season of his career defensively, committing 17 errors and seeing his range factor drop to a career low of 4.17.

In Cabrera the Athletics would not only be getting a Gold Glove shortstop, but also an improved offensive player, even if he is getting up there in age, at 34 years old. Not to mention, thanks to the many years he spent with the Angels he has a good knowledge of the teams in the AL West.

What confuses me about all of this, though, is the direction the Athletics are taking. Remember the good old days when the Athletics would trade their soon-to-be rich players for a truck full of prospects? Now the team is doing nothing but bringing in high-priced veterans. Sure, the Furcal deal fell through, but the team still managed to get Matt Holliday from the Rockies, brought Jason Giambi back, and now they're going after Cabrera. What's next? Andy Pettitte?

It's as if the bad economy is actually helping the A's compete on the open market.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

I've been a White Sox fan my entire life, and through my years of watching the team, I've generally always had a good feel for what kind of team they are. Usually by the time July rolls around, I know exactly what I'm dealing with. Sometimes they're a good team, but I have no expectations for them to win their division. Sometimes I think they're going to win the division, but not do anything else. Thankfully, it's a rarity that I realize the team sucks some years, and I should be happy if they get 75 wins.

Back in 2005 I was telling anyone that would listen that the Sox were going to win the World Series as early as May. Nobody believed me, nor should they have. I mean, they hadn't won a championship in 88 years at that point, so my proclamations were generally met with blank stares or a pat on the head and a "Sure they are, Tom. Sure they are."

This year, though, this year I have no idea what this team is capable of. Two weeks ago they were busy getting worked over by the Cubs at Wrigley Field, and everything that I thought was wrong with the team was apparent those three days. Now the Sox have won their last seven games (the third time they've had such a streak this season), winning their last two in dramatic walk-off fashion, and they look like world beaters.

Will they continue their dominant play of late tonight as they start a four-game series with the Oakland A's, or will they continue to confuse me? Find out after the jump.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Oakland Athletics (29-23) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (28-26) - 10:05PM Est.

After a stretch of games in which the Athletics lost 9 of 11 and had fallen to only a game over .500, I thought that their surprising early season success was coming to an end. Given the fact that the average age of players on the team not named Frank Thomas is 15 years and 7 months, I felt it was only a matter of time before reality set in on Oakland, and that they'd regress to the mean.

Apparently, as happens pretty often, I was wrong. The A's followed that stretch with a sweep of the Red Sox, and they put an end to Toronto's five-game win streak on Tuesday night for their fifth win in a row.

They've pulled back to within two games of the division leading Angels, and now they've got me wondering if they'll be able to keep this up all season, or at least for one more day.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Cincinnati Reds (15-23) vs. Florida Marlins (23-14) 7:10PM Est.

Quick, without looking it up, who has the best record in baseball right now? Did you say the Diamondbacks? Close, you were right up until yesterday, but getting swept by the Cubs knocked them off the top of the mountain. The Red Sox? Good choice, they are the defending champs after all, but even though they have the best record in the American League, they aren't the best in baseball.

No, that honor somehow belongs to the Florida Marlins, who have managed to win their last 7 games and are currently an MLB-best 23-14.

Just what the hell is going on here?

I don't know what Alex Rodriguez got for Valentine's Day last week, but whatever it was, it has surely filled his heart with love. His heart is so filled, in fact, that he has lots of extra love to spread around, and it seems he's decided to give all that love to his Yankees teammates.

First Alex offered up his unborn daughter to Andy Pettite, and now he wants us all to know how awesome Derek Jeter is.

"I think Jeter is going to have an MVP season," Rodriguez said. "That's my prediction for the year. And Bobby's [Abreu] going to have a monster year."

"I think [Jeter]'s going to have an explosive, monster season. I think he's in great shape. I think he did some great things this winter with his workouts. I'm very excited for his year."

Does this mean that A-Rod and Jeter are BFF's again? Have the sleepovers resumed?

Or does Alex have a more sinister reason for his praise of Derek? Could it be that Rodriguez is somehow hoping that he can deflect all the attention away from him this season, and place it on Jeter? No? I didn't think so either, Alex is probably just saying this because that's what Alex does: he kisses everybody's butt.

Check out our Clemens hearing live blog right here.

If there's one thing we've learned definitively from the Clemens hearings this morning, it's that Roger Clemens' fans are alive and well on the House Oversight Committee. McNamee has his share of backers behind the microphones, too, but they don't seem nearly as adamant about smearing Clemens as Clemens' fans are about smearing McNamee. McNamee has been called a litany of names today: drug pusher, liar, fraud, and so on. Roger Clemens has been asked what jersey he'll wear into the Hall of Fame. The slurping sounds have been more disgusting than any "palpable mass on the buttox" could be.

But it's also clear that those attacking Clemens (namely Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts) understand the score: The less they focus on McNamee's credibility (or lack thereof) and instead peer at Andy Pettitte's apparently damaging testimony, the worse things get for Roger Clemens.

Those attacking McNamee get it too. In their attacks today, they've done well to ask less about McNamee's involvement with Roger Clemens and instead screech at the trainer about his record of lying to reporters (before he was under oath, of course) and about the doubt surrounding his five-year-old syringes. It's been a good, and oftentimes entertaining, sidetrack, but it doesn't change the underlying matter at hand: Once Andy Pettitte's deposition is released, things are going to go even further south for Roger Clemens.

Even though Andy Pettitte won't be appearing with Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee in front of a congressional committee on Wednesday morning, it doesn't mean his voice won't be heard.

Obviously the committee wouldn't let Pettitte out of testifying if they weren't already satisfied with what he said in his affidavit, and apparently those early indications that Pettitte's testimony won't be very supportive of Rocket's case are completely on the money.

For instance, Pettite says he knows Clemens took HGH way back in 1999.

Roger Clemens told Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte nearly 10 years ago that he used human growth hormone, Pettitte said in a sworn affidavit to Congress, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.

Pettitte disclosed the conversation to the congressional committee holding Wednesday's hearing on drug use in baseball, a person familiar with the affidavit said. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the document had not been made public.

Also in the affidavit are Pettitte's claims that Clemens backtracked on his admission when the topic came up again in 2005 just before Mark McGwire forgot about the past, Rafael Palmiero pointed that finger, and Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak English.

According to Pettitte, Clemens said that Andy misunderstood the conversation and that it was Roger's wife who had been taking HGH. (Point: McNamee.)

I'm not exactly excited by the fact that baseball has become the center of our government's attention, but with the way things have been happening in this case already, Wednesday's proceedings might be the best television we've seen since the writer's strike went into effect.

Talk about timing!

Some players have reacted to the Mitchell Report in different ways. Roger Clemens got real pissed off and denied everything. David Segui admitted his guilt but instead chose to use his time defending a friend. Andy Pettite came clean and asked us for our forgiveness.

All incredibly lame ideas. This is America, where no press is bad press, so you may as well use this time in the spotlight to earn a few extra dollars. Lenny Dykstra hasn't heard his name mentioned in the national media in years, and now that his name is out there again, he knows it's time to take advantage of the spotlight.

That's why he's announcing the release of his new magazine, How to Chew Tobacco and Inject Steroids Into Your Butt at The Same Time Quarterly The Players Club.

Mr. Dykstra, a star outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980s and 1990s, has teamed up with Doubledown Media to produce The Players Club, a magazine aimed at helping players manage their millions.

The idea behind the magazine is this: professional athletes are often scorned for their out-size contracts and lifestyles. But once their playing days are over, more than a few of them have trouble finding new jobs, struggle to keep their families together and find that they have spent their savings.

This actually isn't a bad idea considering a lot of athletes have absolutely no idea how to handle their money. Of course, I still like my idea for Dykstra's magazine a bit better.

There were a few big name players listed in the Mitchell Report like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite, but for the most part, the report didn't really tell us anything we didn't already know, or hadn't long suspected anyway. Some former players like Jose Canseco were extremely disappointed in the report.

Canseco called the report a "slap on the wrist" and said there were many names missing from it. The one name he was most shocked to see omitted was that of Alex Rodriguez.

"All I can say is the Mitchell Report is incomplete," Canseco said. "I could not believe that (Rodriguez's) name was not in the report."

"It's laughable," Canseco said of the list, which included such stars as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada. "I heard the report, I saw the list of players and there are definitely a lot of players missing. I don't know what they accomplished or what they are trying to prove."

Well in an interview with "60 Minutes" that's set to air on Sunday, Rodriguez is asked if he ever used steroids or HGH, and contrary to what Canseco says, Rodriguez maintains he's 100% clean and says he thinks baseball is making great strides.