Capel said Clemens made a point of taking care of his body. During cross-examination Wednesday, Guerrero asked Capel if in coming to that conclusion, he took into consideration some substances that Clemens has admitted taking. The pitcher has said that he took the stimulant ephedra, before it was banned by Major League Baseball, and that he used to eat "Vioxx like it was Skittles." Vioxx, an arthritis medication, was withdrawn from the market in 2004 because a clinical trial revealed increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Capel said he didn<t know what Vioxx was, and that he did not take Clemens< use of ephedra into account in his previous comment. Prosecutors tried to exclude the glowing testimony on grounds that seven government witnesses already testified during cross-examination how hard Clemens worked. They wrote in a filing late Monday that it invited jurors to infer that because Clemens didn<t use performance-enhancing drugs early on, he must not have later in his career.
Prosecutors argued that if the testimony were to be allowed, the judge should let them rebut it with evidence from other players who also worked hard but still used steroids or HGH.
But U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled against them on both counts.
"Athletes who are hard workers tend to last longer and perform better," said Walton, a former athlete himself who went to college on a football scholarship. ___
AP Sports Writer Joseph White contributed to this report. ___
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