Former player bolsters case against Clemens

WASHINGTON - Former major-leaguer David Segui said he was told as far back as 2001 that Roger Clemens' strength coach had kept evidence against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

Segui testified Thursday about a telephone conversion he had with Brian McNamee 11 years ago. Segui said McNamee "mentioned that he had kept darts to get his wife off his back."

The federal jury hearing the Clemens perjury trial will have to assume that "darts" means "needles." Segui wasn't allowed by the court to make that connection on the stand.

Segui's testimony is consistent with McNamee's, who testified last week he saved waste from an alleged 2001 steroids injection of Clemens to placate his wife.

Clemens is charged with lying to Congress when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone.

McNamee, Clemens' former strength and conditioning coach, testified that he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000, and 2001 and with HGH in 2000. The former pitcher, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, is accused of lying to Congress in 2008 when he said he never used performance-enhancing drugs.

Defense lawyers, who objected to the additional witnesses' testimony, argued Wednesday that they never contended that McNamee made up the evidence recently, but that it had been created and saved as a "hole card" - as a way to possibly extort Clemens one day.

But U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said Thursday that the thrust of the defense cross-examination of McNamee was that he was motivated to fabricate the evidence after he came under investigation by federal authorities in 2007.

On Wednesday, prosecutors indicated they had encountered some resistance from Segui, who retired in 2004 after 15 major-league seasons. That prompted Walton to warn that if Segui defies a prosecution subpoena to testify in the trial, "he better be on the run, because the marshals will be after him."