http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-pettitte-hghadmission&prov=ap&type=lgns

By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer
December 15, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Andy Pettitte used human growth hormone to recover from an elbow injury in 2002, the New York Yankees pitcher admitted two days after he was cited in the Mitchell Report.

Pettitte said he tried HGH on two occasions, stressing he did it to heal faster and not enhance his performance. He emphasized he never used steroids.

"If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize," Pettitte said Saturday in a statement released by his agent. "I accept responsibility for those two days."

On Thursday, Pettitte was among 85 players named by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell's investigation into steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. Pettitte had not commented publicly on the allegations.

Pettitte asked the trainer he shared with Roger Clemens, Brian McNamee, to help him with HGH while on the disabled list early in the season, the report said. McNamee recalled injecting Pettitte two to four times, Mitchell said.

"In 2002 I was injured. I had heard that human growth hormone could promote faster healing for my elbow," Pettitte said in the statement released to The Associated Press by agent Randy Hendricks.

"I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible. For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried human growth hormone. Though it was not against baseball rules, I was not comfortable with what I was doing, so I stopped.

"This is it -- two days out of my life; two days out of my entire career, when I was injured and on the disabled list," he said. "I wasn't looking for an edge. I was looking to heal."

Pettitte was not linked to steroids in the report, and said he never had never used them.

"I have the utmost respect for baseball and have always tried to live my life in a way that would be honorable," he said. "If I have let down people that care about me, I am sorry, but I hope that you will listen to me carefully and understand that two days of perhaps bad judgment should not ruin a lifetime of hard work and dedication.

"I have tried to do things the right way my entire life, and, again, ask that you put those two days in the proper context. People that know me will know that what I say is true," he said.

The Yankees backed Pettitte.

"Late this afternoon, Andy Pettitte advised us that he would be making a public statement. We support his coming forward," the team said in a statement.

The 35-year-old lefty is 201-113 lifetime. He started his major league career in 1995 and won four World Series championships with the Yankees. He pitched for his hometown Houston Astros from 2004-06 and helped them reach their first World Series.

Pettitte returned to the Yankees last season and went 15-9. This month, he put off retirement and agreed to a $16 million, one-year contract to play for the Yankees next season.

Mitchell devoted 1 1/2 pages to McNamee's testimony about Pettitte. Clemens was mentioned on nearly nine pages, with McNamee saying he injected the star pitcher.

Clemens was accused of using steroids and HGH and, through his lawyer, vehemently denied the accusations.

When Clemens joined the Yankees in 1999, he and Pettitte became fast friends and training partners. McNamee was part of their regimen -- Clemens had worked with him in Toronto before being traded to New York.

According to the Mitchell Report, Pettitte asked McNamee about using HGH after the 2001 season, and the trainer said he discouraged the pitcher from trying it.

it's up to each individual fan to decide whether or not he used only as he described above... i happen to believe him... there are many who will believe that he used them just as Rocket likely did to gain a competitive edge performance wise... again, i think it's a damn shame that only these players on the list have been outed & will forever be looked upon as the faces of the Steroid era (just as i thought it was unfair for Bonds to be singled out as well).

Curt Schilling admitted to refusing to talk to Senator Mitchell when he requested an interview... i wonder what he could be hiding?... of course, Boston players don't use performance enhancing drugs at all... only Yankees, Mets & Orioles players.

I don't think it unfair at all to single out Bonds, seeing he's now the new home run king. anyone wants the spot light, you'd better make sure it's real. As far as Pettitte' concerned, if he had come foreward before, and proven he took them after the world series years, then he'd be much more believable. I'm not gonna negotiate who was fair about it. Anyone found out or even comes foreward now' it doesn't matter. If you took roids, then you are a loser. Period! And schilling? That piece of **** can go to hell!!!

Posted by TMS:

how is it fair to single out Bonds when half the pitchers he probably faced over the years to achieve that record were on HGH or steroids too?

It's a good point, but most of half of those pitchers weren't exactly top quality, with our without the roids. There has always been a bigger group of mediocre pitchers in the league, wether starters, middle relievers or stoppers. So if you take an already home run threat like Bonds and put him against a mediocre pitcher, and they're both on roids' then you'd more than likely would get the same result as if they weren't both on roids. At least you would think so. No one will ever know what pitches or hit balls were benefitted by roids, but you can say that it probably did have something to do with a career stat 'overall'. And that's exactly what we have here. I wouldn't be singling him out, if he where Sammy Sosa or Rapheal Palmero or someone like that, even though I have criticized all of those other players just as well. But Bonds has the most and all evidence points to a little help from his friends. That's why he's the focal point of all of this. You see it everyday on the news and newspapers. I can't dissagree. If McGuires mark of 70 had survived and knowing what we know now, I'd be all over him to. That's the explanation.