It's different.

Clemens and Bonds did it for their own glory. Pettitte did it because he wanted to get healthy so he could help his team.

I'm not taking delight in Pettitte's (dubiously) tarnished reputation. I became President of the Pettitte Hater's Club when he bolted for Houston and tried to blame it on Steinbrenner. But I don't give the Mitchell report much credence in the first place and it simply doesn't bother me too much if baseball players take performance-enhancing substances.

I'm just as fascinated by John Harper's reaction.

This is a beat writer who acts like he just learned there's no Santa Claus. I mean, this is downright embarrassing, pal:

"For one thing, he was a homegrown Yankee who delivered time and again in October. For another, he has that unassuming, down-home quality that always made him so easy for fans to embrace.

And for anyone covering baseball, Pettitte has always been one of the good guys, admirable for his toughness on the mound and his accountability in the clubhouse.

...

It seems clear that Pettitte wasn't on the same drug-cheat level as Clemens. Unless they can prove that their trainer, Brian McNamee, was lying for some reason, Clemens comes off as a hardcore steroid user, going all the way back to 1998, while Pettitte used human growth hormone primarily to help recover from an elbow injury during the 2002 season.

You can even make the case that Pettitte never would have taken such a route if not for his association with Clemens, who introduced him to McNamee and made Pettitte a partner in his famous workout routine after coming over to the Yankees in 1999.

...

None of this means Pettitte is any less tough or likeable. Just last spring he was telling me about that first year in Houston, when he tore a ligament in his elbow in his very first start with the Astros, and pitched in pain all the way into August, refusing suggestions by the club to shut it down months earlier.

He was giggling as he told the story, still in disbelief that he survived for four months with an 82-mph fastball. Later the same day, he came looking for me after the spring training workout, concerned that he had revealed too much in the way of details, and asking not to portray him as some kind of hero in the story for putting off surgery.

'I just couldn't let the guys down, that's all,' he said.

That's Pettitte. His teammates will tell you he's as genuinely caring as they come. Upon returning to the Yankees last season he befriended Carl Pavano, hoping to improve Pavano's outcast status in the Yankee clubhouse.

...

Actually, Pettitte has built up the type of goodwill to be forgiven by Yankee fans if he makes a contrite apology, and embraced as long as his cutter still has its bite."

What can I possibly add to that?

The ridiculousness speaks for itself.

This all really boils down to the "unassuming, down-home quality," doesn't it? That's what I suspected all along.

Pettitte's got it. Ankiel's got it. Bonds does not.

Be nice to reporters and you'll get into the Hall of Fame.