At the end of the day-or at least four-plus hours that felt like a day-the most important person in the room for the congressional hearing on steroids in baseball yesterday wasn’t even in the room.

That, of course, was Andy Pettitte, the close friend and teammate of Roger Clemens with both the New York Yankees and Houston Astros. And Pettitte was about the only thing that Clemens, his accuser Brian McNamee, a former strength and conditioning coach for both men, and the congressional panel could all agree upon: they all believe he is a good and honorable man. (Apparently, Pettitte’s prompt confession that he cheated by taking human growth hormone trumps his having cheated in the first place.) After a maze of contradictions between Clemens and his former personal trainer, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings reduced the he said/he said imbroglio to the simplest of equations: “The person I believe the most is Mr. Pettitte.”