WASHINGTON - Debbie Clemens never pitched in a baseball game or performed at a rap concert, yet that didn’t stop her from trying the performance-enhancer of choice among athletes and musicians.

That strange revelation might have been the strangest in a day full of them, as her husband, seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens, appeared before Congress on Wednesday to refute charges by his former personal trainer that he used HGH and steroids numerous times from 1998 to 2001.

Naturally, Clemens and his accuser, Brian McNamee, disagreed about every detail of the incident. Clemens read a statement from his wife contending that McNamee touted its benefit during a visit to the family’s Houston home, then provided the HGH and she injected herself. McNamee said he gave her the shot at Clemens’ direction.

Debbie Clemens sat impassively behind her husband during the hearing and didn’t speak. But Roger Clemens read a statement she had prepared.

“She had been broken up over this a long time,” Roger Clemens said. “She said she feels like a pawn in his game.”

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McNamee previously told investigators that he injected Debbie Clemens before the couple posed for a 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition photo shoot. According to the statement, she suffered circulation difficulties the same night and the day afterward, but did not seek medical attention.

“Roger said, ’Let’s back off this, we need to know more, and she agreed.”