David Wells says he wasn't "half-drunk" after all when he threw his perfect game in 1998.

Coomer: Wells went too far

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Dodgers infielder Ron Coomer believes former teammate David Wells did baseball and the Yankees a disservice with some of the comments he made in his book. "He's a guy that likes attention and needs attention," Coomer said Sunday. "To say some of the stuff he said, I don't think that's appropriate. But that's Boomer. "Boomer's OK. He's got a good heart. I think everybody knows what he's like. But is that stuff part of winning baseball? Is that going to help you win the World Series? It's quotable. But I don't think the controversy helps." Coomer played in 55 games with the Yankees last season. He signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers in January. Wells claimed in his book that he was "half drunk" when he pitched his perfect game against the Twins in 1998 after partying until a few hours before the game. On Saturday, he backed off that claim. "To talk about stuff that went on four or five years ago, I don't agree with that," Coomer, an All-Star with Minnesota in 1999, said. -- Associated Press

Wells retracted the controversial statement that was in his book "Perfect I'm Not! Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball," the Bloomberg News reported Saturday.

The Yankees pitcher said to the news organization that co-writer Chris Kreski took some things out of context.

"I went out the night before and now it says I'm drunk that day," Wells told the Bloomberg News. "I wasn't. I took some aspirin and had a headache, but what I read said I was drunk. How would that look? It would look bad for the organization, it would look bad for me. Hopefully, it will be written the way I said it."

Wells, who apologized to GM Brian Cashman on Saturday, also made controversial statements about some of his current teammates in his book and said "25 to 40 percent" of major league players used steroids.

"It's my fault for not going through it with a fine-tooth comb," Wells said in the report. "What I said is what I said. Sometimes I'm too honest, I guess. That's probably my own fault."

In the book, Wells alternately criticizes and praises Roger Clemens, admits he's not friendly with teammate Mike Mussina, says Andy Pettitte was angered by Hideki Irabu's large salary and calls former teammate Kenny Rogers a "cuckoo-bird.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.