Andy Pettitte Archives

At Least There Was This

August 23, 2015

It was great seeing the old gang at the Stadium over the weekend, first for the retiring of Posada’s number, then the same for Pettitte today. They all looked great and I couldn’t help wishing they were still playing – particularly after today’s finale against the Indians. What is it with the Yankees and Indians? Are the dreaded midges still haunting the team? It sure seemed like it over the four-game series and even during the recent series in Cleveland. Aside from the one victory on Saturday, it was nothing but frustration and ineptitude.

And now there’s CC’s knee. Will he come back this season or any season? Does a stint on the DL do the trick and he returns refreshed and ready to pitch? Or will he concede that the knee is a chronic problem and retire? It’s all very sad to me because he’s been a warrior for the Yanks on and off the field.

With Pineda scheduled to pitch in the series against Houston and the addition of Severino, CC’s injury is easier to swallow. I still wish Cashman had gotten us a reliable arm at the trade deadline, but that’s old news. What’s also old news is that all the teams in the AL East have problems, even Toronto, and no one is running away with the division title so far. Which means all the Yankees have to do is play consistent baseball. Getting Teixeira off the DL would help. So would getting Ellsbury to go on a tear. So would waving a magic wand and making Stephen Drew turn into Babe Ruth.

Time will tell……

Goodbye, Mo

September 22, 2013

There’s only so much crying a person can take. I was wailing my brains out during Mo’s farewell and then Pettitte’s walk off the mound: a doubleheader of pain. The game didn’t do much to lift my spirits either, but it was the Yankees’ season in a nutshell. They either got good pitching and no offense this year or lots of offense and bad pitching.

Poor Zoilo Almonte. He made a rookie mistake hesitating at third base in a crucial situation. And Murphy’s strikeout to end the game was rough. But that’s what happens when your bench is full of kids. Sigh.

The right script would have been for Andy to get the win and Mo to notch the save. It wasn’t meant to be.

Mostly what I thought as I watched today was that I don’t want the old guys to leave us. I don’t like the new guys. I want the old guys to stay forever. I wonder what was going through Jeter’s mind as he hugged his departing teammates.

I’ll stop now before I get too maudlin. Yes, there are a few games left, but not in the Bronx. Sob.

Bad Body Language

September 17, 2013

This pic was from a loss to the Tigers in the postseason, but it typifies the helplessness and haplessness of the Yankees right now. How frustrating it must have been to get a great outing from Pettitte (another great outing, by the way) against a last place division rival and not be able to score any runs – especially when the scoreboard screamed, “Take advantage of the teams that lost tonight!”

Sad, but inevitable. Soriano, who has provided such an offensive spark, told the beat writers that he can’t generate any power because of his thumb and if it weren’t September he wouldn’t be playing. Ditto A-Rod, who seems not to have any body parts that don’t hurt. And on and on it goes.

I was taking my afternoon walk at the beginning of the game and listening to John and Suzyn on my At Bat app. In the top of the first, A-Rod hit one deep and Sterling went into his home run call, only to say, “Oh. Sorry. It was caught.” Made me furious. What an egregious mistake to give fans hope early on. He’s been doing that all year but this time it really got to me.

Maybe it’s all getting to me. It’s definitely getting to the Yankees, judging by that body language.

Can't Anybody Get An Out?

September 6, 2013

Yes, tonight was deja vu all over again, as Yogi would say. And yes, the Red Sox are on fire right now. And yes, our bullpen was short, given that Mo and Robertson were unavailable and Kelley is hurt.

But………..

Mike Napoli has been hitting the hell out of Yankees pitchers since he was with the Angels and he’s still at it. There are certain players we simply shouldn’t pitch to because we literally can’t get them out. (Miguel Cabrera comes to mind. So does Manny Ramirez back in the day.) He wasn’t the only one who battered our pitchers but he does it consistently. When he came up with bases loaded and Boone Logan on the mound (after Hughes allowed the bases to be loaded – not entirely his fault since there were some tough plays behind him), who in the world didn’t see the grand slam coming? If Logan had walked him, it would have meant one more run, not four more.

But then there were so many of Joe’s moves I didn’t get tonight. Didn’t he pull Pettitte on Sunday against the Orioles and the same thing happened? Why not let Andy go batter to batter? His arm wasn’t about to fall off. Jeez.

I actually felt sorry for Joba tonight. He’s so gone, poor guy.

And the game started out so well with Soriano’s homer. Sigh.

Just another nightmare in an already nightmarish season.

Can’t Anybody Get An Out?

September 6, 2013

But………..

I actually felt sorry for Joba tonight. He’s so gone, poor guy.

And the game started out so well with Soriano’s homer. Sigh.

Just another nightmare in an already nightmarish season.

So Much For That Game

September 1, 2013

I almost had to pull over in my car when the Orioles scored all those runs in the seventh inning today. I was cruising along, happily picturing Andy getting the win and the guys celebrating the sweep and lalalala.

My heart sank when Kelley imploded. (Well, it sank when Joe pulled Pettitte. I’m sure Andy was tired – he admitted as much after the game – but he’d been pitching so well that I didn’t want to mess with success.) I should have figured Kelley would have a bad outing after the NYT published a glowing story today about how miraculous his Tommy John surgeries have been in prolonging his career.

And then there was Logan….and the ever scary Joba. The next thing I knew the O’s were banging the ball and the Yankees’ bats had no answer.

Not that the offense was that great yesterday. We only won by a couple of runs. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that in previous years they would have scored four or five in the late innings and made a comeback.

Didn’t happen and it was depressing.

But…..the series was won. That’s a good thing.

Unbroken!

August 27, 2013

The moment was too gruesome to contemplate. There was Cano at the plate against Happ, the same pitcher who’d plunked Granderson on the hand and broken it, getting hit on the hand and writhing in pain. As we now know, the hand isn’t broken. We also know that if Happ can’t throw inside to lefties without breaking their hands, he shouldn’t be pitching in the major leagues. Enough already.

And then there was our emergency backup second baseman: Nunez. Whatever he did to his knee/leg didn’t look pretty, and I hope he’s OK. At this rate, maybe the ball boy can play second.

On the plus side, the Yanks beat the Blue Jays in convincing fashion, thanks mostly to Soriano. Who doesn’t love all the homers since he joined the team? No one. He’s a streaky hitter, but he’s given us much-needed power and I’m grateful for it.

As A-Rod’s homer total gets closer to that of Willie Mays, I have to admit I’m cringing. Not only is Willie an icon, but if I’m the Yankees and I’m stuck paying my problem child a $10 million bonus during a season in which he’s played a handful of games and declared war on everybody, I’m not thrilled.

Pettitte has been pitching like Pettitte lately, which is a big relief. I don’t know what was off with him earlier in the season, but he seems to have corrected the problem. I wish he’d pass along his secret to CC.

Another win tomorrow would be much appreciated, so I can keep telling myself we have a fighting chance.

Big Time Sweep

August 22, 2013

Thanks to the long rain delay I was actually able to see the latter part of today’s game. What a great way to end the series. Wow. Well, except for Shawn Kelley, who was scary toward the end. Luckily Robertson didn’t do his Houdini act in the ninth and spared me the nerves, earning the save in place of Mo.

I didn’t see the Vernon Wells play live, but the replays sure looked like the ball was caught and the Yankees got a break on the call. I’m not feeling the least bit guilty about it either, because we’ve been getting our fair share of bad calls lately and we were due for one to go our way.

What I liked about this one was that we got great starting pitching from Andy, power from Granderson and hits and sacrifices and steals mixed in – an all-around good performance by the boys.

Does this weekend’s series in Tampa take on even more importance now that we’re inching tantalizingly close to a wild card spot? Oh, yeah. I’m nervous about it. Things at the Trop can get crazy, and the Rays have those young starters that can shut down an offense. Plus the turf won’t be easy on A-Rod and I suspect he’ll have to DH. Who plays third? There’s Reynolds in a platoon situation, but are we talking about David Adams too? I just hope whoever shows up is ready to play as if his life depended on it.

Soriano Is This Hot Right Now

August 16, 2013

And Joba is ice cold. I’m not a professional lip reader, but I could have sworn Girardi said to Rothschild, when Joba had bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with a 10-3 lead and two outs, “I’m not bringing Mo in.” It was painful to watch. Thankfully, Huff cleaned up the mess and got the out, and the Yankees won the series opener at Fenway with another Janer.

Back to Soriano. I cannot believe all the RBIs lately. Six homers in six games? Amazing. Once he got that 2,000th hit he’s been pure gold. And how about Mark Reynolds: first time up as a Yankee and he went deep. Welcome, Mark.

There were plenty of others who showed up offensively, but I have to mention Ichiro, who batted in the ninth against reliever Drake Britton. Britton seemed to have a fondness for throwing high and tight. He got much too close to Gardner’s head and before that he buzzed Ichiro above the neck. Ichiro responded by hitting a chopper, legging it out for a hit and scoring. Well done.

And Pettitte finally had a solid outing until the seventh. My faith in him has been restored.

The game did have its share of sloppiness; there were errors and the Red Sox ran the bases as if they were the desperate ones, not us. But it was entertaining (until the bottom of the ninth).

I’m assuming I’ll be blacked out by FOX tomorrow afternoon – we’re always stuck with a west coast game – but I hope the boys keep up the good work. Their season depends on it.

Rodmaggedon

August 5, 2013

He’s appealing his suspension. He’s suing MLB and anybody else who’s done him wrong. Lalalalalalala. Bottom line is the Yankees got creamed by the lowly White Sox and looked pathetic doing it, and the juicer couldn’t juice up the moribund offense. Pettitte seems fried and I wouldn’t be surprised if he admitted he’s got nothing left. Sad way to go out. Jeter, of course, is back on the DL.

For a little humor, Mark Feinsand of the Daily News tweeted out Donald Trump’s reaction to A-Rod’s suspension. As usual, Trump made the question all about himself:

Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren asked Donald Trump what he thought of A-Rod’s suspension. He said, “I think it’s great. Look, he’s been taking this stuff all of his life. When he stopped taking it he became a lousy baseball player, or certainly just less than average. I think it’s great … and it sets an example, and he’s not very popular in new York, nobody likes him.

He lives in my building, Derek Jeter likewise. Many of the Yankees and many of the players lived in my buildings, and I can tell you the ones that people like and the ones that the people don’t like. If I say to the doorman what do you think of Derek, ‘We love Derek.’ If I say what do you think of A-Rod, it’s like ‘forget it.’

So look, he deserves what he gets. He’s been doing this for a long time and frankly I don’t understand the Yankees. The Yankees should have stopped paying him two years ago because obviously on the contract what he signed was not what they were bargaining for. So I don’t understand why the Yankees kept paying him, but maybe they’re very generous, who knows.”

Right, Donald. It’s all the Yankees’ fault.

By the way, I was really impressed with Girardi in his pre-game press conference. It couldn’t have been easy to answer all the A-Rod questions, but his comments about not being a person whose role is to judge others goes to his decency. Kudos, Joe.

Different Coast, Similar Ending

July 31, 2013

How many times this season have I written the words “The pitching was good enough to win, but the offense wasn’t there to help?” Same question goes for last night’s loss to the Dodgers in the series opener. So much has been made of the “new look” with Jeter and Soriano providing right handed power, but this team isn’t exactly loaded with fearsome hitters, the consequence of which is that it’s very tough to win close games.

It’s always exciting when the Yankees play at Dodger Stadium (even when I’m on the east coast), and watching Puig and Ramirez galvanize that team as advertised was interesting. But with our division rivals surging ahead of us and the clock on the season ticking, does adding a guy like Alex Rios by the end of the trade deadline today really make a difference? Or should the Yankees save their energy for next season? It’s great that Granderson will be back soon, but tomorrow’s August 1st – not much time to make a real run at this race.

I hate to be so negative, but making a “real run at this race” means winning a whole lot of games and last night wasn’t a good start.

"We're Not Playing for Giggles"

July 19, 2013

I’d hate to be Girardi right now. Another game, another loss, another offensive fade and another injury. In his post game interview after tonight’s loss to the Red Sox, he was asked about Gardner’s ejection. He didn’t agree with it and served up the “giggles” comment. Seems to me that players aren’t supposed to throw their helmets when they get what they think is a bad call.

The real problem is that Girardi doesn’t have guys with pop in their bats on a consistent basis, except Cano. Pettitte hasn’t been great, especially in the early innings, but tonight he pitched well enough to win – if only his team would score some runs.

Zoilo now joins the list of the wounded. Bye bye.

We need help, Cashman. By all means, bring up more kids from the minors but go out and make a trade for a bat. Or else the season is over. It’s that simple.

“We’re Not Playing for Giggles”

July 19, 2013

Zoilo now joins the list of the wounded. Bye bye.

We need help, Cashman. By all means, bring up more kids from the minors but go out and make a trade for a bat. Or else the season is over. It’s that simple.

Good News/Bad News

July 11, 2013

I’m in the car after celebrating Michael’s birthday, but I watched the game before we left and it was great to see Jeter back in pinstripes, if only symbolically.

He legged out that single in the first inning and scored the Yankees’ first run, and while he didn’t get the ball out of the infield it’s totally understandable. He was rusty. He was still rehabbing. He was tired from not having slept the night before.

What’s disconcerting is the quad strain. Tomorrow’s MRI will tell the tale, but why was he rushed back so soon? The same thing happened when Youkilis came back too soon and look where he is now. Maybe it’s “just a strain” and all will be well. Fingers crossed.

Andy hasn’t looked good, especially in early innings and on bunt attempts. Is he “done?” I don’t think so. But with the emergence of Nova and the eventual arrival of Pineda, I’m not worried about our pitching.

And how about the offense over the past two games? Not too shabby.

What a weird, weird season so far

Is There Any Way We Could Keep Playing The Twins?

July 2, 2013

It wasn’t a given that the Yankees would find relief in Minnesota, but it’s happened before and I was very glad it happened again last night. What I wasn’t expecting was that Pettitte would look so off – he’s been our stopper after losing streaks for so long – and not seem to be the Andy of old. Still, he managed to hang in for awhile and pitch well enough not to let the game get away. And he did pass Whitey on the strikeouts list. Very impressive.

With Cano on fire after the trip to Baltimore and Gardner and Zoilo joining the fun, plus some nimble bat work by Ichiro, we ended up with a Janer. It made me smile.

(We haven’t seen the laughing lady in ages, so I thought I’d put her up there.)

Can we hope for two in a row? That’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Joba Joba Joba

June 26, 2013

Raise your hand if you thought he’d hold the Rangers in check and let the Yankees come back in this one. It just seemed inevitable that he’d cough up the runs the Yanks had managed to score to make it a ballgame. Apparently, he acknowledged afterwards, “I suck right now.” Indeed.

Strange game. That collision between Pettitte and Nix was weird and I was worried that Andy was hurt.

Ichiro gave me hope that there was a comeback in the works, but it wasn’t to be. The bottom of the ninth was a one-two-three bummer.

In the background, of course, was the news about Tex. Again, raise your hand if you thought he wouldn’t end up having surgery. His injury was too Bautista-like and we know what happened in that case. We’re lucky we have Overbay, very lucky.

As for the continuing A-Rod saga, as I predicted, Cashman apologized for his language and disputed an ESPN report that the Yankees are somehow delaying Alex’s return to the team. What a mess. But the media is more interested in the story than the players, who really just want to win games.

I’m flying east tomorrow and won’t be posting over the weekend, but feel free to leave a comment if the spirit moves. I’ll respond when I can and will resume the blog next week. See you from the other time zone!

I Feel Sorry For The Yankees Right Now

June 20, 2013

Poor Andy. He wasn’t much better against the Rays tonight than Hughes was last night against the Dodgers, but the difference between them is all those championships and all that history. Andy has credibility. The problem is he hasn’t been very good. Michael said to me, “Is it possible that Larry Rothschild should be canned? All the pitchers seem to be regressing.” He has a point.

The offense or lack thereof would make any pitcher nervous, but here’s the truth: the Yankees are playing with a sub-par group and that’s just the way it is. We can’t expect a ton of production out of Nix or Wells or any of them. Gardner’s been a nice surprise at the plate and Cano has had his moments, but overall this isn’t a team that will score a lot of runs over the long haul. We knew that going in. I just feel bad for the players themselves. It’s not as if they’re not trying.

I’ll always hope for the best, but I can’t help lowering expectations. It’s called facing reality.