After a 2010 season that earned him a spot in The Major League Baseball All-Star Game while posting an 11-3 record, New York Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte decided to hang up his spikes. Pettitte was invited by The Yankees to spring training in 2012 as an instructor, but he soon discovered the itch to play baseball again. Pettitte returned last year and posted a record of 5-4 with an earned run average of 2.87 before injuries cut his 2012 campaign short. This season Pettitte is healthy and you can see the results in his game.
Pettitte has started three games for The Yankees this season as he has been flawless. Pettitte’s record is 3-0 while posting an earned run average of 2.01. Pettitte has pitched 22.1 innings on the season as he has given The Yankees three quality starts on the year. Pettitte going deep in each of his starts must give Yankee fans fond memories of the 90’s and early 2000’s as he would so often hand the ball over to Yankees closing pitcher Mariano Rivera late in the game to put the finishing touches on a victory.
Coming into this season there was much speculation surrounding The Yankees as far as who would step up behind staff ace CC Sabathia in the rotation and so far Pettitte is answering the bell. The endurance of Pettitte will come into question at some point on the season as he is 40-years old and he hasn’t reached the 200 innings pitched mark in a season since 2008. Pettitte has pitched late into each of his starts this season, but he has yet to throw 100 pitches in any ball game. Like most veteran pitchers Pettitte has become crafty as he is forcing batters into swinging at pitches that will result in weak grounders which is evident by his 36 ground balls that he has induced on the season.
In last night’s Yankee victory over The Toronto Blue Jays it was vintage Pettitte as he struck out five batters in 7.1 innings of work while giving up three earned runs in The Yankees 9-4 victory over their American League East rivals. Pettitte’s 211 career wins in a Yankee uniform are third in franchise history as he is only 25 victories behind Hall of Famer “The Chairman of The Board” Whitey Ford for most wins in team history. If not for the three years that Pettitte spent with The Houston Astros, we could be talking about the most decorated starting pitcher in Yankee history. Pettitte has come out of the gates this season fast and strong as he is showing people that even though he is a dinosaur in baseball years, age is only a number.
Source:Baseball-reference.com
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