Pettitte feels fine, pitches not so fine
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jun 03, 2009 
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Andy Pettitte insisted he felt fine physically tonight, although he did cop to some tentative pitches in the first inning because of his back.
The results (seven hits and six walks in five innings) were not indicative of a pitcher who was healthy, although Pettitte did strike out six.
Nelson Cruz hit what looked like an inning-ending double-play grounder in the first inning. Then Pettitte stuck his leg out and the Rangers went on to score three runs. Pettitte was pretty upset afterward.
“It was frustrating. It’s embarrassing, actually,” he said. “I’ve been scuffling my last few starts. It’s no good, not the way we’ve been playing. … I’ve got to give us more than that.”
Was Pettitte healthy enough to pitch? He pitched, so apparently so. But it’s worth noting that his contract calls for bonuses starting at 150 innings and every 10 innings after that. He’s at 68.2 innings now and the season is nearly a third over. Pitching 207 innings would get Andy a cool $3.75 million.
Meanwhile, A-Rod declared his final three at-bats “unacceptable.”
On the whole, it’s nothing to get too riled up about. The Yankees had won 16 of 20. They probably weren’t going to play .800 ball the rest of the season.
Please pitch well tomorrow Wang. Don’t think the offense will do much.
I hope Girardi is making decisions based on the team and not just on his good buddies. I like Pettitte a lot, but he could skip and turn and help the team that way while he gets better.
Andy at this stage of his career, has probably been pitching with some kind of pain for the last 5 years.
Girardi trusts that Andy will be honest with him. However, money makes people do crazy things. Andy wants to reach those incentives.
Yah. Girardi knew Andy wasn’t throwing bullpen.
6 walks? Yikaz.
But, the pitcing held up for the last 7 innings.
Could probably pin this one on the offense.
I don’t get why the Yankees allowed Andy to pitch even though he apparently missed a BP session? Still, I could have sworn that I read a few days ago that he was feeling much better and that he did have his pen session……
I don’t care about losing again – they will lose a lot more this year – but losing tomorrow would be tough. It would mean they’d have losed 2/3 to the Rangers after winning the first game…….Wow at the game thread, though…..I love this team – I have faith in this team. How can Yankee fans give up on them after one game? Even after two or three? Unbelievable.
http://bombersbeat.mlblogs.com/girardi.JPG
We are a good team- there is no question about that.
Unfortunately, so are Tampa and Boston. We can’t afford a slide.
At least they didn’t have to waste Aceves, Hughes or Wang tonight. He was bad but at least he gave them length so the long guys were not wasted. Girardi better not let him make his next start if he isn’t 100% by then.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....Id=rss_nyy
Here are some quotes from and about Phil:
“He’s one of our best pitchers right now,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “He’s earned the right to stay for a period of time.”
“I’d rather be in the ‘pen [than Triple-A],” Hughes said. “I need the work, but at the same time, I want to help the team win.”
“He’s one of our best pitchers right now,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “He’s earned the right to stay for a period of time.”
“I’d rather be in the ‘pen [than Triple-A],” Hughes said. “I need the work, but at the same time, I want to help the team win.”
“He’s one of our best pitchers right now,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “He’s earned the right to stay for a period of time.”
“I’d rather be in the ‘pen [than Triple-A],” Hughes said. “I need the work, but at the same time, I want to help the team win.”
“The hardest part about this decision is that Phil Hughes has done nothing wrong to be taken out of the rotation,” Girardi said. “He has thrown the ball pretty well for us, but we have a guy who has 46 wins over the last 2 1/2 years that’s had a lot of success in our rotation, and we thought it was time to get him back in.”
White sox called up Gordon Beckham
Oops, sorry for the post – I have NO idea what happened……
I do not get why they decided to hold Aceves out for Burnett. Sheesh – the guy gets through the 6th inning most days and had just come off an excellent performance in Texas.
As usual… injuries will decide this pennant race. The best team may not win it, the healthiest will.
This was a tough loss for me to watch because the Yankees had so many opportunities to score. They couldn’t get the man on 3rd with less than 2 outs home. They left way too many guys on base. Not having Tex in the lineup really hurt.
“Meanwhile, A-Rod declared his final three at-bats “unacceptable.””
I’m glad we agree.
Andy should not have been on the hill this evening.
I think it’s about being a competitor and not the bonus dinero…unless he’s about to purchase Louisiana!!!
It’s a long season.
with a balky back…Andy should chill for 2 weeks and let Wang and Hughes pick up the slack!!!
Same reason they called up Wang to back up Burnett against the Phillies
If that was CC or Andy, they would not have made the move.
The Rays are going to manufacture runs to death on Posada
This series is going to be very interesting. They win 3 of 4, they are breathing right down our neck for the WC. And basically, we erased this great run we’re on and would basically be back at square one before the run started (couple games ahead of Tampa, 3-4 behind Boston).
Andy it’s called *age*. Arod,no excuse.
Pete, I think you ignored what is utlitmatley the most important part of tonight’s game, the part that influences tomorrow’s game.
Tomko was great over three innings, and Robertson good enough.
It means that both Aceves and Hughes can go tomorrow if needed, if Wang can’t pitch past the third or whatever, and the other short guys aren’t burned out, either.
It’s the beauty of baseball.
You lose a game today, so what? You play again tomorrow.. And you can right the wrongs.
I hate this division
It shouldn’t be that we need to panic everytime we lose a game because our rivals are winning and we lose ground if we don’t win series.
If we lose tomorrow and BOS/TB win (which is likely looking at the matchups), they would have gained 2 games on us in the last 3 days.
m
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Green Beret,
And yet, they still almost made the play. Even though 2 of his attempts sailed.
Are you refusing to acknowledge that he had 3 ugly throws last night?
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I didn’t say that he didn’t make bad throws last night, but, those happen when you rush throws. Look over the last few seasons and check the stolen bases off of Burnett and Pettitte. Pettitte has a great move, but, he’s also slow to the plate. At 6’5”, that’s understandable.
Mussina used to be very good, but in his last 3-4 years, he became more lazy or deliberate and they’d steal him blind. Right now, Sabathia is the only one that does a decent job. Something else….none of the pitchers in the system are good at all at holding runners, and the catchers are getting the heat for it.
Next game that you watch, get a stopwatch and time the pitchers. For a catcher to get most runners, a catcher needs 2.7-3 seconds to get the ball from pitcher’s release to second base. The time isn’t far off, but, I think Randy or PAT M knows what the times would be.
hey Rebecca, where have you been? Havent seen you post as much lately.
side tidbit:
Wilson Betemit was DFA’d by the White Sox according to mlbtraderumors.com.
Andy could be a nice trade chip at the deadline to a team like the Dodgers or Phillies that need pitching.
DMan, why would you panic? This is life in a tough division. If the Yankees are good enough, they’re good enough; if they’re not, they’re not. I like being in a good division – I can’t pretend that I would get a thrill out of being the best of a poor lot. The Rays are 5 games behind us – why do fans forget this? It’s likely that the Yankees will lose tomorrow? Boy – Yankee fans have no faith. I guess the Yanks need to go 162-0….
Wilson Betemit was designated for assignment by the White Sox.
I wonder who will pick him up
Christina: Well, I had a friend stay with me (she was visiting from England) all of last week and now I’ve got six hours of class twice a week that renders me useless from noon till about ten PM two days a week, not to mention antiquated Jewish newborn nephew rituals and the like…
So I really haven’t been around, which is a shame, because I’d just like to sit and watch baseball!
today is no big deal, win the series tomorrow, keep winning series!!
and yeah Rebecca what the heck?? lol
Doesn’t help that some of our key players are banged up
injuries can derail any good run
People who think that a pitching staff….any pitching staff will hold the Rangers to 2 runs or less 3 times in a week haven’t been paying attention or don’t know squat about baseball. The fact they they were kept to 2 runs or less twice, 3 runs once and 4 runs once is a damned good job by the staff.
Rebecca- I hear ya. I am taking one class and it drives me up the wall, I can’t imagine two. So much for a break right?
Try to enjoy it as much as you can. Is your friend from England enjoying it here?
Good point, GB -
Forgot a positive-
The slugging Rangers didn’t hit a HR tonight so we don;t have to listen to more “homerdome” rants tomorrow.
Pettitte shouldn’t be in the rotation.
pat
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Forgot a positive-
The slugging Rangers didn’t hit a HR tonight so we don;t have to listen to more “homerdome” rants tomorrow.
————————————————————
You don’t think they’ll ignore Posada’s, do you?
They don’t say a word when a guy with a .285 career batting average and 11 career homers after 5 years is hitting .370 and 7 homers (3 to the opposite field) or a utility player with 130 at bats this year and 17 career homers and a .260 average after 6 years has a .310 Batting average and 9 homers (5 to the opposite field). The only thing the “fans” and media whine about is Yankee Stadium.
Hey, idiots….check the ball.
If the Yankees agreed to just GIVE Pettitte the 3.75 mil in incentives, would that be enough for him to stop lying through his teeth about injuries and screwing over this team in the process???
Or is he so dillusionally self-involved that he believes 60% of him is better than 100% of Phil Hughes???
After tonight, Hughes HAS to be thinking: Could somebody PLEASE tell me why I lost my job when Andy Pettitte is still in the rotation???
Who would have thought…..that we would actually have too much pitching.
“After tonight, Hughes HAS to be thinking: Could somebody PLEASE tell me why I lost my job when Andy Pettitte is still in the rotation???”
Because where else would Pettite go? and isn’t Hughes a more versatile pitcher that can help *solve* one of the Yanks weaknesses?
This one was squarely on the shoulders of A-Rod. He just is not the same hitter with runners in sooring position. You can see it in his eyes. He knows he is going to fail. He doesn’t even come close to hitting the ball hard most of the time. He manages to eke out a hit every once in awhile, but for the most part he is useless in those situations. The Yankees could have won this game if he wer e not such a head case. Great player. Too bad he is a whack job.
Tom Sherman—
Great point! It was ALL on Alex. Damon 0-4 didn’t hurt. Cano 0-4 didn’t hurt. Matsui 0-4 didn’t hurt.
If only someone had gotten a hit with runners in scoring position…
Oh yeah, one guy did… Alex Rodriguez.
I agree his last three at bats were pure garbage, but he had a better night than most of teammates.
Watch the game or read the box score before making such inane comments, will ya?
86w183,
Learn to read before making such inane comments will ya? My name is Tim and I did watch the game. Did you? It was A-Rod that had the most critical at bats in that game and it was A-Rod that failed to deliver. If you don’t understand that, then it is pointless to talk to you because you just don’t understand baseball. A-Rod does come through once in awhile and I stated that. Last night he had more opportunities to help the team win than anyone else, and he failed to deliver. I stand by what I said.
“Where else would Pettitte go?”
How about to the DL where he belongs?
He lied at the expense of his team in his last start, and they got away with it…
He (reportedly) couldn’t even throw his bullpen session leading up to this one, lied again,and he put his team in a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
If this were last season, that would be one thing… There were no other options.
This year, there are.
Hey if the yanks had put up six runs y’all would be talking about how grtty and gutty Andy’s performance was.
Andy gets a good deal of money in roster bonuses, don’t forget that.