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TagsBY MIKE VORKUNOV
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
As TBS’ Craig Sager interviewed $480 million well spent after Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez’s Game 2 heroics Friday night, it was the perfect opportunity for the Yankees to show off their shiny toys. Throw in AJ Burnett’s performance and the new Yankee Stadium glistening off of its October premiere, that’s well over $2 billion out of pocket. But come Sunday night, it’s all about the left arm of Andy Pettitte, New York’s checkbook be damned. Pettitte has been the Yankees’ Ole Reliable in the past, the guy who started the always pivotal Game 3 for Joe Torre all those years he was in pinstripes. If there was a big game, the big Texan was their man.Now Joe Girardi needs to find out if Pettitte can be relied upon once again. He’s pitching Game 3 once again, this time with a 2-0 lead as New York tries to sweep the Twins and start resting up for what could be a long ALCS against its biggest rival, Boston, or their biggest pain in the, well you know, Anaheim.
Whether Pettitte gets the win tonight is not so important as how he pitches. The Yankees look like they have Minnesota’s number, what’s more important is going forward. The last team to win the World Series with just two starters is Arizona in 2001. CC Sabathia and Burnett are no Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.Pettitte has had a resurgent year, bouncing back from a 2008 where he had a career high 4.54 ERA and the first non-winning season of his career at 14-14. This year he lowered his ERA to 4.16 and finished with a 14-8 record. Yet, it was his second half that really defined his season and gives Yankees fans the most hope and worry for October.
The 37-year old had a stellar final three months. He posted a 3.31 ERA and .226 batting average against. In 11 of his 14 starts he went at least six innings. But before Sept. 16 start against Toronto it was revealed Pettitte had a tired arm. His start was skipped that night as a precaution.
In the three starts following, Pettitte was obviously not the same. In 16 1/3 innings since his ERA ballooned to 4.41.
So what is to be expected of Pettitte when he takes the mound in Minnesota? Will it be a facsimile of the Pettitte that has made an entire season’s worth of postseason starts. The one with a 14-9 record and 3.96 ERA in the crisp October air. Can Pettitte still be the Yankees’ Old Reliable?
Or will he show the same signs of age that troubled him in September? He will be pitching for the first time in eight days; is that enough rest for his formerly tired arm?
Sabathia gets the attention for all his heft; his size, his contract and his performance. Burnett brings the attention to himself with his post-game pies and catching carousels. Pettitte has always been the understated member of the pitching staff, ceding the attention.
But you can’t escape the attention when you’re on the mound and all eyes will be on Pettitte Sunday. How he fares may well determine how much farther the Yankees can go as well.
Will he give the new Joe a reason to start him in the pivotal Game 3’s ahead as well?