Friday, October 8, 2010

Andy Pettitte puts Twinkies on the brink


Just the other day, CC Sabathia was mystified about why people were worried about Andy Pettitte. Last night, Pettitte showed why CC couldn't have been more right.

Taking the mound last night for the New York Yankees, Pettitte added to his postseason legend with a strong performance that put the Minnesota Twins on the brink of elimination. He dispelled any concerns about his injuries or age and showed why he is the winningest pitcher in postseason history.

The Twins had a chance to get Pettitte early when he was struggling with his command as they put the leadoff hitter on in the first two innings and loaded the bases with one out in the 2nd inning. But Andy did what he always does when he's in trouble, inducing a customary groundball double-play in the 1st inning (with a fantastic defensive assist from Derek Jeter), making big pitches to escape the jam in the 2nd inning and dominating the Twins the rest of his game.

"One run is not going to kill me," Pettitte said of his composure in getting out of that jam.

But it sure killed the Twins. You could see the defeat on the faces of the players and their fans long before the game was over. Pettitte did that to the Twins, the way he has done it to so many other teams in the postseason, and he showed the rest of baseball what the Yankees have in store for them if they advance in the playoffs.

CC stepped up to the mike the other day to defend his "godfather," citing Pettitte's postseason excellence as a reason not to worry about the Yankee starters that would come after him. He has a lot of company in the Andy Pettitte confidence camp.

"That's just typical Andy," Lance Berkman said. "He was in control pretty much the whole night. He's the best big-game pitcher I think I've ever been around."

Typical Andy, indeed!

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