Of course it would have been fitting for Andy Pettitte to bid farewell to The Bronx with a victory, to absorb the inevitable standing ovation with a lead in hand. The guy has the most postseason wins of anyone in the game’s history.
Yet in seeing Pettitte instead suffer the loss on Sunday, a tough-luck, 2-1 defeat to the Giants in what was almost certainly the final Yankee Stadium start of his career, we got to see the quality that has made Pettitte a true champion — not only among Yankees fans, but also among his teammates.
“I really can’t believe I made the mistakes I did,” Pettitte said, “because I felt so locked in.”
The 41-year-old on the verge of retirement threw seven-plus innings and allowed two hits and a walk to the defending World Series champions, albeit a defending champion headed home next week. By any objective measure, Pettitte had nothing for which to apologize, and for sure, the fans here didn’t fault him, showering him with love and then demanding a curtain call after he hugged his teammates in the dugout.
Yet such is his nature — accountable until the end — that when searching for scapegoats to this drowning Yankees season, he looked in the mirror first.
“I take every loss hard. I do, because I know every one of them counts,” he said. “If we could win the games earlier in the year when I was struggling for two and a half months, we might not be in this position right now where every win is so important.”
Heading into the last start of his career Friday night in his hometown of Houston — barring an utterly miraculous Yankees playoff run — Pettitte has a 3.88 ERA in 29 starts and 176 ¹/₃ innings pitched. The Yankees gladly would have signed up for those numbers when they brought Pettitte back last November for a 18th season overall and 15th in their pinstripes. As Pettitte referenced, he hit a considerable speed bump in June, July and early August, only to recover and turn back into an asset.
He was such an asset Sunday he allowed fans to fantasize about a mind-blowing scenario on Mariano Rivera Day. Pettitte retired the first 14 batters he faced and hadn’t allowed a hit with one out in the sixth. Could Pettitte actually make additional history on this already memorable day?
“At this point, at this stage, I don’t think my body would allow me to pitch nine innings,” Pettitte said, generating laughter in the news conference room. “It was good to dream about it. It helped me mentally saying, ‘Just keep making your pitches. Just go as hard as you can for as long as you can.’ I really can’t believe I made the mistakes I did, because I felt so locked in.”
Yup, right back to the mistakes, without prompting. Giants rookie Ehire Adrianza broke up the no-hitter with one out in the sixth by slamming a cutter over the left-field wall, tying the game at 1-1. And Joe Girardi let Pettitte start the eighth with 102 pitches, Pablo Sandoval ripped another cutter for a double to left. David Robertson allowed the go-ahead hit one out later as Tony Abreu doubled to right field.
Yankees’ rallies in the seventh and eighth innings fell apart in ugly fashion, ultimately saddling Pettitte (10-11) with the loss. While we’ve grown to appreciate over the span of Pettitte’s career that pitchers wins and losses aren’t very important, he never has posted a losing record, so there will be some added value for him to win Friday night in Houston and even up that 2013 mark.
“The way Andy pitched today, it’s too bad that he didn’t win,” Rivera said. “… He was outstanding.”
“One of the fiercest competitors that I’ve ever been around,” Girardi said of Pettitte. “A man … who got as much out of his talent as you could humanly possibl[y] get. And that’s the ultimate compliment for an athlete. A tremendous teammate.”
There is clear acceptance among the Yankees that they’re done. There will be no playoffs. And that allowed even a competitor and self-critic like Pettitte to appreciate the fans’ tribute.
“It was a great moment for me. I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I was glad I got the opportunity to do that. And the fans were awesome, just like they’ve always been to me.”
He would have preferred a different exit point. This way, though, he showed off his finest attribute.