NO KIDDING: On the day his son Josh was drafted by the Yankees, Andy Pettitte showed he still is kicking with his 250th win. (AP; Getty Images (inset))
SEATTLE — David Robertson faced a first-and-second, eighth-inning, one-out situation yesterday afternoon, a Yankees victory in the balance. But the better story was occurring behind the closed doors of the Safeco Field visitors’ clubhouse.
Josh Pettitte, sitting on the couch and watching Robertson on television, received a phone call from Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer with big news: The team had selected him in the 37th round of the amateur draft. Josh’s dad, Andy, having just finished his work shift, was showering and shaving in the nearby bathroom.
Andy Pettitte hugged and kissed his son. Robertson escaped the jam, Mariano Rivera saved the Yankees’ 3-1 victory over the Mariners for Pettitte’s 250th career win and, in all, “It’s a good day for the Pettittes, I guess,” Josh Pettitte said.
The win, Pettitte’s third shot at number 250, helped the Yankees (36-26) gain a half-game to trail the American League East-leading Red Sox (38-25) by 1 1/2 games. Jayson Nix took his turn in the journeyman/has-been circuit that has fueled the Yankees’ offense this season, delivering a pair of RBI singles.
But come on now. That’s just normal baseball stuff. This day stood out for Pettitte’s pride as both a father and a pitcher. And for those of us who have been around the team long enough to remember Josh, now 18, running around the old Yankee Stadium clubhouse as an enthusiastic toddler, it made us feel old.
“It’s all tied in together now for me, though, you know?” Andy Pettitte said of his dual milestones. “I can’t separate them, because they’re both together. It just all happened right here when the game was ending. So it was just really cool.”
Josh said, “It’s a great honor and a blessing. The team that you’ve grown up watching. It’s a true blessing to be able to get the call from the New York Yankees.”
Both Pettittes were adamant that Josh, who pitched for Deer Park High School in the Houston area, would honor his scholarship to Baylor.
“I plan on going to Baylor,” Josh said.
“I still feel like he’s got a lot of maturing to do,” Andy said. “His dad was telling him all along, I was hoping he goes to college. Just gets a little bigger and stronger and just be on his own without dealing with professional baseball.”
Nevertheless, Oppenheimer said the Yankees will make a bona fide attempt to get Josh Pettitte into their minor-league system.
“We didn’t draft him because he’s Andy Pettitte’s son,” Oppenheimer explained in a telephone interview. “We drafted him because we think he’s going to be a good pitcher.”
Yankees area scout Stewart Smothers has been tracking Josh Pettitte since last summer, Oppenheimer said, and the team will continue to monitor the right-hander over the next month. The deadline for draft picks to sign is July 12.
There is, Oppenheimer acknowledged, “a 99.9 percent chance” Josh Pettitte will attend Baylor. Yet we know in these instances it ain’t over until it’s over.
“He has to stick around for five or six more years so he can play with Josh,” the retiring Rivera said of Andy Pettitte, making sure his longtime teammate could hear him.
“No way,” Pettitte responded, laughing.
Of course, Pettitte’s health and effectiveness this season have called into question whether he will make it through 2013 in one piece, let alone looking ahead to 2019. He displayed good stuff yesterday against the Mariners, one of the few American League teams with an offense worse than even the Yankees’.
“It’s kind of been a little bit of a grind here over the last month, not having a feel for everything,” Pettitte said. “I had a real good feel for all of my pitches today and was locating fairly well. Let’s hold that right there for a while now.”
We’ll see if it proves a turning point for Pettitte’s largely frustrating 2013 campaign or just an aberration. What we already know is, no matter where his career goes from here, Andy Pettitte always will cherish his memories of June 8, 2013 in the Emerald City.