The Mariners, one of the American League’s lesser offensive teams, had just jabbed Andy Pettitte for four runs, seven hits and three walks over 6 1/3 innings. Which led to the Yankees’ first loss in four games, 6-2.
Which made Pettitte’s highly anticipated unretirement start a downer for the 41,631 fans at Yankee Stadium yesterday.
And there Pettitte sat in the Yankees’ interview room, his first time there since his retirement news conference on Feb. 4, 2011, and he said this:
“I cannot believe how comfortable this is for me.”
Yes, even on a bad day, Pettitte will choose a stadium over a courtroom. Shoot, let’s face it, he chose this over more time at home in Texas, a decision he says his family fully supported.
The two Mariners home runs don’t matter to Pettitte, in this regard: No matter the results, baseball is his home away from home. His comfort zone.
“It’s been absolutely wonderful to be here [in New York] this past week,” Pettitte said. “Being able to come in here early and throw my bullpens and stuff like that here has been absolutely awesome. It helped me get back in the routine here.”
We need look no further than 12 days ago and 234 miles southwest to view just how uncomfortable Pettitte can be in a different setting. Words can’t justify the misery that occupied Pettitte’s gaze as he sat for two days of testimony in the United States government’s case against Roger Clemens. How he never smiled, despite both sides’ attorneys trying to engage him as would a birthday party clown to a mopey child.
How, when the prosecutor finished his redirect questioning, Pettitte looked to his attorney and made the film director’s “cut” sign with his neck, asking via sign language whether he was done. No, the lawyers signaled, he had to wait for jurors’ questions. Pettitte frowned.
It was telling yesterday that, when a reporter specifically mentioned the trial in asking whether the past few months had tired him, Pettitte discussed his commutes to and from the Yankees’ Tampa base, visits to Rochester and Trenton for minor-league starts and trips home to Texas. Nothing, though, about his two-day trip to Washington.
He clearly wants to move on from the Clemens drama. If that involves dealing with a shaky mound performance? No problem.
His last major-league start had been here at the Stadium, a loss to Cliff Lee and the Rangers in Game 3 of the 2010 AL Championship Series. Very few athletes of Pettitte’s caliber vanish voluntarily and then reappear, particularly at the advanced age of 39. The journey from October 18, 2010 to yesterday struck him, yet it didn’t dominate him.
“I guess it’s strange to think that I was coaching Pony League baseball, throwing batting practice to the kids, working with them, watching high school baseball,” he said. “And now I’m doing this. But it’s been like I just picked up and got right back where I was.”
Joe Girardi used the same “picked up where he left off” line, one that could be shrugged off on a day when Yankees fans were just happy to welcome back their beloved Core Four member. Pettitte, recognizing this isn’t just a reunion tour, said, “I’ll measure if this is a successful return or not at the end of October.”
There’s no doubting, however, that this is a journey Pettitte will cherish. Facing questions he’s happy to answer, no matter how critical, in a setting he adores.
If Pettitte can improve on yesterday, provide value as a back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher? It’s difficult to envision him retiring once again if something might be left in the tank.
If he got to tell the Yankees “no thanks” 15 months ago, you’d bet that the Yankees would be the ones closing the door in this go-round.
“It feels good to be back out there,” Pettitte said. “It feels good to be back out there competing.”
As much as the Yankees and their fans missed him, it appears, he probably missed them even more.