Someone on Twitter last night asked if it was possible to have a pitching rotation of Sabathia, Pettitte, Sabathia Pettitte with Kuroda thrown in. I smiled. Because I wondered if Andy thought that his coming back would make this big of an impact on the Yankees and their fans. If he didn’t – he should now.
Expecting Andy to win every one of his games, the rest of the season is as unlikely as the above suggested rotation (obviously). But as Yogi Berra said:
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.
Some of the mental aspect of the game is how the team and the fans perceive what you can do. Everyone is looking for Andy to turn the page on the loss the Yankees suffered last night. Yes, Phil Hughes struggled, but the Yankees offense did it’s best to counter the tattooing the Angels gave Phil. Of course it wasn’t totally all Hughes. Yes, he gave up 7 runs. But Epply gave up the other (actually Phelps gave it up, but the run was charged to Epply). Had that stupid run not be given up, the Yankees MAY have won that game last night. Instead of an ugly loss, it would have been a not-so-pretty win.
Some may say that at age 39 (almost 40) it isn’t fair to put the burden of getting wins after a loss. But what people may forget, a few seasons ago that is exactly what Andy was known for. What I also know from personal experience, the older you get, the better you are at taking on responsibility. I am not saying that Andy will win, but he knows what they are looking at him to do and he is absolutely up to the challenge – both physically and definitely mentally. The Yankees need a little magic and Pettitte is the magician.
As usual, GO YANKEES!
