NEW YORK -- From the sound of things, Andy Pettitte was the classic suburban dad last year. He spent time with his wife and four children at their home near Houston. He worked on his ranch. He went to the gym "when you feel like your belt loop is going up." His only attachment to baseball included coaching youths and throwing meaty pitches for his sons and their friends to hit.
The baseball vet's perjury trial comes to an abrupt end on the second day of testimony
Andy Pettitte was the reason I invited the Core Four to lunch 10 months ago in San Francisco. When baseball's Beatles would break up, I figured, it would be Pettitte who would be the first to go, if only because it was increasingly clear that home and family, which always were as regular a part of our conversations as "hello," were pulling him off the pitching mound. I told Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada -- the Core Four -- it was time, before it all soon ended, to document not only the unique collective imprint they put on the game but also their unique friendship.
Andy Pettitte's franchise-crushing decision to retire has solidified the Yankees' place atop our list of winter non-winners (sounds nicer than losers, doesn't it?), a rare spot for a team that usually heads the winter winners list.
If you're willing to believe that re-signing Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera were givens, the New York Yankees' primary task this offseason was shoring up their starting rotation. Though the Yankees made it all the way back to the League Championship Series last year, they did so largely despite the performance of their starting pitchers, whose collective ERA ranked 22nd in the major leagues. With Andy Pettitte expected to announce his retirement tomorrow, it can officially be said that the Yankees failed at their offseason task.
Andy Pettitte is retiring with 240 career victories and another 19 postseason wins that helped the New York Yankees regain prominence -- and win five World Series championships. But that resume might not be good enough for Pettitte make the Hall of Fame.
Andy Pettitte, whose pitching helped the New York Yankees to five World Series championships, announced his retirement from Major League Baseball at a news conference Friday morning at Yankee Stadium.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Andy Pettitte is going ahead with his decision to retire, leaving the New York Yankees with two huge holes in what appears to be a rather wobbly starting rotation.
A federal judge has blocked the lead defense attorney for Roger Clemens from questioning Andy Pettitte, the ex-baseball star's longtime teammate and friend, once his client's criminal trial starts in July.
The Yankees are said to be "frozen'' while they continue to wait on Andy Pettitte's decision about whether he intends to play in 2011. Spring training is only two weeks away, and Pettitte holds the key to the storied team's entire winter. Their failure to secure Cliff Lee will still loom large no matter what Pettitte decides, but the reality is, if Pettitte returns the Yankees will field an improved team, based upon bullpen upgrades, from the club that won the AL wild card and reached the ALCS last year. If he does not, for the moment at least, their rotation will include unproven prospect Ivan Nova and journeyman Sergio Mitre.
Cliff Corcoran will break down the day's games everyday during the postseason.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Andy Pettitte asked himself all the important questions: Was he ready to prepare for another long year? Could he top last season? Was his family on board?
World Series hero Andy Pettitte has told the Yankees he wants to pitch in 2010.
The Yankees are expected to decline arbitration on free agents Andy Pettitte, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Xavier Nady, SI.com has learned.
NEW YORK -- Recently, Andy Pettitte noticed a change in his drive into the Bronx from his home in Westchester.
1. The matchup so nice we had to have it twice: Six days after he used a darting changeup and great movement to hold the Yankees to three runs in six innings, Pedro Martinez will take the mound in the Bronx one more time, this time trying to stave off elimination of his Phillies. In last week's Game 2, Martinez allowed just two solo home runs, both on tough pitches, in his first six innings, keeping the Phils in a game in which A.J. Burnett was just a little bit better. Serenaded by chants of "Who's your daddy?" -- and quietly hearing worse from one fan whom he chose to upbraid at his postgame press conference -- Martinez showed both the showmanship that makes him a star and the skill to back it up.
PHILADELPHIA -- While the Yankees have to be considered a fairly heavy favorite with only one win needed as they head back to the Bronx, the Phillies still have some characteristically serious fight in them. Until last rites are read to the Phillies, they should be assumed to have plenty of life.
Sports Illustrated baseball writer Tom Verducci breaks down Game 3 from Philadelphia: 1. If Game 3 is the turning point of the World Series -- 68 percent of teams up 2-1 go on to win it -- then a Yankees championship began with one pitch from Cole Hamels that will be remembered as one of the great gaffes in recent Series history. The beginning of the end for Philadelphia was a first-pitch curveball Hamels threw New York pitcher Andy Pettitte with no understanding of basic baseball. When Pettitte stepped in, Hamels was working with a 3-2 lead, a runner at second base and -- here's the key part -- one out. Pettitte is a career .134 hitter who has come to bat a total of 12 times over the past three years. Hamels could dispose of him with fastballs, the way J.A. Happ would do the next inning, and he would be one out away from being out of the inning. Instead, Hamels threw a first-pitch curveball up, and Pettitte slapped a single to tie the game. Why in the world would he throw
During the past few days, Pedro Martinez has spent a lot of time telling us -- usually rather amusingly -- about all of the things that Pedro Martinez is. He is the most influential player that has ever stepped in Yankee Stadium. He is the would-be King of New York. He is a Christian. He is a father.
Longtime Rangers star Michael Young doesn't want to move to third base. But at this point that seems to be a more likely option for him than moving to another team. With five years and $62 million remaining on his contract in this tight market, he won't be as easy to trade as he thinks.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen looks at a new study that suggests performance-enhancing drugs have limited benefits.
The secret to a perfect apology, according to perfectapology.com, is "asking to be forgiven in the right way and at the right time." Those simple and true words lead me to two cast-iron conclusions:
TAMPA, Fla. -- I keep hearing this idea from fans about how Andy Pettitte wronged Roger Clemens by telling the truth to Congress about their now infamous HGH conversation of 1999. They think Pettitte should have conveniently "forgotten'' that conversation, as if lying under oath is the right route.
Andy Pettitte deserves credit and the respect to leave alone, for now, his involvement with human growth hormone. His admission, apology, and answers to questions were detailed and apparently sincere, which cannot be said of feeble responses from the likes of Eric Gagne, Paul Lo Duca, Mike Stanton, David Justice, Fernando Vina, Lenny Dykstra, etc.
1) Why would Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Kirk Radomski ask out of the hearing?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Roger Clemens and his accuser, Brian McNamee, will be the main witnesses at a House hearing on the Mitchell Report after New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte and two others were dropped Monday night.
New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, one of dozens of players linked to use of performance-enhancing substances earlier this week by a report detailing an investigation conducted by a former senator, said in a statement Saturday that he has never used steroids, but that he used human growth hormone on two occasions in an attempt to help an elbow injury heal faster.
Andy Pettitte has told the Yankees he will return to pitch in 2008, SI.com has confirmed.
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