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04-30-2004, 04:00 PM
Rare is the athlete who puts home above money, but Andy Pettitte is one
Friday, April 30, 2004
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When a 21st century athlete puts anything above money, it's worth noting.
When that athlete is one of the better players in his sport, it's especially rare.
So as long as expending emotion over the Pirates' offensive deficiencies is growing stale, let's turn the picture around. Let's commend Andy Pettitte, who mowed down the Pirates for six innings yesterday at PNC Park to pick up his first win for his hometown Houston Astros.
In December, Pettitte, a career New York Yankee, spurned that high-and-mighty club to sign a $31.5 million, three-year contract with the Astros. He got a reported $7.5 million less than the Yankees were offering.
Of course, Pettitte's salary of $5.5 million this season, followed by an expected $8.5 million next year and $17.5 million in 2006, isn't modest. The total for three seasons is just a little less than the Pirates' payroll for this season.
Yet how many major-league players choose moving home over getting richer?
"It just felt like at the time it was the move I needed to make," Pettitte said after Houston's 2-0 win. "That's old news as far as I'm concerned. I'm just trying to get a new start here."
He can be as modest as he wants, but it was still satisfying to see Pettitte pitching so strongly, giving up just one hit before he reached his pitch limit, to help Houston climb three games over .500 while the Yankees went into their game last night against Oakland trying to get to .500.
Pettitte, 31, was making just his second start for the Astros and his first since April 6, when his left elbow was strained on a checked swing. It put him on the disabled list. He had given up six runs on 11 hits in 51*3 innings at San Francisco and took the loss.
Yesterday, Pettitte was masterful as he picked up his 150th career win. He didn't allow a hit until a former Yankees teammate, Raul Mondesi, smacked a one-out single up the middle in the fourth.
"It just felt good to get back out there and pitch again," said Pettitte. "It's exciting to get my first win as an Astro and to get 150 in my career. I didn't think it would take this long, until the end of the month, to get one."
He's not used to a pace as slow as a win a month. He has won at least 12 games in each of his eight full major-league seasons. He reached 21 wins last year for the second time in his career and had a 3.94 ERA lifetime with the Yankees.
Don't try to get Pettitte to say anything bad, or even lukewarm, about his former team. He collected four World Series rings with the Yankees and gets no satisfaction in seeing them knocked off of their pedestal in the first month of 2004.
"I can't say that I've been trying to follow the box scores or anything like that, but obviously, they get so much attention that if you're watching any kind of 'SportsCenter' or flipping through the channels, they're on a whole lot," Pettitte said. "They've got a great team, a ton of talent. I guess they're kind of struggling a little bit right now, but I promise you they'll be there at the end."
Pettitte had no chance of being there at the end of yesterday's game. With Pettitte at the 74-pitch mark (50 of them strikes), the Astros pinch-hit for him in the top of the seventh inning.
"I would have loved to have gone one more, but they set a 75- to 80-pitch limit on me" he said. "I almost talked them into it, but after missing as much time as I did, to pitch six innings was good."
The pinch-hitter, Omar Vizcaino, knocked in Richard Hidalgo for the second run of the seventh, plenty enough to push Houston to the win considering the Pirates finished with just two hits and got only one runner as far as second base.
Pettitte said he didn't limit his pitch selection or hold back at all.
He said he wasn't concerned about hitting, either, even though he has just three regular-season at-bats in the majors, all of them in his first game with Houston. He didn't have to worry about swinging the bat in the American League because of the designated hitter.
He fouled off a few pitches before hitting a chop-swing groundout in the third inning. In his second time up, he put down a sacrifice bunt.
Pettitte's next hurdle will be to win a game in an Astros uniform at home. His first chance should come next week against the same team he stifled yesterday. The Pirates begin a three-game series Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
He doesn't anticipate his first start at home will be much different from his first 278 major-league starts.
"I guess all the buildup of me coming home was kind of emotional, and maybe for the first start," Pettitte said. "But really, when you step on that mound, it's the same old story."
When someone of Pettitte's caliber makes the kind of move he made in the offseason, it's not the same old story.
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(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)
Friday, April 30, 2004
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When a 21st century athlete puts anything above money, it's worth noting.
When that athlete is one of the better players in his sport, it's especially rare.
So as long as expending emotion over the Pirates' offensive deficiencies is growing stale, let's turn the picture around. Let's commend Andy Pettitte, who mowed down the Pirates for six innings yesterday at PNC Park to pick up his first win for his hometown Houston Astros.
In December, Pettitte, a career New York Yankee, spurned that high-and-mighty club to sign a $31.5 million, three-year contract with the Astros. He got a reported $7.5 million less than the Yankees were offering.
Of course, Pettitte's salary of $5.5 million this season, followed by an expected $8.5 million next year and $17.5 million in 2006, isn't modest. The total for three seasons is just a little less than the Pirates' payroll for this season.
Yet how many major-league players choose moving home over getting richer?
"It just felt like at the time it was the move I needed to make," Pettitte said after Houston's 2-0 win. "That's old news as far as I'm concerned. I'm just trying to get a new start here."
He can be as modest as he wants, but it was still satisfying to see Pettitte pitching so strongly, giving up just one hit before he reached his pitch limit, to help Houston climb three games over .500 while the Yankees went into their game last night against Oakland trying to get to .500.
Pettitte, 31, was making just his second start for the Astros and his first since April 6, when his left elbow was strained on a checked swing. It put him on the disabled list. He had given up six runs on 11 hits in 51*3 innings at San Francisco and took the loss.
Yesterday, Pettitte was masterful as he picked up his 150th career win. He didn't allow a hit until a former Yankees teammate, Raul Mondesi, smacked a one-out single up the middle in the fourth.
"It just felt good to get back out there and pitch again," said Pettitte. "It's exciting to get my first win as an Astro and to get 150 in my career. I didn't think it would take this long, until the end of the month, to get one."
He's not used to a pace as slow as a win a month. He has won at least 12 games in each of his eight full major-league seasons. He reached 21 wins last year for the second time in his career and had a 3.94 ERA lifetime with the Yankees.
Don't try to get Pettitte to say anything bad, or even lukewarm, about his former team. He collected four World Series rings with the Yankees and gets no satisfaction in seeing them knocked off of their pedestal in the first month of 2004.
"I can't say that I've been trying to follow the box scores or anything like that, but obviously, they get so much attention that if you're watching any kind of 'SportsCenter' or flipping through the channels, they're on a whole lot," Pettitte said. "They've got a great team, a ton of talent. I guess they're kind of struggling a little bit right now, but I promise you they'll be there at the end."
Pettitte had no chance of being there at the end of yesterday's game. With Pettitte at the 74-pitch mark (50 of them strikes), the Astros pinch-hit for him in the top of the seventh inning.
"I would have loved to have gone one more, but they set a 75- to 80-pitch limit on me" he said. "I almost talked them into it, but after missing as much time as I did, to pitch six innings was good."
The pinch-hitter, Omar Vizcaino, knocked in Richard Hidalgo for the second run of the seventh, plenty enough to push Houston to the win considering the Pirates finished with just two hits and got only one runner as far as second base.
Pettitte said he didn't limit his pitch selection or hold back at all.
He said he wasn't concerned about hitting, either, even though he has just three regular-season at-bats in the majors, all of them in his first game with Houston. He didn't have to worry about swinging the bat in the American League because of the designated hitter.
He fouled off a few pitches before hitting a chop-swing groundout in the third inning. In his second time up, he put down a sacrifice bunt.
Pettitte's next hurdle will be to win a game in an Astros uniform at home. His first chance should come next week against the same team he stifled yesterday. The Pirates begin a three-game series Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
He doesn't anticipate his first start at home will be much different from his first 278 major-league starts.
"I guess all the buildup of me coming home was kind of emotional, and maybe for the first start," Pettitte said. "But really, when you step on that mound, it's the same old story."
When someone of Pettitte's caliber makes the kind of move he made in the offseason, it's not the same old story.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)